Marie Haynes spotted a new change on a recent alert from Google Search Console – instead of the usual Pure Spam related messages, it was renamed as Major Spam Warning.
Here is how it looks:
This change seems to be a name change only, and not anything different about what the manual action is specifically targeting.
The WNC number for this alert is [WNC-633901] which has been used for quite some time for “Pure Spam” manual actions. And Haynes notes that while the email alert refers to major spam problems, in the manual actions section of Google Search Console, it is still referred to as a pure spam issue.
The reference to major spam problems is slightly more descriptive than “pure spam” even though it is for the same type of manual action. And I wouldn’t be surprised to see it updated within the manual action section in the future.
Now if only Google will work on a better name for their “Social Engineering Content Detected” warning, which many can’t figure out what it means from the title of the manual action alone (it targets sites with deceptive ads, like disguised download buttons). But it is awesome that Google continues to tweak their messaging, especially for those webmasters who aren’t familiar with what all the various alerts and manual actions mean.
This is new to me. Instead of "pure spam" Google is now saying "major spam problems". pic.twitter.com/ymNkoTz2iz
— Marie Haynes (@Marie_Haynes) February 19, 2016
Jennifer Slegg
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