Zentury Spotlight – Google Releases October 2023 Spam Update

Google Releases October 2023 Spam Update

Google has released a new update to reduce spam results for its users worldwide.

The October 2023 Spam Update addresses spam that is cloaked, hacked, automatically created, and scraped in several languages, including Turkish, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Hindi, Chinese, and others.

Google claims that input from its community members who reported seeing more spam results in their own languages led to the upgrade.

Google has in plan to increase its spam detection skills in order to deliver higher-quality and relevant search results.

Google specified in its spam policies documentation what is banned and considered spammy.

The list of things considered spammy or misleading include:

• Users can’t see hidden content or links, but search engines can.
• material that is automatically created and offers users little to no extra value.
• large-scale unlicensed article scraping
• Pages with a lot of annoying advertising make for a bad user experience.
• Affiliate pages with little content were primarily concerned with revenue.

It will take a few weeks for the October 2023 Spam Update to take effect in Google’s search index.

Google invites users to keep giving comments through its spam reporting tool in the meantime.

Google Updates Discover Documentation

Updated Google Discover documentation now explains why Discover traffic might vary and can not be trusted.

Discover is a customized news feed with articles on subjects relevant to user interests. A search history can be used to choose these subjects. Perhaps as a result, Discover is now a part of Google Search.

So, for instance, if someone searches for camping gear, articles relating to that topic may start to appear in their Google Discover feed.

There is no method to optimize for Discover, unlike keyword-based Search. A website may be made to be compatible with Discover in a number of ways.

However, a website cannot be optimized to attract more visitors from Discover.

The Discover Follow function is the sole method to promote additional visitors from Discover. Users may choose which publications they want to appear in the Discover section’s Follow section by using this function.

Three causes are listed in Google’s updated documentation for Discover traffic changes:

• Adaptable interests
• Content formats
• A Google Search update

Since Discover traffic is unpredictable, it is not a smart idea to create a business plan that relies on it.

Bard Transcripts Are Being Taken off of Google Search Results

Earlier this week, it was revealed that search results were displaying transcripts of users’ conversations with Google’s AI chatbot, Bard.

The fact that private chats were being made public without people’s awareness instantly sparked privacy issues.

Google has acknowledged that this indexing was an error and is taking steps to prevent Bard chat transcripts from showing up in search results.

In contrast to non-Google websites, Google’s statement admits the special difficulty Google encounters when removing its web pages from search.

Google emphasizes that while banning common websites may be done instantaneously, deleting URLs frequently necessitates “short-term changes” before having the desired impact.

Google is working on it, but it will take some time to completely remove Bard chat transcripts from search results.

Users are urged not to make use of Bard’s “share chat” option as Google tries to remove Bard transcripts from search results as this generates a public, indexable link.

Google Debuts Its “SEO Made Easy” YouTube Series

Google has unveiled the first video in a new “SEO Made Easy” YouTube series to show users how to enhance the performance of their website in search results.

Martin Splitt from Google’s Search Relations team explains in the first episode how websites can alter how their brand name appears in Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs).

In a previous introduction, Splitt provided an outline of the material and stated that it would be useful for both new and seasoned website administrators.

This series seeks to offer concise, practical video lessons to help websites flourish in Google because SEO is a shifting goal.

Structured data is extensively discussed in the first episode of “SEO Made Easy” in relation to website optimization.

The “SEO Made Easy” series is Google’s most recent YouTube educational effort for webmasters and digital marketers.

This episode is the first in a series that will provide the groundwork for a thorough investigation of SEO tactics that might make your website stand out in Google Search.

Google Completes Rollout of Helpful Content Update

The September 2023 Helpful Content Update deployment, which started on September 14 and finished on September 28, is now complete.

This update, according to Google, contains a better classifier and makes numerous important adjustments to the Helpful Information System, which was created to elevate information that prioritizes people’s needs over those created for search engines.

The Helpful Content System’s guidelines have undergone three critical modifications as a result of the September update:

• Alterations to the machine-generated content advice.
• Revised guidelines for hosting content from third parties on subdomains or the main domain.
• Additional guidance on what to do in the event that a website loses visitors after a Helpful Content Update.

The update offers fresh advice to people who have been impacted by a Helpful Content Update. Google suggests that these websites locate and remove or replace any unhelpful information.

Google now suggests locating useless information on your website and either updating it or eliminating it.

The September 2023 Helpful Content Update’s completion is a new milestone in Google’s continuous mission to maintain the value and accuracy of search results. To successfully improve their search rankings, website owners and SEO specialists must react to these changes.