Google concludes the March Anti-Spam update

The main update continues

Google recently announced the conclusion of the update aimed at combating spam, focusing in particular on content generated through artificial intelligence, the abuse of expired domains and the abuse of authority.

At the same time, the major update of the search engine continues to be implemented, which includes the evaluation of “Useful Content” within the core algorithm. This latest update is expected to take several more weeks to complete.

The Spam Update: details and impacts

The anti-spam update, which began on March 5, took approximately two weeks to complete. It has focused on large-scale content production, abuse of expired domains, and abuse of domain authority.

Google confirmed the update’s completion on March 20, through an update on its Search Status Dashboard.

This update introduced three new spam policies that target content production abuse, expired domain abuse, and site reputation abuse. While the first two policies were put into effect immediately, the policy regarding abusing the site’s reputation will be effective starting in May.

Preliminary data reveals significant gains and losses across various domains, with some sites completely removed from Google’s search index.

Studies indicate that 100% of deindexed sites had signs of AI-generated content, with half of these sites having 90-100% of posts created by AI.

The main update: what to do in the meantime?

While the anti-spam update is now complete, the main update, which started in parallel, is still ongoing. Google has indicated that the latter will take a few more weeks to complete, integrating the “Useful Content” evaluation into the central algorithm.

In this transition period, SEOs and content creators are advised to focus on creating original, high-value material.