Boomajoom

Google announced last Tuesday that they will reduce the visibility of certain rich results from the search results. Specifically, Google is reducing the visibility of FAQ results and limiting HowTo results to only desktop devices.

Since 2019, website owners have been able to mark content on their websites as frequently asked questions (FAQ) to take advantage of the increased screen space given, as shown in the image above. Presumably, too many website owners have done this, and they have done so with content that is less than desirable. Not all FAQ results will be removed from Google. “[R]ich results will only be shown for well-known, authoritative government and health websites. For all other sites, this rich result will no longer be shown regularly. Sites may automatically be considered for this treatment depending on their eligibility.”

What this means in practice is unknown. Website operators wanting rich results have to improve their website’s quality and hope for the best. The update will be introduced globally.

Google’s Danny Sullivan, the company’s official liaison for webmasters, has recently confirmed a major spam update by Google. Google’s November spam update marks the fourth such update in 2021, with major updates happening over the summer. The search engine is in a constant push and pull with webmasters who try to game the search engine results page by promoting spam websites instead of useful content.

As part of our regular work to improve results, we've released a spam update to our systems. This November 2021 spam update should be fully rolled out within a week. We encourage sites to follow our best practices for Search: https://t.co/jK3ArQmTqT

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) November 3, 2021

Updates such as these are the methods Google usually uses to combat spam in the search results. Uncommonly, Google will take manual action against offenders, which can be more difficult for search engine optimization professionals to solve for. 2021 has seen Google become more sophisticated in the fight against spam. Back in April 2021, Google publicly revealed their creation of a spam fighting artificial intelligence, which the company boasted provided an “unprecedented potential to revolutionize” spam fighting.

“By combining our deep knowledge of spam with AI, last year we were able to build our very own spam-fighting AI that is incredibly effective at catching both known and new spam trends. For example, we have reduced sites with auto-generated and scraped content by more than 80% compared to a couple of years ago.”

Google

The format of spam can vary. Spam can be thin or copied content (called “scraped” in the industry).

It may also be content that’s “spun”. In other words, a computer program can copy someone else’s content, then put the words through a sort of thesaurus program to change the actual words while retaining the grammatical structure. Spun content reads like nonsense to a human being, but to some computer systems it can appear relevant to the original topic while seeming like it’s also brand new content.

Spam may also consist of auto-generated websites that piece together content from a variety of places to try to game the algorithm. More insidiously, spam may also consist of hacking into a legitimate website and either changing the content of the site, adding spam pages in other areas of the website unbeknownst to the site owner, or redirecting the site’s domain name to a target selected by the hacker.

While it’s still very early, we can tender a guess at what types of search queries the webspam team is paying attention to with Google’s November spam update. Throughout 2021, Google has paid particular attention to sensitive searches, such as those relating to conspiracy theories or medical information. It’s safe to assume that attention to those types of searches will continue.

In disappointing news, the registry for Dot Org (.org) domain names was sold to a private equity firm. Ethos Capital purchased purchased the non-profit Public Interest Registry (PIR). The “Chief Purpose Officer” at Ethos Capital, Nora Abusitta-Ouri, “has held a variety of positions at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), including Senior Vice President, Development and Public Responsibility and Director of Engagement, International and Inter-Governmental Organizations” according to Ethos Capital’s website.

ICANN decided earlier this year that the cost of registering a .org domain name would no longer be capped. The previous contract, executed in 2013, barred the PIR from directly charging more than $8.25 per year per domain. Individual domain name resellers and registrars typically charged a markup, but the price cap was designed to make .org domain names accessible to small non-profits and organizations.

ICANN solicited comments for the proposed change. According to the results, 3,252 comments received by ICANN supported keeping the price cap. 57 of the received comments didn’t express an opinion either way, while only six supported lifting the restriction. A third appeared to voice support only sarcastically. In other words, fewer than 0.07% of commenters that that removing the price cap would be positive while more than 98% were opposed.

The new contract expired and around July, ICANN decided to remove the price cap. Now, Ethos Capital has purchased PIR.

We expect prices to increase, at the expense of non-profits.