Search Engine Updates
Algorithm updates, feature changes, and policy shifts as they happen.
- News
Google says scaled content is now a bigger problem than link spam
At Search Central Live Deep Dive, Google tied 2026's spam updates to a flood of new content and AI-assisted detection. Audit per-page effort before backlinks.
- News
Google now calls AI headshots and fake bylines deception
The Oct. 1 edit to Google's people-first content page puts fabricated creator profiles in site-owner guidance, matching section 4.5.3 of the rater guidelines.
- News
Google's docs now spell out the effort test for AI pages
Google's generative AI content guide now cites rater guideline sections 4.6.5 and 4.6.6, alongside its manual factcheck rule and IPTC labels for AI product images.
- News
Google's spam update may take two weeks instead of three days
Google's September spam update may run two weeks. Volatility began September 23 and rank-tracker data has been degraded since the 13th, so date-stamp baselines now.
- News
Google may reorder results using hovers and scrolls on the SERP
SALT.agency describes Glue, a Google log of hovers, scrolls and viewing time on SERP features that feeds a popularity score used to reorder ranked results.
- News
Scaled content may lose crawling after Google tests a sample
Dan Taylor argues the early spike from scaled content is a freshness boost, after which Google tests a sample of the new URLs and cuts crawling if they fall short.
