Google have announced that their recent spam update has finished rolling out for search results worldwide.
This is the fourth such update this calendar year, with previous efforts rolling out back in the summer. These regular updates are helping Google stay spam free, as their automated systems keep more than 99% of visits to search results spam free.
Googles automated systems block billions upon billions of spammy pages from being indexed every year, so a key question you need to know is, what constitutes spam in Google’s eyes?
The good news is, if you follow good SEO practices and Google’s webmaster guidelines, you shouldn’t have anything to worry about with these updates.
Google actually has a very strict definition of what qualifies as spam, and it is probably very similar to what you imagine. Things that Google treats as spam include:
- Low quality sites that get you to put in personal info or install malware
- Phishing Scams
- Websites that disguise themselves as other more reputable sites
Simply being a low-quality website doesn’t mean you have a spammy site – in fact by Google’s definition, there has to be some malicious intent behind it to qualify. Although this doesn’t mean you are safe from punishment!
Spam resulting from sites getting hacked is rising year after year, so it is absolutely vital that you ensure your site is safe, secure and not vulnerable to outside influence.
If you would like to learn more about how to rise up the Google rankings, get yourself a free review with us today.
