Google has released its annual report on search spam, which reveals that SpamBrain, a machine learning-based spam detection system, took action on six times as many spam sites in 2021 as it did in 2020.
Google claims that by identifying these sites, it has reduced hacked spam by 70% and gibberish spam by 75% on hosted platforms.
Google was able to keep 99 per cent of searches spam-free by recognizing sites with disruptive or malicious behaviour.
SpamBrain Showcases Google AI’s Continuous Improvement
Despite the fact that Google unveiled its spam detection system in 2018, this report is the first time it has been referred to as “SpamBrain.”
With the help of machine learning, this AI platform has become more effective at detecting and eliminating spam, while also evolving to address new spam types and prevent abuse.
This includes the ability to detect sites that have been hacked or otherwise compromised in order to install malicious recording software on users’ computers.
Another area of improvement has been in detecting gibberish spam sites composed of meaningless text stuffed with keywords.
hat in black SEO professionals use these to try to boost page rankings, sometimes even spending money on spam links to trick search engines into increasing PageRank quality scores.
Google is dedicated to improving search quality and user safety
Google claims significant progress in combating link spam, scams, and online harassment with the goal of improving search quality and protecting user safety.
A link spam update in the middle of the year improved the search engine’s link assessment, allowing it to detect unnatural links across multiple languages and exclude them from search results.
Consumers lost more than $5.8 billion to fraud last year, a 70% increase from 2020. Google’s user safety program has been expanded to combat this.
Building on previous work, it was able to provide a 40% reduction in fraudulent search results.
As part of its commitment to user safety, it modified its approach to online harassment and how results are handled for queries that are vulnerable to bad actors. Sites that use “pay to remove” content are included.
Defending Against Ranking Manipulation
Recognizing the unethical practices used by some sites to circumvent its quality guidelines, Google has taken steps to reduce ranking manipulation. This includes altering the way product reviews are handled and allowing users to report deceptive practices.
According to Google, these updates were successful in reducing low-quality reviews while promoting those with better content and author expertise.
Learn more from SEO and read Universal Analytics Reports Have Low Realtime Data, Google Warns.
