A lot of the time, when speaking to agencies you might hear phrases such as ‘there was a Spam Update’ or ‘Google have hit us with a Core Update’ – but what does it actually mean? While they might sound like excuses for fluctuating rankings, they’re actually just a quick way of saying that Google has changed its algorithm and it is after different things from your content.
Google updates adapt how search results are ranked. Some updates are minor and barely noticeable, while others can completely flip how an industry might appear in search results overnight.
The Main Types of Google Update
Google makes thousands of small updates every year, most of which are almost unnoticeable, but the big bois are the ones that have an impact. Typically, you can group these updates into four different types: Core Updates, Spam Updates, Product Review Updates and Helpful Content Updates.
Not every update will affect every website, but understanding the difference between them might help you understand site traffic fluctuations.
Core Updates
Core Updates are the updates that typically have the most impact. They don’t just target things like a spammy backlink or a meh review, they introduce big changes into the Google algorithm. They usually focus on content quality, how trustworthy you are and how well the results you’re providing match user intent.
Here’s what you might notice:
- Content Changing in Ranking – A page that ranked well yesterday might experience a sudden drop if there’s other content out there that’s got more authority behind it or answers the query better.
- EEAT Signals – Google has always really cared about Expertise, Experience, Authority and Trust. If you’re clear that an expert has written a post or content, that you’ve quoted your sources and that you’ve provided a new and exciting first hand insight into something, you’ve got nothing to worry about here. If you don’t, it might be time to reevaluate.
- Value Trumps Keywords – Keyword stuffing doesn’t help anyone. If your site is reliant on putting keywords everywhere over providing content that’s actually providing value, then you need to reevaluate the content that you’re producing.
To sum it all up, a Core Update is about making sure the bar for quality is high. Just because your rankings drop, doesn’t mean you’re necessarily doing anything wrong, other people might just be doing better.
Spam Updates
Spam Updates are Google’s way of trying to stop people from cheating at SEO. There are a million ways that people try to scam the crawlers rather than putting in the work to create content that actually matters.
A spam update typically targets:
- Keyword Stuffing – Shoving keywords into content for the sake of getting it in there is essentially like getting a big flag and shouting ‘HEY GOOGLE! LOOK, OVER HERE! THIS PAGE TALKS ABOUT THESE KEYWORDS. YEAH, LOOK, I GOT LOADS OF KEYWORDS!’ rather than providing content that actually navigates the terms in an authentic way to provide something genuinely useful for a user. Instead of trying to flag down Google, you should be trying to flag down users.
- Cloaking – It sounds mysterious and shady because it is. This is where one version of a page is shown to a user and one version is shown to Google. Google wants to rank your site based on what your users are seeing.
- The AI of it all – Google values content that is created by reliable authors and provides a unique stance or new information. AI doesn’t typically provide that. They have acknowledged that they don’t mind if AI is used for part of content creation, but if there is no human contribution, it does not add value to the web, so it is rightfully shunned.
- Unnatural Link Building – Backlinks are good, when they’re earned. Google hates nothing more than paid backlinks, link spam, private blog networks or excessive link exchanges. If Google suspects that you’re up to anything sketchy, your site will take the hit.
When a Spam Policy Update rolls out, you might notice your site has been affected with sudden and severe drops in ranking. Unlike with a Core Update where you can sometimes fix things by improving content, to recover from a Spam Update you need to review all the harmful practices and begin a long journey of rebuilding trust with Google.
Product Review Updates
Product Review Updates are designed to get rid of the problem of unhelpful, surface level reviews that are there just to rank and drive sales through affiliate links. Instead of rewarding generic Top 10 X articles or pages that are just copy and paste product descriptions, a Product Review Update pushes reviews that have depth, authenticity and real world insights.
Things Google looks for in good review content include:
- First Hand Experience – If a reviewer hasn’t actually used or tested a product, how do they know if it’s good? A review should have original photos, comparisons or usage insights.
