The end of 2024 was a crazy time SEO-wise, as Google released several major updates at the end of the year (and throughout the holiday shopping season). First we had this November 2024 core updatewhich took over three weeks to complete. Then we had a week off beforehand December 2024 core update rolled out, which took six days. Immediately after the December core update was completed, Google released the last major update of the year, namely this December 2024 spam update. The spam update lasted seven days and ran until Christmas Day, finishing on December 26th (although I think it probably ended earlier).
Analyzing spam updates is always interesting because they are not part of Google’s comprehensive core updates and target sites that violate Google’s spam policies. So if Google discovers gaps that aren’t captured by its core ranking system, it may release separate spam updates to address those issues. Spam updates usually don’t have a widespread impact, but some do. For example this December 2022 link spam update impacted many websites and caused significant downfalls on those websites.
Here is an example of a drop from Google 2022 Link spam update. Due to SpamBrain’s neutralization of unnatural links, the site has declined significantly. I’ll share more about link spam updates soon.
The December 2024 spam update definitely caused a lot of volatility. Below I’ll cover some key points about the Spam Update, including five blinded case studies. Note that I am NOT looking to exclude specific sites or companies, which is why the cases are hidden. Instead, I want to address the issues I see on these sites that may have caused the spam update to stop.
Google’s Spam Guidelines: A Good Starting Point.
If you’ve been affected by the December 2024 spam update and aren’t sure why, be sure to read it again Google’s spam guidelines to identify the specific policies you may be violating. It is also important to note this Link spam Updates are usually announced as such, so the December spam update was not link-based.
Based on what I see, scaled content abuse, Door sidesand other content-related spam policies were in play. I know that some of the affected websites also have questionable links, but I don’t believe that the December 2024 spam update targeted unnatural links.
Recovering from Spam Updates:
First, spam updates are not manual actions. These are algorithm updates that target websites that violate Google’s spam policies. For sites affected by spam updates, Google has stated that if you stop spamming, you may see improvements over time and then see those improvements in Google’s systems over several months (or longer). I’ve seen websites recover to some extent after being hit by previous spam updates. However, it’s important to understand that a website obviously won’t recover from spam that ends up ranking. However, other content on the site that has fallen in rankings could recover over time.
Additionally, link spam updates differ in this regard. Google’s SpamBrain essentially neutralizes links when a link spam update is rolled out. So if spam links helped a website and that website was affected by a link spam update, then the links were neutralized (you can consider them disappeared). So there is no other way to recover than to build strong links over time (the right way). But again, the December 2024 spam update wasn’t a link spam update and definitely seemed to be more focused on spam policies related to content.
Reversals from recent major core updates:
I also wanted to quickly cover some interesting cases that illustrate the complexity of Google’s ranking systems (and how different systems can balance each other out). There are several examples of sites that surged with the general core updates in November or December, but were hit by the December spam update, changed course, and crashed again. So Google’s core systems “overlook” the spam violations and reward the offending websites. But when the spam update was rolled out, these websites completely changed and were discontinued. So again, spam will work until it doesn’t.
Here are some examples of this:
Not all spam is recognized…
Another interesting note was that some sites containing spam actually spiked with the rollout of the spam update. Yes, you read that correctly. I don’t envy Google in this regard. It’s constantly battling spam and this just shows how it can be a slugfest.
Will the surge continue for these sites? Probably not. I’m sure Google’s systems will catch up eventually, but it’s always interesting when you see a spike in spam during a spam update. 🙂 🙂
December Spam Update Case Studies: Five Examples of Negatively Impacted Sites.
Case 1: Doorway Pages Galore (with a page with thin content).
The first page I will cover contained a lot of starter pages. This is when the same content is published to many URLs on the site, but those pages are optimized for different keywords. Furthermore, these pages didn’t contain much content at all. There was hardly any content on these pages and they definitely did not meet or exceed user expectations based on search queries. So the website had a combination of landing pages and thin content.
When the Spam update rolled out in December, the site’s search visibility dropped quite a bit (although it still ranks for many searches). And some of the affected URLs were ranking in AI digests before the spam update, and some are still ranking in AI digests. Since this is an algorithmic adjustment, this is entirely possible.
For example, here is a site query that displays doors for a specific area of the site. 509 URLs were returned. Most show the same thin content, just optimized for different search queries:
Case 2: Scaled content abuse: PAA mining and leaving your own lane.
The next example looked like a case of content overload with all sorts of available information on the topic. There were many examples of content that contained so much information on the topic that it was 25 posts in one. It’s almost as if they combed through every single “People Also Ask” (PAA) and included it as a headline. I felt like they wanted to provide all the information on a topic, which made each post completely overwhelming.
