There has been an influx of spam on Google search engines, according to a new study. German researchers from the University of Leipzig, Bauhaus University Weimar and the Center for Scalable Data Analysis and Artificial Intelligence have been looking at whether Google was getting worse at providing spam-free content.
The research entitled “Is Google getting worse?” analyzed 7,392 product review queries on Google, Bing and DuckDuckGo over a year. He reported that “a torrent of low-quality content, especially for product search, continues to drown out any kind of useful information in search results.”
The writers described the situation as a “constant battle” with search engines, but noted that Bing and DuckDuckGo had “substantially improved their results.” However, the overall picture was that SEO spam was constantly coming in and leaving the results as the engineers tried to keep tweaking the parameters.
When Google intervened, it caused a “temporary positive effect,” they say. Although ultimately, “search engines seem to be missing the cat and mouse game that is SEO spam.” The study reveals that while 80% of web pages use search engine optimization, this strategy has had an unintended consequence. It made sites look like they were created by non-experts, which made users have less trust in Google.
The analysis therefore observed that there was “a general downward trend in text quality across all three search engines” and warned that generative AI could make matters worse.
The researchers concluded that “dynamic spam in the form of low-quality, mass-produced commercial content deserves more attention.”
Spam problems in Google search
In its 2023 core update, Google put a lot of emphasis on the concept of EEAT to improve quality. The acronym stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, which is a component of Google Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines. The extra “E,” which stands for “experience,” means that Google now values first-hand or life experience about the topic a page is about.
Google search results are, in my opinion, so bad, some of the worst I’ve seen in years.
Here’s an example: Google Translate Ranking: Clicks on a *Google URL* result lead to redirects to other spam sites (and possibly malware). pic.twitter.com/gNsmSiskkv
— Bill Hartzer (@bhartzer) December 22, 2023
However, Land of seekers reported that Google was still hit by a spam attack in December. He explained that “the biggest reason for spam’s success is that the search queries that spam sites rank for are low-competition, which makes it easier to rank.” SEO specialist Bill Hartzer said Google’s emphasis on links rather than content was contributing to the problem, as Google URLs were redirecting “to other sites (and possibly malware)”.
Featured Image: Canva
Suswati Basu
Freelance journalist
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