Only a week after releasing its December core update, Google bestows the market with the last spam update of 2024. The spam update rolled in only seven days, beginning on the 19th and finishing one day after Christmas day. Despite the short processing period, Google’s spam update had significant impacts concerning ranking volatility. However, not every business entity felt the heavy effects of the spam update. Rather the website owners whose spam policies have not been updated to meet Google’s imposed criteria.
The purpose of Google’s spam updates is to ensure search spams are minimized, if not completely eradicated. In some cases, for instance, when websites have excessive spammy content, they can be fully removed from search engines, however, in most cases when spam is detected, they usually experience downplay in rankings. Due to the increasing number of links manipulation and other manipulative practices, spam updates become highly valuable in terms of restoring the general order in the industry.
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The impact of December’s spam update
As previously mentioned, the effects of the spam update fall upon website owners who don’t stay informed on Google’s spam policies, and this affects users on a global level. However, penalties can be easily avoided once webmasters continuously revise their policies in order to align with Google’s. The SEO market is heavily impacted by Google’s spam update and as a result, SEO practices must be strategically reshaped in order to align with the changes and demands.
However, this is considered to be an advantage, rather than a disadvantage, as webmasters are being pushed to revise and optimize their practices. Furthermore, due to the market’s manipulative practices (please see the bulleted list below) there will be a noticeable decline in low-quality SEO practices, which can only mean one thing – authentic and qualitative material will become more and more appreciated and utilized.
This type of positive impact is what is expected out of Google’s spam updates and it is imperative in order to combat the market’s manipulative practices which have gained popularity in the last decade. Here are a few examples of manipulative practices and how to make sure your website avoids these sorts of practices:
- Keyword stuffing
- Hidden or white texts
- Misleading redirects
- Paid links
- Fake Testimonials
- Fake reviews
- Overuse of AI with minimal to zero human oversight
Google’s spam policies cover a vast list of deceptive practices and, excluding the above list, practices like doorway pages, cloaking or malicious software are to be avoided and eradicated from websites in order to align with Google’s spam policies.
Reshaping SEO practices
Similar to previous Google core updates and spam updates, December’s spam updates fall into a global trend category promising to redesign SEO practices with each evolving feature. We strongly believe this aspect is to be embraced rather than discouraged. Given the constant evolution of the global market, SEO practices need adaptation in order to keep up with the constant change. Despite this, there are multiple SEO strategies which can violate Google’s spam policies and, in order to avoid them, SEO site audits are crucial in this situation.
Ethical SEO
Ethical SEO, or in simpler words, playing by rules, refers to approved practices. These SEO practices are widely encouraged and promote ethical behavior with a focus on educated teams which create valuable and authentic content and material. Ethical SEO practices are one of the most positive outcomes of Google’s yearly core and spam updates and they are rising in numbers among SEO experts.
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Transparency
Transparency is a virtue, especially among SEO professionals. When transparent practices are adopted, clients become much more aware of their overall performances, procedures, and outcomes. However, if SEO experts lack communication and transparency concerning their clients, they won’t understand the reasons behind rank drops or shifts. An important action in this situation is for SEO experts to conduct site audits and provide explanatory reports, follow Google’s policies to avoid penalties and avoid malicious practices at all times.
Patience
In the unfortunate case of penalties, patience is key to resolving current issues affecting a business’s website, and while many will focus on fixing issues on the spot, in the case of a website being drastically affected by a penalty, these issues need time to be addressed and resolved. Because of this, benefits gained from previous rankings can be lost, and in some cases, websites can be completely neutralized from search engines, it is why it is important to patiently manage these issues in the long term rather than trying to fix everything at once.
Conclusion and recommendations
Google aims to continuously fix and improve its actions concerning the combat of spam-related problems, and for this reason, spam updates will continue to reshape and polish policies with each upcoming period. Due to the constant evolution of Google’s core and spam updates, our strongest piece of advice is to ensure the clarity and ethicality of SEO practices on your websites. Collaborating with SEO experts whose priorities are to build and maintain the integrity of your website is essential for your business’s success. Companies such as GAMIT SEO which conducts regular site audits in order to stay on top of Google’s core and spam updates are to be considered when it comes to building a website which perfectly aligns with Google standards.
About Author
Larisa Stefan
Larisa is our project manager and SEO engineer. Her personal competencies and professional knowledge fit well at Gamit. She works closely with clients and team members to establish the best SEO strategy for each of our projects and then supervises their completion and reporting.
