Google has finally released its official Webspam Report 2021, and all the SEO Sydney experts can’t stop talking about it! Google releases a Webspam Report every year to help SEO experts like ourselves to stay up-to-date on what their algorithms are looking for and what they expect from us as SEO Sydney experts. The latest report has just been released and if you’re interested in learning what’s changed in the last 12 months, keep reading.
The report offers insights into what future steps Google will take in order to improve online user experience and stop black hat SEO strategies from harming organic search results. Here are the most important points from the report, and how you can use them to help your SEO campaign today!
What is SpamBrain?
Google’s SpamBrain was launched in 2018 – a new AI-based spam prevention system, that utilises Artificial Intelligence to pinpoint and block spam before it ever reaches an end user. This means search users will enjoy better experience with even less nuisance and fewer bad links leading them off track when they go online for information.
How SpamBrain Works Against Spam?
Google is getting smarter. SpamBrain allows a user to identify spam websites, block them in real time, or report spam domains that exist outside of SpamBrain. Since 2012, SpamBrain has helped local SEO experts near me block spam by creating a web of strong links that break up webspam’s stranglehold on top rankings. By combining an in-depth knowledge of Google with a tried-and-true process for building high-quality inbound links, SpamBrain has blunted more than 300 million spams and their creators’ attempts to reach your visitors and clients. Embraced in 2018, SpamBrain is used by Google to continuously enhancing its search performance by preventing spam. In 2021, the SpamBrain identification system identified nearly six times more spam sites than in 2020. As a result, there was a decrease in hacked spam sites and gibberish spam. The most prominent feature of SpamBrain is that it was designed to evolve with new methods of abuse. With the abundant number of spam produced every day, SpamBrain’s ability to detect problematic web content in their index, in excess of billion web pages, has been integral in preserving a 99% spam-free search index on Google.
Enhancing Search Quality and User Protection
For one, Google succeeded in improving its non-traditional anti-spam measures in 2021 by limiting link spam, stopping scams, and diminishing online harassment. They continue to use links as a way to make a meaningful search experience, even in 2021, where they have found other ways to deal with spam and no longer trust them. They put in place a Link Spam Update to prevent spammy links from interfering with quality search results. They had a team working in 2020 that increased safety online by doing a variety of work, the most prominent of which was the inclusion of many algorithm updates that lowered scammy search results by 40%. The enhanced coverage meant that they could safeguard users against more scams, beyond the customer support issues they have been defending for the past few years. In order to improve user safety, they improved SpamBrain to better address online harassment and make name queries less prominent for sites with manipulative removal practices.
Minimising Low Quality Content
On top of spam, Google is committed to improving the search experience by seeking out tactics used to play the system, which make the user’s experience worse and thus limit the breadth of content. This strategy, one example of which was an improvement to the ranking of product review queries, would often leave results comprised of rewritten product descriptions, and not of hands-on reviews. But Google introduced significant updates to their evaluation of product reviews in 2021, two of which were made to how they view content and which resulted in the elimination of most low-quality reviews. Meanwhile, it is these updated measures that allowed reviews with more insight and expertise to rise to the top. Google wants to ensure users find relevant content by Search. If people find manipulative behaviour in search results, they can send Google feedback on the search results page.
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