Google spam policies
What are Google spam policies?
Google’s spam policies are the rules, published in Google Search Central, that describe practices Google treats as spam in web search. Sites that break them may rank lower or not appear in results at all, through automated systems or a manual action from a human reviewer.
The policies are part of Google Search Essentials, which replaced the old Webmaster Guidelines in 2022. The named policies are: cloaking, doorway abuse, expired domain abuse, hacked content, hidden text and link abuse, keyword stuffing, link spam, machine-generated traffic, malicious practices (malware, unwanted software and back button hijacking), misleading functionality, scaled content abuse, scraping, site reputation abuse, sneaky redirects, thin affiliation and user-generated spam.
A further section covers other behaviour that can lead to demotion: a high volume of valid legal removal requests, exploitative personal information removal practices, policy circumvention (moving a violation to a new subdomain or site) and scam and fraud. Expired domain abuse, scaled content abuse and site reputation abuse were added in March 2024.
Why Google spam policies matter for SEO
The spam policies are the line between white hat and black hat SEO. Every glossary entry for a black hat technique maps to one of them, and every manual action type in Search Console points back to them.
Google detects violations with automated systems, including SpamBrain, and with human review. Anyone can report suspected spam to Google. Knowing the exact policies helps you avoid tactics that sound reasonable but are named violations, such as reusing an expired domain for unrelated content or publishing thousands of templated pages.
How to check your site against the spam policies
- Read the policy list on Google Search Central once in full; it is short and gives examples for each.
- Check Search Console’s Manual actions and Security issues reports.
- Audit your backlinks for bought, swapped or networked links, and your outbound links for paid links without rel="sponsored".
- Crawl the site for hidden text, unexpected redirects, thin or near-duplicate pages and pages you did not create.
- Review any third-party or user-generated sections, which are common sources of site reputation abuse and user-generated spam.
Is Google updating right now? Every confirmed core and spam update, with rollout dates and daily ranking volatility, is on the OpenSEO Google algorithm update tracker.
Google spam policies FAQ
Where are Google’s spam policies?
On Google Search Central, under Search Essentials, on the page titled “Spam policies for Google web search”.
What happens if you break Google’s spam policies?
Your pages may rank lower or be removed from results. That can happen automatically or through a manual action, which you see in Search Console.
Do Google’s spam policies apply to AI content?
They apply to how content is made and why, not the tool. Google says using automation, including AI, to mass-produce pages mainly to manipulate rankings is scaled content abuse.
Related SEO terms
Black hat SEOBlack hat
Black hat SEO is the use of tactics that break search engines’ spam policies, such as paid links, cloaking or keyword stuffing, to rank faster.
Manual action (Google penalty)
A manual action is a penalty a Google reviewer applies when a site breaks its spam policies, demoting or removing pages until the issue is fixed.
SpamBrain is Google’s AI-based spam prevention system, used to detect spam content and link spam in search results.
Link schemesBlack hat
A link scheme is any attempt to create links mainly to manipulate rankings, such as buying, swapping or automating links, which is Google’s link spam.
Scaled content abuseBlack hat
Scaled content abuse is producing many pages mainly to manipulate rankings, with little value for users, whether made by AI, people or both.
Site reputation abuse (parasite SEO)Black hat
Site reputation abuse, or parasite SEO, is publishing third-party pages on a trusted site mainly to borrow its ranking power, against Google’s policies.
CloakingBlack hat
Cloaking is showing search engines different content from what users see in order to manipulate rankings, which breaks Google’s spam policies.