Google Spam Policies: The Ones Bloggers Trip Over

Most of Google's spam policies describe deliberate tricks, but eight can catch an ordinary blogger by accident: mass-produced pages, thin affiliate posts, hidden text, keyword stuffing, comment spam, traded links, hosted third-party content and unexpected redirects.

Google defines spam as "techniques used to deceive users or manipulate our Search systems into featuring content prominently". That covers attempts to push content up the rankings and also attempts to manipulate the answers generative AI gives in Google Search (Google: spam policies, last updated on 28 August 2026). Google's detection is automated, with people stepping in when needed, and a human review can end in a manual action. Google says that breaking the policies can push a site down the results or out of them entirely.

Below, each policy a blogger can plausibly trip over gets Google's rule in plain words, what it can look like on a small blog and what to do about it. Policies such as cloaking, malware and scams mostly describe practices a site owner would choose on purpose, so they are left out. Two exceptions are worth knowing: Google says it isn't unusual for a hacker to use cloaking so the owner is less likely to notice the hack, and that owners don't always realize a file they offer for download counts as malware (spam policies). If SEO itself is new to you, start with what SEO is.

Scaled content abuse: many pages, little value

Google's policy covers pages made in bulk with the main aim of manipulating search rankings instead of helping users. Its first example is mass-producing pages with generative AI or similar tools without giving users anything of value (spam policies).

AI help is not the problem in itself. When Google introduced this policy in March 2024, it said using automation, generative AI included, is spam when the main goal is manipulating Search rankings, and that the policy applies to people as much as to automation (Search Central Blog).

On a blog, it can look like: a near-identical post for every city, product or variation, filled in from one template; a batch of AI drafts published without reading or adding anything; other sites' posts run through a synonym tool or translated, which Google lists among scaled practices.

What to do: publish a page only when it adds something readers can't get elsewhere, such as your own test, photos, numbers or experience. For pages like this already on your site, Google's instruction is to keep them out of Search; the alternative is to rework each page until it earns its place.

Thin affiliate pages

The policy targets affiliate pages that copy their product descriptions and reviews straight from the merchant and add nothing original or of value. Google also says that taking part in an affiliate program doesn't by itself make a site a thin affiliate (spam policies).

On a blog, it can look like: a best-of roundup built from pasted merchant descriptions and affiliate buttons, or the same review template repeated for product after product.

What to do: add what Google says good affiliate pages offer: extra price information, your own product reviews, thorough testing and ratings, ways to browse products or categories, and comparisons between products. Say what you actually tried, and say so when you haven't. Mark the links too. Google's site reputation policy accepts affiliate links across a page if the links are handled properly, a condition it links to its paid-link rules, which call for rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored" (spam policies).

Hidden text and keyword stuffing

Hidden text is content that exists purely to manipulate search engines and that people visiting the page can't easily see. Google's examples include white-on-white text and a font size or opacity set to 0. Accordions, tabs, sliders, tooltips and text meant for screen readers don't violate the policy (spam policies).

Keyword stuffing is the attempt to manipulate rankings by packing keywords or numbers into a page, such as a text block listing the cities and regions the page hopes to rank for (spam policies). Google's manual action for the two is a single one, "Hidden text and/or keyword stuffing".

On a blog, it can look like: an old theme block or plugin that prints keyword lists in tiny or background-colored text, a footer paragraph naming every nearby town, or hidden links added by a hacked plugin.

What to do: Google's own tip is to select everything on the page, which often reveals text that blends into the background (Google: manual actions). Remove or restyle anything readers can't see, and look through title tags and image alt text for the same words repeated over and over. To repair a stuffed passage without losing its answers, follow keyword stuffing.

Comment spam

User-generated spam is spam posted by visitors through the parts of a site built for their contributions, and Google names comment spam on blogs as an example. It also notes that site owners often don't know the spam is there (spam policies).

What to do: keep comments moderated, and let your platform mark commenters' links: Google recommends "marking user-generated content (UGC) links, such as comments and forum posts, with the ugc value" (Google: qualify outbound links).

