Google
November 2021 Spam Update
In brief
Anti-spam update rolled out over about a week, strengthening the enforcement of Google's anti-spam rules.
Key points
- Anti-spam update rolled out over roughly one week.
- Strengthens the enforcement of Google's anti-spam policies.
- Loss of visibility for sites relying on abusive practices.
- A reminder of the best practices for complying with the guidelines.
Analysis
The November 2021 Spam Update is part of the regular series of updates meant to enforce Google's anti-spam rules. It targets abusive techniques, low-quality auto-generated content, cloaking and deceptive practices, and removes visibility from the sites that use them.
Unlike core updates, a drop tied to a spam update often reflects an identifiable and fixable compliance problem. The publisher has every interest in reviewing its practices against the official guidelines in order to regain visibility during a later reassessment.
What to do
- Check the site's compliance with Google's anti-spam guidelines and fix any gaps.
- Remove or rewrite low-quality auto-generated content.
- Eliminate deceptive practices (cloaking, abusive redirects) to restore visibility.
Impact
Loss of visibility for sites relying on abusive practices. A reminder of compliance best practices.