- Unique Value – The content included in a review should have information that users cant just find online. If you’re just republishing an Amazon description, why would your review rank higher than the Amazon listing?
- Honesty – A good review doesn’t just look at the good things, it also analyses the bad. Content that is purely promotional without any of the cons listed feels false and untrustworthy.
- Comparisons – How does product X measure up against product Y? The best reviews explain how one product matches up against another to help consumers make informed decisions.
If reviews are thin, repetitive or purely driven by affiliate links, they will likely see rankings drop during a Product Review Update, while sites that offer genuine value and fresh and fruity insights will be pushed higher.
Helpful Content Updates
The Helpful Content Update was one of the most chaotic updates in recent years. The aim of it was simple – demote the content that was created to brownnose Google, and promote content that was made to be helpful to a reader. Pages that were written just to rank but that don’t answer questions will lose value and drop in ranking.
What does Google look for:
- People First Writing – Does the content answer a legitimate search query, in detail, without beating around the bush? Is the content actually useful to a user.
- Depth and Expertise – If your content is a surface level overview of a thing, it’s going to be outperformed by content that gets down into the nitty gritty and ensures that all of a users questions are answered.
- Avoiding Fluff – If your site is overloaded with filler, clickbait titles or unnecessary volumes of padding, it will be devalued. It’s best to remove the fluff and focus on content with value.
- Consistency – Even if you have a few really solid helpful pages that perform really well, having a majority that are unhelpful can still drag down those helpful pages.
The main thing to note with helpful content updates is that if you’re focused on SEO forward pages that don’t actually offer any value, the search engine is now going to penalise websites for it. On the plus side, if you are producing helpful content that people are actually going to read and learn from, then often your rankings will thrive.
The History of Google Updates
To understand how Google updates currently work, the easiest thing to do is to look back at updates in the past. There have been several key large scale updates in the past, which still impact how content should be produced today.
The Panda Update
In 2011, the Panda update was launched. The focus of this update was to try and reduce the amount of thin and duplicate content on the web. This update forced people to more seriously consider the content that they were uploading to their sites, making sure that it was valuable and unique, setting a precedent on reducing wasteful, repetitive and unhelpful pages.
The Penguin Update
The Penguin Update was launched in 2012 to combat black hat SEO link building tactics. At the time there was a problem with many websites purchasing links rather than earning them. This update encouraged people to shift their focus to earning backlinks genuinely.
The Hummingbird Update
This update was launched in 2013 and introduced a phase of semantic search. This update launched the stage where Google began to understand the meaning behind queries, rather than relying solely on keywords in content matching the keywords in the actual search.
The Medic Update
The Medic Update of 2018 had a significant impact on YMYL sites (Your Money, Your Life). These sites were ones that focused on topics such as health, wellbeing and finance. The algorithm started to demand higher levels of trust and authority from these sites to ensure that users recieve reliable information.
The Helpful Content Update
Launched in 2022, the Helpful Content Update focused on eliminating content that didn’t offer any value to a user, or content that was written purely for SEO purposes to encourage content that is useful to users.
Each update has changed how websites are evaluated, but the goal of each has fundamentally been the same – to make content better for a user. Over the years it has just moved away from technical signals and leaned more heavily into value, trust and intent.
How do Updates Impact Traffic?
How an update impacts you can depend on multiple factors, from your industry, your SEO strategy and the general quality of your content.
Commonly you might see:
- Sudden Drops – If your content is meh, or doesn’t meet quality thresholds, your average position can change almost overnight.
- Unexpected Gains – An update might not be all doom and gloom for you, if you’ve been doing a good job all along, sometimes the update fairy will reward you with higher rankings.
- Volatility – Usually, during the process of an update roll out you might see some ups and downs. This is normal, it’s just Google perfecting their secret sauce and will likely settle after a couple of weeks of an update roll out or just after.
For businesses, the ups and downs that you see on Search Console can be unsettling. A dip in traffic often leads to stress, panic and confusion (and maybe a cry or two), but it’s all okay. Try not to take them personally, just reapproach your content strategy, update your content and align better with what Google wants to see.