Additionally, it was strange to see a number of posts with anonymous authors. And this was a site where expertise definitely counted. There were hundreds of contributions from anonymous authors. Just an interesting observation.
And beyond that, there were a number of examples of content that seemed out of their reach. I’ve talked about the importance of “staying in your lane” many times, and it’s easy to start publishing content outside of your lane when it’s ranking. The problem is that you’re sending Google (and users) very strange signals about the site’s focus. Additionally, when you expand beyond your own area of expertise, it is easier to write about topics that may not be your core competencies (which can impact content quality, user satisfaction, etc.). And remember that Google’s Navboost system measures user engagement signals for 13 months (so it can definitely understand dissatisfied users being dissatisfied over time…)
As far as spam updates go, from my perspective there were several issues with the site. Here is an example of a page overloaded with content.
And as I said above, it was as if each PAA became a heading on the page…
Case 3: Ascent into Oblivion.
The next case I’ll cover was pretty wild to watch. The site dropped significantly with the spam update and a closer look at the drop revealed the underside of the iceberg, so to speak. A section of the website that was somewhat hidden from the core part of the website contained almost 5 million URLs. Yes, 5M. Additionally, this was an example of a site that saw a surge with the November core update, only to reverse course with the rollout of the December spam update.
But here lies the catch. This section of millions of URLs actually increased with the spam update (and had also increased before the spam update). The other part of the site with more traditional content has declined significantly. So did the millions of URLs added to the site cause the spam update hit, while other parts of the site were algorithmically negatively impacted? Or was the problem with the other parts of the site with traditional content? It was definitely a strange case. To find out more, I would have to delve much deeper.
For example, here is the section of the website with millions of indexed URLs:
And here is the section with more traditional content:
If you test the core content for the probability of AI, you will come back with a high probability that it was generated by AI. So that could be a reason for the spam update hit (scaling AI-generated content). But it’s hard to ignore that nearly 5 million URLs have been added to the site, definitely covering a different intent… And of course, it could be that both issues are working together to cause the drop.
Additionally, as I mentioned earlier, this was an example of a site that saw a boost with the November core update and did a U-turn with the December spammy update. This can also happen when Google’s systems balance each other out.
Case 4: More extensive content misuse.
The fourth case I will cover uncovered a major content abuse that looked like pages stitched together from different pieces of content. To be honest, they didn’t make much sense when looking through the contents. I guess they were trying to cast a wide net and rank for searches that are only tangentially related to the topics they’re focused on.
The site took a pretty big hit with the spam update, but it’s another example of a site that spikes with the November core update, only to plummet again with the rollout of the spam update.
While I was going through some of the most egregious content, I kept telling myself that there’s no way a human could actually have created this… Also, the user experience was brutal (I had to wade through a lot of ads to even to access the content). Note that this wouldn’t be the reason for being affected by a spammy update, but it’s worth noting that the overall user experience on the site was terrible, in addition to the publishing pages appearing to be stitched together programmatically. That’s not a good combination, to say the least.
Case 5: More doorway pages and AI content.
The final case I will cover showed many entry pages that were optimized for each type of query they wanted to rank for. The number is in the range of 140-160,000 URLs. And the URLs were heavily programmatic and based on what the site focused on in those sections. Additionally, of the 140,000 to 160,000 listings on Google, only about 18,000 URLs ranked for searches in the top 100 listings, which is a red flag. That’s just 12% of the pages indexed in the top 100 entries in the problematic directory…
First, here’s the drop when the spam update rolled out:
And here is the number of pages that were ranking in Google’s top 100 listings before the spam update was rolled out (again, only 12% of indexed pages):
Additionally, each of these pages contained cluttered text at the bottom of the page that was very likely AI-generated content. For every page I tested, the content crammed at the bottom gave a 100 percent chance of being AI-generated. There is not much more to report on this case. Tons of landing pages mixed with AI-generated content. And boom, the site took a big hit with the spam update in December.
Summary: It works until it doesn’t. Be careful when scaling…
The end of 2024 was crazy as three major updates hit the market in a short space of time. And the December spam update ran until Christmas Day before completing on December 26th. If you were negatively affected by the December spam update and don’t know why, I would start by reading Google’s spam guidelines. Then I would objectively review your website to see where you may be violating these guidelines. And if you identify the culprits, I will work hard to clean up the site and make sure the site stops sending spam.
As far as recovery goes, Google needs to see significant improvement over time before recovery can occur. And “recovery” is a relative term, since the sites affected by a spam update were… spam. However, if you see declines in core queries that go beyond spam rankings, you may see gains over time as Google sees improvements. Good luck.
GG