Welcome to the week’s Pulse: updates affect what Google considers spam, what happens when you report it, and what agentic search looks like in practice.
Here’s what matters for you and your work.
Google’s New Spam Policy Targets Back Button Hijacking
Google added back button hijacking to its spam policies, with enforcement beginning June 15. The behavior is now an explicit violation under the malicious practices category.
Key facts: Back button hijacking occurs when a site interferes with browser navigation and prevents users from returning to the previous page. Pages engaging in the behavior face manual spam actions or automated demotions.
Why This Matters
Google called out that some back button hijacking originates from included libraries or advertising platforms, which means the liability sits with the publisher even when the behavior comes from a vendor.
You have two months to audit every script running on your site, including ad libraries and recommendation widgets you didn’t write yourself.
Sites that receive a manual action after June 15 can submit a reconsideration request through Search Console once the offending code is removed.
What SEO Professionals Are Saying
Daniel Foley Carter, SEO Consultant, summed up the community reaction on LinkedIn:
“So basically, that spammy thing you do to try and stop users leaving? Yeah, don’t do it.”
Manish Chauhan, SEO Head at Groww, added on LinkedIn that he was:
“glad this is being addressed. It always felt like a short-term hack for pageviews at the cost of user trust.”
Read our full coverage: New Google Spam Policy Targets Back Button Hijacking
Spam Reports May Now Trigger Manual Actions
Google updated its report-a-spam documentation on April 14 to say user submissions may now trigger manual actions against sites found violating spam policies. The previous guidance said spam reports were used to improve spam detection systems rather than to take direct action.
Key facts: Google may use spam reports to take manual action against violations. If Google issues a manual action, the report text is sent verbatim to the reported website through Search Console.
Why This Matters
Google now states that spam reports can be used to initiate manual actions, making reports explicitly part of its enforcement process in official documentation.
This also raises concerns about potential abuse, as grudge reports and competitor sabotage may become more appealing when reports have a tangible impact. Therefore, the true test will be the quality of reports that Google actually considers.
What SEO Professionals Are Saying
Gagan Ghotra, SEO Consultant, wrote on LinkedIn about why the change may lead to better reports:
“Now spam reports have direct relation to Google issuing manual actions against domains. Google announced if there is a spam report from a user and based upon that report Google decide to issue manual action against a domain then Google will just send the user submitted content in report…
Source link
Disclaimer
We strive to uphold the highest ethical standards in all of our reporting and coverage. We blogs.grocliq.com want to be transparent with our readers about any potential conflicts of interest that may arise in our work. It’s possible that some of the investors we feature may have connections to other businesses, including competitors or companies we write about. However, we want to assure our readers that this will not have any impact on the integrity or impartiality of our reporting. We are committed to delivering accurate, unbiased news and information to our audience, and we will continue to uphold our ethics and principles in all of our work. Thank you for your trust and support.
Website Upgradation is going on for any glitch kindly connect at [email protected]
