Whether it's cloaking, keyword stuffing, scraping or sneaky redirects, don't be tempted by spammy shortcuts that promise quick gains with minimal effort.
Google’s Spam Update rolled out on 26 August, and if you’ve noticed your traffic wobbling, it might be because the search giant is once again cracking down on practices that make the web messy. You might already be familiar with Google’s spam policies, or you might need a quick reminder. Let’s talk about what not to do.
1. Cloaking
Cloaking is showing one thing to search engines and crawlers, while presenting something entirely different to actual humans. For example, maybe your site looks like a helpful travel blog to Google but takes real visitors to a betting site full of flashing ads. It’s trickery, plain and simple. Google doesn’t like being lied to (and neither do your users), so cloaking is a fast track to penalties. If you want to build trust, stay transparent!
2. Doorway abuse
Creating loads of nearly identical pages with each one optimised for slightly different keywords, just to funnel users to the same product or service might sound like a tempting idea. However, these ‘doorway pages’ don’t provide value; they’re basically just time wasters. Google would prefer users to reach the good stuff directly, not to bounce through a corridor of useless pages filled with thin or duplicate content.
3. Expired domain abuse
Buying up an expired domain with some history and slapping on unrelated, low-quality content? Google’s wise to it. It used to be a sneaky way of inheriting authority, but now it’s a shortcut to nowhere. If you genuinely acquire an old domain and build something meaningful, that’s fine! If you’re just there to exploit its past life, expect rankings to decline.
4. Hacked content
Even if you didn’t inject that spammy casino page into your blog, you’re still responsible for keeping your site secure. Hacked content not only ruins user trust but can also lead to your site being dropped from search altogether. Google doesn’t care who did it, but it does expect you (the website owner) to fix it. Keep your plugins updated, patch vulnerabilities and maybe update your passwords to something more secure.
5. Hidden text & link abuse
If your SEO strategy involves white text on a white background or sneaky links hidden in a full stop... it’s not going to work. Search engine crawlers can see what you’re doing and so can anyone with a ‘select all’ shortcut. If it looks deceitful, it probably is. Better to focus on visible, helpful content than wasting time manipulating content in this way.
6. Keyword stuffing
Nothing screams spam like a paragraph that repeats the same keyword twenty times. ‘We offer the best cheap hotels in London, where you can book a cheap hotel in London, especially if you’re looking for cheap hotels in London…’ - you get the idea. It’s unreadable and it’s simply annoying. Google now uses context and intent, so overdoing keywords is more likely to hurt than help. Write naturally like a human, and create content you would enjoy reading yourself.
7. Link spam
Links should reflect genuine recommendations and context. Irrelevant, manipulative links, such as paid links, link exchanges or low-quality links, definitely fall under the link spam policy. If your backlink profile looks suspicious, your site may be heavily penalised. Instead, try to build strong, organic links through quality content.
8. Machine-generated traffic
Bots, click farms or any kind of artificial traffic manipulation fall firmly into the ‘do not do it’ category. You might think those fake clicks make you look popular, but Google has ways of spotting inauthentic patterns. The result? Your site gets flagged, and you’re left with thousands of fake users that don’t actually exist. Google wants signals that reflect real user interest, so don’t damage your credibility by buying bots.
9. Malware & malicious practices
This one is pretty obvious, but if your site distributes malware, phishing scams or sneaky downloads, you’re not just breaking Google’s rules, you’re breaking trust with users. Google will blocklist your site to protect people (they take a very strict stance against this) and your brand reputation will crumble. Security, transparency and user trust are non-negotiable.
10. Misleading functionality
You know those fake ‘download’ or ‘play’ buttons that lead to something else entirely? Or a close button that actually opens another tab of adverts? Google sees that as trickery (it is). It’s a bad user experience and a quick way to get labelled as deceptive. Clear, accurate functionality helps build lasting trust.
11. Scaled content abuse
The rise of generative AI has made it easier than ever to churn out hundreds of pages in a short amount of time. The problem is the content that comes out is low-quality AI slop with those recognisable buzzwords like ‘elevate’ and ‘ever-evolving digital landscape’. Scaled content with no real value is classed as spam. Google doesn’t mind automation per se, but it minds when the result is junk that clogs up search. Quality over quantity still applies.
12. Scraping
Copying someone else’s content and pasting it onto your own site is not curation - it’s plagiarism. Scraping adds nothing of value to the web and Google knows exactly who published the original. If you can’t add your own analysis, commentary or creativity, don’t expect it to rank.
13. Site reputation abuse
This one’s about piggybacking on the authority of a reputable domain by sneaking in low-quality third-party content. For example, you could see it when a trusted news site suddenly starts hosting spammy or commercial material. Google treats this as abuse of reputation, and your reputation is only as good as what you allow to live on your site.
14. Sneaky redirects
If users click on one thing but land somewhere else entirely, you’re guilty of sneaky redirects. Google calls it deceptive, and users call it infuriating. Unless you like high bounce rates and penalties, keep your redirects honest. A proper redirect is perfectly acceptable when used for legitimate reasons - it should serve users, not trick them.
15. Thin affiliation
Affiliate sites can provide value, but not if all you’re doing is slapping up product links with copy-paste descriptions. If there’s no original content, analysis or reason to stick around, Google sees you as a thin affiliate site. These sites add little for users and rarely survive in rankings, so if you are creating content in affiliate marketing, make sure you add to the conversation with your own insights or more useful information.
16. User-generated spam
Forums, comment sections and user profiles are wonderful until they turn into dumping grounds for dodgy links and incoherent adverts. Google holds the site owner responsible for moderating this mess. If your users are filling your site with spam and you ignore it, expect search visibility to suffer. Moderation isn’t optional, and a clean community space protects both your reputation and visibility in search.
Don’t be that website
At the heart of it all, Google’s spam policies boil down to one thing: be honest and create content that provides genuine value. If you’re trying to trick the system, your traffic will vanish quicker and your reputation will tank. If you focus on actual users - what they need, what they enjoy - you’ll stay on the right side of the August 2025 Spam Update.
