Google released an update to its spam detection system on June 20, 2024. The update targets sites that engage in practices that go against Google’s spam policies and is expected to take a week to complete.
Google’s Official Announcement
Google announced the June 2024 Spam Update in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Today we released the June 2024 spam update.
It may take up to 1 week to complete, and we'll post on the Google Search Status Dashboard when the rollout is done: https://t.co/EkzeXvUZwH
— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) June 20, 2024
Google also announced the update in a post on LinkedIn. However, did not provide any more information about the update on either platform.
What Are People Saying?
In response to Google’s post, Barry Schwartz asked if this update was related to the algorithm component of the site reputation abuse update. Google Search Liaison confirmed it was not and promised to inform SEOs whenever the site reputation abuse algorithm update was released.
For the records, the manual action component of the site reputation abuse update went live on May 5, 2024.
It’s not. As I’ve shared before, I have ever confidence that when it is, we’ll share about that. Also, apologies for my original response below, which I’ve deleted but will also screenshot for the context. I know the important work you do (especially because we used to work… pic.twitter.com/xMurvQadlq
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) June 21, 2024
In another post, Barry Schwartz provided some insights into the June 2024 spam update. Glenn Gabe replied, saying this is just another “broad spam update” and not a link spam update or the algorithm component of the site reputation abuse update.
It's a "normal, broad spam update", NOT the algorithmic part of the 'site reputation abuse' enforcement, not a link spam update (Google would have said that), and it could take a week to roll out. https://t.co/XdMhLmV9DP
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) June 21, 2024
In an unrelated post, Glenn Gabe mentioned that many sites retained their traffic despite the update. However, he shared analytics reports of some sites that had lost traffic.
Like with most spam updates, I'm not seeing widespread impact from the June spam update. But for sites that seem impacted by it, they will know it… Here are a few more examples of sites that have dropped heavily since the update rolled out. I'm seeing this across verticals and… pic.twitter.com/vIGBHGh7no
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) June 23, 2024
In response to Google’s post announcing the update, Elmo Joeleht asked if spam meant “Small Publishers are Meaningless.” His question is evidence of the dissatisfaction smaller creators have with the recent Google updates that have repeatedly caused them to lose traffic to bigger publishers.
Does the SPAM stand for "Small Publishers Are Meaningless" ?
I miss the days when updates favored better content rather than prioritizing big players and killing content sites by calling them spam.— Elmo Joeleht (@ElmoJoeleht) June 21, 2024
Elena Dyulgerova shared the analytics reports of her site and asked if Google would take away her last six organic visitors with this update.
Google is coming after my last 6 organic visitors🤣Bring it on! Let's see if we get to 0. pic.twitter.com/jK42jLk71K
— Elena Dyulgerova (@SEOwithElena) June 20, 2024
Previous Spam Updates
The June 2024 Spam Update is just one of the many Google spam updates we have documented. We have reported on earlier Google spam and link spam updates, including the following:
- March 2024 Spam Update: March 5 – March 20, 2024
- October 2023 Spam Update: October 4 – October 20, 2023
- December 2022 Link Spam Update: December 14, 2022 – January 12, 2023
- October 2022 Spam Update: October 19 – October 21, 2022
- November 2021 Anti-Spam Update: November 3 – November 11, 2021
- Link Spam Update: July 26 – August 24, 2021
- Anti-Spam Update II: June 29, 2021
- Anti-Spam Update: June 23, 2021
What’s Next – Dealing With This Update
As with any spam update, the June 2024 Spam Update is nothing to worry about for the most part. As long as you keep your site spam-free and comply with Google spam guidelines, you should not see a drop in your rankings.
In the meantime, you should monitor your site with Rank Math Analytics. If you observe a drop in traffic, review your site for spam and follow the guide below for tips on recovering from an algorithm update.
