Google rolled out an update focused on search spam, and if you manage a website or a local business listing, you may already feel its effects. Rankings and reviews can jump around, some pages may disappear from reports, and local map results are being shown differently. These changes are meant to remove low-value and manipulated content, but they can also temporarily affect legitimate sites.
What Google is targeting
At the core of this update is a push to remove spammy, manufactured, or low-value content. That includes:
- Fake or non-genuine reviews — accounts and reviews that appear to be manufactured can be removed.
- AI-generated low-quality content — mass-produced content that doesn’t help users is a target.
- Irrelevant or promotional pages on a business site — content that does not match the business’s purpose or user needs can be treated as spam.
- Local search changes — how Google displays map results and local listings has been adjusted, which can affect visibility.
Why this matters to your business
These updates can cause sudden ranking shifts or lose pages from reporting temporarily. For example, a page that was showing in position 3 may briefly vanish from the results or report as coming from positions 5 to 40 during the update process. Two common business impacts are:
- Review volatility — losing reviews (especially if Google detects they are not genuine) can change local ranking and user trust.
- Traffic fluctuations — removing low-quality pages or re-evaluating content can reduce visits that came from thin or irrelevant articles.
How Google’s “spam prevention” works (brief)
Google uses systems like SpamBrain and other signals to detect content that appears manufactured or that doesn’t add value. Advances in AI made it easy to produce large amounts of content quickly, and much of it is low-quality. The update aims to demote that content so users get more helpful, relevant results.
Practical steps to take right now
Immediate reactions during an ongoing update should be measured. Here’s a step-by-step approach you can follow:
- Don’t rush to rewrite or restructure pages. If your rankings dropped as part of the update, wait. Google is still rolling changes out and may stabilize.
- Monitor key signals: Google Search Console, Google Business Profile (GBP) insights, and analytics for traffic and indexing changes.
- Keep building authority. Continue safe link building, guest posts, and promotion to strengthen the page’s reputation. Quality backlinks and mentions matter more than ever.
- Check your reviews. Identify any that were removed and verify your review acquisition practices. Encourage genuine customer feedback.
- Document changes and dates. Track when drops or improvements happen so you can correlate them with Google notices.
What to do once the update finishes
When Google announces the update is complete or your metrics stabilize, perform a focused audit:
- Content quality audit: Remove or improve thin, irrelevant, or AI-generated content that does not help your users.
- On-page relevance: Ensure pages clearly match the services you offer and user intent. Remove unrelated promotional pages that could be perceived as spam.
- Local listing hygiene: Confirm NAP consistency, correct categories, and complete business profiles to avoid being filtered out of local pack results.
- Encourage authentic reviews: Ask real customers for feedback in ways that follow Google’s guidelines.
- Invest in expertise, experience, authoritativeness, and trust: Strengthen E-A-T signals through better content, team bios, testimonials, and transparent policies.
Quick checklist you can use
- Monitor Search Console, Analytics, and GBP daily for the first two weeks.
- Pause major on-page rewrites until the update is complete.
- Keep publishing genuinely useful content rather than mass-producing filler.
- Audit and remove obviously spammy or irrelevant pages.
- Maintain ethical review collection practices and respond to customer feedback.
- Continue building authority through quality backlinks and local mentions.
Final thoughts
Google updates can feel disruptive, but they are often meant to improve search quality for users. If your site follows good practices and focuses on genuine value, the long-term effect is usually positive. Short-term fluctuations are common, so stay calm, monitor, and plan improvements once the update completes rather than reacting immediately.
If a specific page has dropped and you want a second look, collect the data (positions, dates, traffic changes) and run an audit after the update stabilizes. Clear, user-first changes are the most reliable path back to higher rankings.
