A Google Spam update is occasionally performed in addition to the normal spam-reducing processes in the search algorithms – a modification to SpamBrain for example. SERP movements show that there were few major changes seen in SERPs over the period of the update from June 20th to June 27th 2024.
Major Google algorithm updates are often accompanied by stark changes in the SERPs which are picked up by our Google Update Radar. Across the five countries covered by the radar there was little more than normal activity to be seen during the period of this spam update rollout. This doesn’t mean that the change won’t have an effect in the future.
- The Google June 2024 Spam update rollout started on the 20th June
- The Google June 2024 Spam update rollout finished on the 27th June
- Information from Google about Spam updates is available here.
All Google Updates are listed here in our Ask SISTRIX library, along with general information about Google algorithm updates.
The spam ‘fingerprint’
Across our Movers and Shakers lists [42 countries updated every single day, account needed] we regularly see examples of domains growing with a high-volume of new content. Most of the examples appear to be content-injections through hacked websites but some are large-scale informational content efforts. In most cases the visibility is only short lived as can be seen with the five recent examples in the 90-day chart below:
All of these examples have different ‘fingerprints’ and none of them start or decay from the same point. The shortest timespan in the examples above is 6 days. The longest – y20india.in – appears to be a content project build up through over 2000 URLs since the beginning of the year.
Spam ‘hacks’ are still visible today too. A suspicious URL highlighting “ritz-hint-of-salt-crackers-137oz-target” doesn’t quite fit into this fashion website which managed to rank as the 143rd most visible website in the US for a while this week. Over 60,000 URLs were ranking.
What do these examples have to do with the June 2024 Spam Update? Probably nothing, and that’s the point. These are just part of the normal background activity in the SERPs.
Have a look at the sparklines for the top losers:
There’s no obvious fingerprint in these VI sparklines. It’s business as usual for the SERPs, and that brings us back to the Google Radar. which has been calm recently:
Top 20 losses, US, during the Spam Update
For further reference, here are the top 20 sites losing by percent in US during the June Spam Update rollout. We have analysed each one of them by hand and noted the likely reason for the changes. Only one was related to the removal of spam from search and it looks like even that single example was corrected by the site owner and not by a Google algorithm.
| Domain | Visibillity Index 20.06.2024 | Visibillity Index 28.06.2024 | Percentage change | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| brooklinen.com | 2.152 | 1.053 | -51.08% | Error realted to https://www.brooklinen.com/collections/ |
| bing.com | 10.731 | 6.529 | -39.16% | Standard deviation |
| walmartcontacts.com | 1.979 | 1.233 | -37.73% | 404 errors |
| tandfonline.com | 5.459 | 3.435 | -37.08% | Unknown issue. Recovering. |
| letras.mus.br | 2.029 | 1.326 | -34.63% | Lyrics - unstable |
| letras.com | 13.888 | 9.312 | -32.95% | Lyrics - unstable |
| kay.com | 9.155 | 6.225 | -32.01% | Unkown issue, Recovered. |
| bedbathandbeyond.com | 16.295 | 11.117 | -31.78% | Falling since 18 months |
| us-appliance.com | 2.66 | 1.841 | -30.80% | In-domain content move |
| okmusi.com | 1.75 | 1.226 | -29.96% | MP3 download tools always volatile |
| legendarywhitetails.com | 1.587 | 1.116 | -29.71% | Standard deviation |
| puppyspot.com | 3.579 | 2.534 | -29.20% | Standard deviation |
| deltadentalins.com | 1.442 | 1.027 | -28.75% | Recovered |
| adl.org | 2.872 | 2.081 | -27.55% | Standard deviation |
| hertzcarsales.com | 1.392 | 1.015 | -27.07% | Standard deviation |
| historians.org | 1.459 | 1.07 | -26.63% | In-domain content move |
| fiammaespresso.com | 2.407 | 1.769 | -26.50% | SPAM (Suspected site hack) |
| hola.com | 1.705 | 1.295 | -24.07% | Standard deviation |
| sss.gov | 1.346 | 1.032 | -23.34% | Standard deviation |
In short, it appears that the June Spam Update, the update to Spambrain, did not immediately affect domains across the period of the rollout.