Links traded for money, products or favors

Three of Google's link-spam examples reach ordinary bloggers: giving someone a product in return for a write-up that includes a link, excessive link swapping, and links with optimized anchor text placed in guest posts, articles or press releases that go out to other sites (spam policies).

On a blog, it can look like: a brand sends a free product and asks for a followed link in your review; a stranger proposes a link swap; a guest post arrives with payment and keyword-rich links.

What to do: for a paid placement or a gifted product, the money or the gift isn't the problem. Google says such links don't break its policies when they are marked with rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored". Turn down link swaps and guest posts whose real point is the links. What is a backlink explains how links work in Google's eyes, and sitewide backlinks covers links that repeat through another site's sidebar or footer.

Site reputation: hosting someone else's content

Google announced this policy in March 2024 as "site reputation abuse"; its current page calls it the site reputation policy. It applies when a host site publishes third-party content chiefly because of the ranking signals the host has already built up (spam policies).

Third-party content alone is fine. Google's examples of what doesn't break the policy include comment sections, opinion pieces, columns, articles and other editorial work.

On a blog, it can look like: a well-established blog accepting payment to host articles on unrelated topics such as loans or casinos, written and distributed by someone else and published unedited; or a coupon section run entirely by an outside service.

What to do: publish guest content only when you edit it and stand behind it. If this manual action reaches your site, Google's suggested options are to move the content to a new domain (link to it from your site only with nofollow, and don't redirect the old URLs to it), use noindex (without blocking it in robots.txt), redo it as your own content, or remove it. Moving it to a subdomain or subfolder instead could be seen as trying to get around Google's spam policy (Google: manual actions). Consequences differ by location: for searchers in the European Economic Area, Google may treat such pages as separate from the rest of the site instead of applying a manual action.

Sneaky redirects

A sneaky redirect maliciously sends visitors elsewhere so that search engines and people see different content, or so that people get something they didn't expect. Google's example: desktop visitors see a normal page, while people on mobile are redirected to a different spam domain altogether. Moving a site or merging several pages into one are legitimate redirects (spam policies).

On a blog, it can look like: a redirect you never set up, injected through a hacked plugin, theme or ad script. Google notes that a hacked redirect can fire only for visitors who click through from its search results, and that the type of redirect can depend on the referrer, the user agent or the device (spam policies).

What to do: now and then, open one of your posts from a Google result on your phone, not only by typing its address. If it lands somewhere you didn't choose, rule out a hack first: check Search Console's Security Issues report, and clean up the site if it was hacked. If it wasn't, remove third-party scripts, such as ad code, one at a time until the redirect stops (Google: manual actions).

Expired domain abuse, briefly

This one only matters if you buy a used domain. Google's own words: "Expired domain abuse isn't something people accidentally do". It adds that reusing an old domain is fine when the new site is original and made to serve people first (Search Central Blog). If the site you bought already had a manual action, Google asks you to fix the issues and, when you request a review, explain that you bought the site recently.

What a manual action looks like, and how it is lifted

A manual action is a human decision: a Google reviewer has judged that pages on the site break its spam policies (Google: manual actions). You find out in Search Console, in its Manual actions report and its message center. With no actions, the report shows a green check mark. Each action lists patterns of affected pages, which can be a subset of the site or all of it.

Google's recovery steps, in order:

1. Expand the action to see its type, its description and the affected pages, and follow its Learn more link for Google's detailed fix steps. If the report lists more than one action, fix all of them before you request a review.

2. Fix the issue on every affected page. Fixing only some of them won't get the site even partly back into the results.

3. Make sure Google can reach those pages: no login, paywall, robots.txt block or noindex.

4. Select Request Review and describe the exact problem, the steps you took and the outcome.

5. Wait for a decision before sending another request. Google says most reviews last anywhere from several days to weeks, and link-related requests can take longer.

The report shows only actions taken by a human reviewer. Google says its algorithms catch most spam automatically, so a clean report is good news about manual actions, not a full verdict on your site.

Where to go next

For most small blogs, the useful habit is a quick check every few months: comments moderated, sponsored links marked, affiliate posts carrying your own testing, no invisible text, and posts that open normally from Google on a phone. For the bigger picture of how search works, return to what SEO is.