Google Spam Policies Explained in Plain English

Google’s spam policies describe practices that can cause a site to rank lower or not appear in Google Search at all. Google says spam includes attempts to manipulate rankings or generative AI responses in Search, and that it detects spam both automatically and through human reviewers, who can issue manual actions.

Most business owners never knowingly break these rules. Problems usually come from tactics bought from someone else: cheap link packages, mass-produced pages, or dozens of near-identical city pages.

The policies at a glance

Policy	In plain English
Cloaking	Showing search engines different content from what users see
Doorway abuse	Many similar pages or sites targeted at specific regions or queries that funnel users to one page
Expired domain abuse	Buying an expired domain to host low-value content that exploits its past reputation
Hacked content	Content placed on a site without permission because of a security weakness
Hidden text and link abuse	Text or links placed only for search engines, invisible to users
Keyword stuffing	Repeating words or lists of places unnaturally to manipulate rankings
Link spam	Buying, selling or exchanging links to manipulate rankings
Machine-generated traffic	Automated queries to Google, such as scraping results for rank checking
Malicious practices	Malware or unwanted software
Misleading functionality	Pretending to offer a service the page doesn’t provide
Scaled content abuse	Many pages generated primarily to manipulate rankings, however they’re created
Scraping	Republishing others’ content without adding value
Site reputation abuse	Third-party content published mainly to exploit the host site’s ranking signals
Sneaky redirects	Sending users somewhere different from what search engines see
Thin affiliation	Affiliate pages copying product descriptions with no added value
User-generated spam	Spam posted by users in comments, forums or profiles

The three that catch most businesses

Link spam

Google’s examples include buying or selling links for ranking, excessive link exchanges, automated link creation, advertorials with followed links, low-quality directory and bookmark links, widely distributed footer links and forum comment links. Paid links are acceptable when marked with rel=”nofollow” or rel=”sponsored”.

Scaled content abuse

Generating many pages primarily to manipulate rankings, however they’re produced: generative AI without added value, scraping, or stitching content together. Our guide to making content easier to cite covers what useful content looks like instead.

Doorway abuse

Multiple pages or domains targeted at specific places or queries that funnel users to one destination. For local businesses, see how to avoid doorway pages.

Site reputation abuse and outsourced content

Google’s policy covers third-party content published mainly to exploit a host site’s ranking signals, and explicitly mentions content from white-label services and freelancers. Third-party content isn’t a problem in itself when it’s integrated with genuine editorial oversight.

What happens if you break them

• Pages or the whole site can rank lower or be omitted from results.
• A human reviewer can issue a manual action, shown in Search Console; see algorithmic drop vs manual action.
• Google says using new subdomains or sites to keep violating its policies can lead to broader action.

If you have a manual action, read how to write a reconsideration request.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Google Search Central: Spam policies for Google web search
• Search Console Help: Manual actions report

Last reviewed October 14, 2026.