Rude Awakening for Spammers Coming This Summer

Lookout Spammers! Google is about to attack. This summer will bring updates that are designed to eliminate the appearance of Black Hat and Link Spammers in search results. If you’re unsure of what those labels even mean, don’t worry. All you really need to know is that “Black Hat” SEOs and Link Spammers both use unethical techniques to get higher rank on searches. By breaking search engine rules and regulations and presenting information in a way that falsely lures search engines and users, these slimy practices are not only hurting the world of SEO and its reputation, they’re also harming the search experience overall.

Change is Good

When Matt Cutts, Google’s head SEO expert, was asked to speak about what Google might do in the next few months relating to SEO, he of course had a lot to say. Here are the upcoming changes that he’s hoping will help to skim the scum out of the search tank.

The Next Generation of Penguin

Penguin 4, which is set to launch very soon, will dig deeper and hopefully have much more impact than the first version. Because of the fact that the new Penguin is so much more complex, it’s expected that a percentage of the SEO community may be frustrated by the update.

Crackdown on Advertorials Inflation

Some sites have been using advertorials as a way to inflate their link profile. Google hopes to prevent this from happening in the future and will increase their efforts to fight it along with making it a violation of their Webmaster guidelines.

Spammy Queries

Certain search topics are inherently spammy and Cutts specifically mentions pornographic queries and payday loans as two examples. Even though these have not been a major focus of the Spam Team at Google, Cutts assures that they’re going to start paying attention since users at large want more screening on all types of searches, even with taboo subjects like porn.

Hunting for Link Networks

In order to prevent link spammers, Matt suggests Google plans to go “upstream”. Confirming the value of the links directly at the source and going after link networks will hopefully control link spamming.

Improved Analysis of Links

Google is currently working on a more refined version of their link analysis software that will greatly improve their level of link assessment.

Better Detection of Hacked Sites

A new feature is in the works which will help Google more easily locate hacked sites. Along with improving detection, they also look to improve Webmaster communication about hacked sites.

It Pays to Have Authority

If you are an authority in a specific industry, Google thinks you deserve a boost in your rank. They’re working on how to accomplish this since you deserve to rank above other sites that are unfairly taking you out of the spotlight.

Verification that Panda Impacts the Right Sites

Due to the thoroughness of the new Panda, some sites may be unfairly affected. In order to avoid this, Google is going to take a look deeper into quality metrics and do everything they can to make sure that only sites that should be affected by the change are affected.

Reduction of Clustered Domains

Google has been working to further diversify first page search results and is also looking to ensure that clusters of results won’t occur on the following page results, or on the same page at all for that matter.

Better Communication to Webmasters

A constant for Google is their desire to improve Webmaster communication. Cutts claims that they’ll be improving user notifications as an attempt to be more helpful.

Google’s real goal with all of these changes is to cut down on the incorrect, unethical use of SEO and help redirect attention back to businesses who really deserve the attention.