How Can I Protect Myself from Updates?
Unfortunately, unless you’re a talented mystic, nobody can completely predict what Google are going to say next, so it’s almost impossible to create a site of content that is going to be number 1 in search engine rankings forever. But, you can build up a small line of defence against updates to help protect yourself against sudden drops.
Here’s what you need to do:
Update Your Content
Your content needs to be fresh. Nobody wants to sit and read something that hasn’t been looked at since 2013. Your blogs, guides and even product pages require a constant revamp to ensure that they remain relevant. Old content, old news. If your users don’t value it anymore, neither will Google.
Avoid Shortcuts
We know that you’ve probably got 10 emails sitting in your inbox from Jess at LinkFlogger.com, but manipulative tactics aren’t going to get you very far. Instead focus on earning those links. The same goes for keyword stuffing, make sure that your keywords hold value and that your content reads normally. A quick win might feel good in the moment, but it’s just a matter of time until an update comes along to catch you out.
Authority Counts
You need to earn your authority points. No matter if that’s through Digital PR campaigns, collaborations with influencers or useful and helpful content, you need to establish your own voice, and you need to ensure that that voice is trusted and holds the amount of authority that you need.
UX Is Essential
The fact of the matter is that you can have the best site on the planet, with wonderfully written content and value at every turn, but if it’s not user friendly then none of that matters. Google and users both like websites that are fast, work on mobile and that are easy to navigate – if your site doesn’t have a good user experience, all the other work you’re doing is wasted.
EEAT Your Competition
You need to showcase expertise and credibility at every turn. Your competition will be, so you need to be doing the same, but better. Make sure that you have author bios, cite trusted sources within your content and provide first hand experience for a unique perspective. E-E-A-T standards have been a fundamental to SEO for years, there’s reasons for that, and it’s not going anywhere.
The August 2025 Update
At the time of writing, the August 2025 Spam Update has already been one of the most significant updates of the year (it’s also the first one in 8 months, which is quite a while for these types of update). Traffic changes and traffic volatility have been reported, and Google seems to be placing an even bigger emphasis on first hand experience and authenticity.
Here’s what we’ve noticed:
Better AI Content Filtering
AI is everywhere, but it doesn’t provide much in the way of unique content, and if you think it does you might need to go do some research. But, many people now integrate it with their strategies.
When using it for content generation, Google’s spam policies now appear to be going back on their ‘we don’t mind how content is created, as long as it is useful’ sentiment, and sites that rely on generic or poorly edited AI generated content are seeing noticeable declines.
Something that is worth noting though is that sites that contain content that blends AI assistance with the human touch are seeing improvements, suggesting a hybrid approach is still okay in the eyes of Google.
Affiliate Sites are Struggling
Product roundups aren’t making the cut anymore. Once again the update is pushing for useful content over sites that make monetisation and advertising a priority.
That’s not to say if you own a review site that your site is automatically going to tank, if you produce detailed, thorough reviews that are being led by experience and unique opinions, then this content has actually been seeing a slight rise in rankings.
Finance, Health and Legal
The finance, health and legal sectors have seen far more scrutiny in more recent Google updates than any other industries. Sites are being held to higher trust standards than any other industry (perhaps rightfully so), but it means that businesses operating in these sectors need to be more stringent with their content than ever before.
It is important that these businesses are transparent about the authorship of their content, fact check their sources when referencing external information and that they possess all the necessary credentials. It has never been so important to make sure that you are in a position where you can confidently offer a random user information, because information that is deemed misleading, thin or incorrect is actively being punished by the update.
A Google Algorithm Update might feel like a kick in the shin, but ultimately they are there to make search better for users. If you focus on evergreen quality, authority and useful content, you shouldn’t really have much to worry about.
Instead of sitting on the floor rocking back and forth when you hear news of an update wondering where all your organic traffic is going to go, just focus on keeping your content new and fresh, swap your black hat for a funky pink one and pay attention to what a user is going to gain from your site.
