How to directly report spam sites to Google: A step-by-step guide

Spam websites not only clutter the search results but also waste users’ time and can even infect users’ devices with malicious apps and viruses.

Published By: Om Gupta

Published: Jun 15, 2023, 01:07 PM IST

Image: Pixabay

Story Highlights

Google Search is a useful tool to find information online.
Google allows users to report pages under six categories.
Google allows users to specify further details regarding spam websites.

Search engines are useful tools that can find any information and display relevant results in a matter of seconds. However, they are not immune to exploitation and manipulation as some bad actors try to trick the system to lure more visitors to their scam, low-quality, or deceptive sites.

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These websites not only clutter the search results but also waste users’ time and can even infect users’ devices with malicious apps and viruses. These websites can damage users’ systems and expose them to ransomware attacks.

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Thankfully, users can now report these websites directly to Google. Google’s Search Quality User Report allows users to report spammy, deceptive, or low-quality web pages and users can explain what is wrong with these pages.

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Google allows users to report pages under six categories and they can specify further details later with “what exactly happened” options. Six categories are as follows:

The page displays spammy content: “Pages with irrelevant or useless content that exploit search engine algorithms to appear as relevant results.”
The page engages in spammy behaviour: “Pages that engage in abusive behaviour to manipulate search engines’ ranking.”
The page is deceptive: “Pages that do not deliver promised online or real-life services with intent to mislead or defraud the user.”
The page is low quality: “Poorly written or designed page often created in bulk to attract clicks from users rather than to inform or entertain.”
The page contains paid links: “Pages that contain/receive unnatural, artificial, deceptive, or manipulative inbound or outbound links.”
Other: “Any other search abuse or exploitative SEO strategy not mentioned above.”

If you find this tool helpful and want to report any page or website to Google, here is a step-by-step guide on how to directly report spam sites to Google.

A step-by-step guide on how to directly report spam sites to Google

Step 1: Go to the https://search.google.com/search-console/report-spam.

Step 2: Sign in if required.

Step 3: Enter the page URL in the Page URL box.

Step 4: Choose relevant options from the six options given below the box.

Step 5: Click Continue at the bottom of the page.

Step 6: Enter Additional details on the next page. This is optional.

Step 7: Click Submit.

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Meanwhile, Google Search conceals many secrets that activate amusing animations and reveal hidden games. The company has now rolled out a new Katamari Damacy easter egg on the Google Search that lets you play a game where you roll a ball on the search engine results page, reports Kotaku.

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Author Name | Om Gupta