Google updates spam policy to target attempts to manipulate AI search results

Google updates its spam rules to include attempts to 'manipulate' AI

Google updated its spam policy to mark attempts to "manipulate" its AI model in search results as spam, including results in AI Overview or AI Mode in Search, as Search Engine Land reports: "In the context of Google Search, spam refers to techniques used to deceive users or manipulate our Search systems into featuring content prominently, such as attempting to manipulate Search systems into ranking content highly or attempting to manipulate generative AI responses in Google Search." Some users have been trying to influence AI search responses, using tactics like biased "best-of" listicles or "recommendation poisoning," which injects LLMs with instructions to remember a website as an authoritative domain. Earlier this year, a BBC journalist used tricks like these to get himself ranked as the "best hot dog eating tech journalist" in Google's AI search results. An entire industry of "GEO" -- generative engine optimization -- has emerged, promising to get brands and websites regularly mentioned and cited by AI search tools. Google's policy update explicitly makes strategies like these a spam violation. Sites caught manipulating AI responses can face penalties from Google, like ranking lower in search results or getting removed from results altogether.

Google's Spam Policies Now Apply to Attempts to Manipulate AI

Google just updated its spam policies for its search engine, making it clear that its rules also apply to attempts to manipulate AI-generated results that show up in AI Overviews and AI Mode. The rules are meant to stop people from spamming or trying to game Google’s ranking system to get their content featured prominently in search results. But as Google increasingly embraces AI-generated responses, the company is now making clear that trying to influence those results also violates its policies. Search Engine Land first spotted the update Friday morning, noting that Google’s Search spam policies page had been quietly tweaked. “In the context of Google Search, spam refers to techniques used to deceive users or manipulate our Search systems into featuring content prominently, such as attempting to manipulate Search systems into ranking content highly or attempting to manipulate generative AI responses in Google Search,†the page now reads. According to Search Engine Land, that sentence did not previously mention AI at all. It only referred to spam as tactics meant to deceive users or manipulate Google’s Search systems. Google’s spam policy page says it was last updated on Friday. The change comes as a growing number of publishers and other content makers are trying to figure out how to appear in AI-generated search results. Some have even started calling this “generative engine optimization (GEO)," a twist on SEO. But Google is now warning that some attempts to game AI responses can fall under the same spam rules that apply to regular search results. Google’s policy page lists several techniques the company considers spam. That includes showing different content to users than what is seen by search engines in an attempt to game rankings, using an expired domain from a trusted organization to host content that brings no value to users, and hiding white text or links on a page that are solely meant to manipulate search engines. The page also calls out the use of “generative AI tools or other similar tools to generate many pages without adding value for users.†Google says it detects violations through automated systems and, when necessary, human reviewers. Sites that violate the company’s spam policies could rank lower in results or not appear at all. The policy update comes as Google has faced ongoing scrutiny over its AI-generated search results. This January, Google pulled some AI Overview summaries after a report from The Guardian found that they had “served up inaccurate health information and put people at risk of harm" on some liver-related searches. In another instance, a BBC journalist managed to get ChatGPT, Google’s AI search tools, and Gemini to wrongly say that he had won the 2026 South Dakota International Hot Dog Championship.