Definition

Spam policies are Google's published rules that describe content and techniques which deceive users or manipulate its search systems. Sites that violate these policies may rank lower in Google Search or be omitted from results altogether.

Google's spam policies cover a range of practices, including cloaking, keyword stuffing, doorway pages, hidden text, scraped content, link spam, and site reputation abuse, among others. Violations can be detected by automated systems or addressed through a manual action issued by Google's reviewers. The policies apply across Google Search features and are updated periodically as new manipulation techniques emerge.

Examples

• Automated enforcement

  Google's spam-detection systems identify a page filled with repeated keywords and reduce its visibility in search results.

• Manual review

  A reviewer finds a site presenting different content to crawlers than to users and issues a manual action for cloaking under the spam policies.

Sources

• Google Search Central — Spam policies for Google web search

Related terms

• Cloaking
  Showing search engines and users different content with the intent to manipulate rankings and mislead visitors.
• Keyword Stuffing
  Filling a page with keywords or numbers in an attempt to manipulate Google Search rankings.
• Doorway Page
  A page created mainly to rank for specific queries and funnel visitors to another destination rather than serve them directly.
• Manual Action
  A penalty applied by a Google reviewer when a site is found to violate the search spam policies, demoting or removing affected pages from results.
• Link Spam
  Links created primarily to manipulate search rankings, which Google's spam policies treat as a violation that can affect a site's visibility.

Where QueryCatch uses this

• SEO Audit
• Page Optimisation