Recently, I noticed a significant change in Google’s approach to handling spam reports. They’ve updated their stance on whether they’ll process reports containing personally identifying information, and it feels like a big shift from what was communicated just a week prior.
On their updated spam report page, Google now clearly states that any spam report containing personally identifying information will not be processed. This revision comes after their previous announcement that such information could be passed on to the site in question.
Here’s What’s Changed: Google has added a highlighted note on their official spam report page, emphasizing two points:
(1) Avoid including personally identifying information in your spam reports.
(2) If you do include such information, your submission won’t be processed.
Google’s explanation reads:
“Don’t include any personally identifying information in your submission. To comply with regulations, we must send the submission text to the site owner to help them understand the context of a manual action, if one is issued. Because of this, we won’t process your submission if we determine it contains personally identifying information to protect privacy. Not including such information fully ensures your information is safe and prevents your submission from being discarded.”
Previously: Just a week ago, as we documented, Google allowed:
- “If we issue a manual action, we send whatever you write in the submission report verbatim to the site owner to help them understand the context of the manual action.”
This policy raised many eyebrows across the industry. Concerns were not just about being flagged for identifying competitors or spammers, but there were also legal implications. It seems Google is now aligning with regulations to avoid sharing personally identifying data.
Why You Should Care: If you’re aiming to submit a spam report to Google, make sure it doesn’t contain any personally identifying information. Should you inadvertently include such information, rest assured that it won’t reach the reported site and the report simply won’t be processed. You can always resubmit your report without these details.
Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.
