Google’s ranking algorithms are getting upgrades to combat three types of unwanted content, according to Pandu Nayak, a vice president of search at Google. The first is content at scale, when creators produce a large amount of low-quality content targeted at search results. The second is what Nayak calls “site reputation abuse,” when a respectable website rents out a portion of its site for spam content. And the third is “expired domain abuse,” when someone takes over an unused but high-ranking domain and pumps it full of spammy content to drive it to the top of search results.
How is Google cracking down on spam and AI content in searches?
Answer: With updates to its ranking system.
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As long as Google has been a popular search engine, efforts have existed to game the system and get spam content to the top of its search results. The introduction of generative AI tools has added a new layer to this game, so Google is releasing some serious updates to its search ranking system to try and curb the rise of AI-generated spam content.
Google’s ranking algorithms are getting upgrades to combat three types of unwanted content, according to Pandu Nayak, a vice president of search at Google. The first is content at scale, when creators produce a large amount of low-quality content targeted at search results. The second is what Nayak calls “site reputation abuse,” when a respectable website rents out a portion of its site for spam content. And the third is “expired domain abuse,” when someone takes over an unused but high-ranking domain and pumps it full of spammy content to drive it to the top of search results.
Nayak noted that Google has found these changes should result in a 40 percent reduction in “unhelpful content” in search results. And by announcing the changes publicly, rather than quietly implementing them as Google typically does, the company is putting the bad actors on notice and letting them know that it’s onto them.
Google’s ranking algorithms are getting upgrades to combat three types of unwanted content, according to Pandu Nayak, a vice president of search at Google. The first is content at scale, when creators produce a large amount of low-quality content targeted at search results. The second is what Nayak calls “site reputation abuse,” when a respectable website rents out a portion of its site for spam content. And the third is “expired domain abuse,” when someone takes over an unused but high-ranking domain and pumps it full of spammy content to drive it to the top of search results.
