Google has revised their spam documentation, introducing a new definition of site reputation abuse as the most significant change, along with more details on the consequences of manual actions. The other updates are intended to refresh the content, making it easier to comprehend and more concise. Familiarity with these changes can offer insights on updating your own content effectively.
What Changed
Eight types of changes have been made to enhance the documentation, providing ideas to rejuvenate older content.
These changes include:
- More Information on Site Reputation Abuse
- New Details on Manual Action Consequences
- Revised Concept of Thin Affiliate to Thin Affiliation
- More Suitable Introductory Sentence
- Consolidation of Terms: Practices & Spam Practices
- Introduction of Spam Abuse Concept
- General Conciseness Improvement
- Improved Topic: Machine-Generated Traffic
More Information About Site Reputation Abuse
The previous documentation mentioned that site reputation abuse involves third-party content on an authoritative site with little or no oversight, without explaining “first-party oversight.” The new documentation provides a definition.
“Close oversight or involvement means the first-party hosting site directly creates unique content, either through employed staff or freelancers, not through third-party services focused on content redistribution to manipulate search rankings.”
New Details About Manual Action Consequences
Google included a new explanation stating that repeated violations of spam guidelines may result in more sections of a site being removed from search results. While this isn’t new, the information is newly added.
This new detail describes the escalation for ongoing spam:
“…and taking broader action in Google Search (for example, removing more sections of a site from Search results).”
This updates the content by adding missing information from the original documentation.
Revised Concept Of Thin Affiliate To Thin Affiliation
Google altered the “Thin affiliate pages” section to “Thin affiliation” and provided a definition.
The original section began with:
“Thin affiliate pages are pages with product affiliate links…”
The revised section begins with:
“Thin affiliation is the practice of publishing content with product affiliate links…”
More Suitable Introductory Sentence
Google improved the introductory sentence by defining spam within the context, making it more relevant. The previous sentence is now the second one.
Original introductory sentence:
“Our spam policies help protect users and improve the quality of search results.”
New introductory sentence:
“In the context of Google Search, spam is web content that’s designed to deceive users or manipulate our Search systems in order to rank highly. Our spam policies help protect users and improve the quality of search results.”
Starting with a spam definition is sensible for spam-related documentation.
Consolidation Of Terms: Practices & Spam Practices
Google consolidated euphemisms into the phrase “Spam Practices,” simplifying terms like ‘content and behaviors’ and ‘forms of spam.’ Consistent terminology enhances understanding.
1. The second paragraph is revised for conciseness.
Previously:
“We detect policy-violating content and behaviors both through automated systems….”
Revised to:
“We detect policy-violating practices…”
This simplification improves comprehension.
2. Around the fourth paragraph:
Previously:
“Our policies cover common forms of spam, but Google may act against any type of spam we detect.”
Revised to:
“Our policies cover common spam practices, but Google may act against any type of spam practices we detect.”
The revision reflects an effort to categorize similar activities under a single term.
Introduction Of Spam Abuse Concept
Google increased the usage of the term “abuse” in the context of spam. The revised version emphasizes spam as a form of abuse more strongly, using the word more frequently.
Examples where the concept of abuse was added:
- “Doorways” is now “doorway abuse”
- “Hidden text and links” is now “Hidden text and links abuse”
These changes help connect these activities under the concept of “abuse” in relation to spam.
Improved Conciseness
Making content more concise is a key aspect of content refresh. Google streamlined the text for brevity:
Original:
“Google uses links as a factor in determining the relevancy of web pages. Any links that are intended to manipulate rankings in Google Search results may be considered link spam. This includes any behavior that manipulates links to your site or outgoing links from your site.”
Revised to:
“Link spam is the practice of creating links to or from a site primarily for the purpose of manipulating search rankings.”
This change distills the core message for clearer communication.
Improved Topic Communication: Machine-Generated Traffic
The revision enhances clarity by focusing on defining machine-generated traffic:
“Machine-generated traffic (also called automated traffic) refers to the practice of sending automated queries to Google. This includes scraping…”
This version shifts the focus from resource consumption to defining the practice.
Other sections were also revised for conciseness.
For instance, the Misleading Functionality section now defines the concept in one sentence:
“Misleading functionality refers to the practice of…”
The Scraped Content section replaces longer descriptions with a single definition:
“Scraping refers to the practice of taking content from other sites…”
Content Refresh Versus A Rewrite
The updated spam documentation represents an incremental refresh with enhancements in clarity and conciseness, rather than a complete rewrite. It highlights methods for updating content by adding information and streamlining existing content.
Reviewed Content:
Spam policies for Google web search
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