With the year coming to an end, Google has started rolling out its latest spam update for December 2024. It is expected that this update will take about a week to complete and will be followed by a year full of aggressive measures aimed at improving search quality. Let’s take a closer look at what this update means and how it fits into Google’s broader efforts.
What’s in the December Spam Update?
The December 2024 spam update is the latest update by Google aimed at battling spammy practices and low-quality content. This update comes just days after the December core update which shows that Google is constantly trying to improve search results. The previous updates like the June Spam Update and March Core Update have helped reduce unhelpful content in search results by as much as 40%.
This year Google has been unusually active in posting frequent algorithm updates, targeting everything from low-quality content to abuse of domain authority. The major updates in March, August, November and December have ensured that website owners and SEO professionals stay alert.
- March Core Update – It focused mainly on improving search relevance and penalizing low-value content.
- August Core Update – It targeted low-quality SEO-driven material and rewarded high-value content.
- November Core Update – Changes were made to parallel systems, which set the stage for December’s core update.
Key Changes in Google’s Spam Policies
This year many major changes were made in Google’s spam prevention strategies, with three major updates aimed at tackling specific types of spam behavior.
- Site Reputation Misuse
The updates targeted parasite SEO tactics, to prevent third-party content from exploiting the authority of established domains. This policy had a major impact on large publishers that had questionable product reviews, news websites with poorly managed coupon sections and sports sites that posted AI-generated content.
- Expired Domain Exploitation
The updates ensured that websites using expired domains faced serious consequences. Any websites that used expired domains to manipulate backlinks, repurposed domains for unrelated content and engaged in domain squatting to exploit rankings faced strict penalties.
- Mass-Generated Content
This type of content was previously referred to as spammy auto-generated content. The new updates expanded to cover AI-generated content produced at scale, including content translated and used across multiple languages and other automated techniques used to create low-quality material.
Spam-Specific Updates in 2024
The spam-related updates this year were the June spam update and the November site reputation abuse enforcement. The June update focused on detecting automated and policy-violating content better and the November update enforced stricter penalties for site reputation abuse.
What to Expect Moving Forward
With the December core update and the new spam update being released, website rankings may experience some fluctuations as the new changes take effect. As these new updates emphasize the need for creating helpful, authentic content while avoiding any manipulative tactics, it becomes vital to post valuable content to ensure that your website ranks well. Partner with TechnoRadiant to improve your content strategy and keep your website ranking on Google’s first page.
