I’m not used to looking at this much carnage (is anyone?).
It’s been a depressing ride even looking at (almost 200) independent publishers’ Search Console data and sites, never mind being one of them myself.
The October 2023 Google Spam Update, which I’ve termed the ‘Entity Terminator Algorithm,’ had significant repercussions, and its effects extended into subsequent updates if you made it past the first hurdle in the first place.
I think it can be demonstrated that its function was (and is) to demote disconnected, unknown entities in Google Search.
Take a look at these traffic trends from Google Search Console using Hobo SEO Dashboard:
The trend of impacted sites has some nuances (probably based on authority signals like how disconnected the entity is, how long ago the disconnect happened, or how powerful links and other associations are to the domain).
The October 2023 Google Spam Update and most – not all – Spam Updates since then have impacted disconnected entities harshly.
It was looking at the October 2023 Spam Update that gave rise to the Disconnected Entity Hypothesis, NOT my analysis on the HCU 2 (Helpful Content Update 2023).
The hypothesis was born out of the October 2023 Spam Update analysis – it’s just so difficult to separate the two in a useful way – and has taken me an inordinate amount of time to do so.
I don’t want this hypothesis to confuse folks into thinking HCU was NOT about content – it clearly was – it has hit Healthy Entities too – and that the Disconnected Entity Hypothesis was born out of HCU – it was NOT.
An HCU penalty is the clear correction of topical authority abuse or predictive quality scoring abuse – whatever – on the domain by publishing content-mill quality doorway-type pages on the site using generative AI like ChatGPT.
HCU is meant to correct rankings for these types of sites – to put them back in their lane, so to speak.
Exactly how they do that is up for debate and not the primary aim of this research (but think low quality, trend-driven, monetized content).
It was HCU, however, that got me looking into the October 2023 spam update.
A lot of problems for some sites can, in fact, be traced back to the October 2023 Google Spam Update.
The October 2024 spam update issue is different from HCU but impacts HCU-impacted sites even WORSE if coupled together.
Together, impacts from BOTH these updates mark the end for the website – without action on your end.
One algorithm (HCU) corrects.
One (SPAM) demotes or effectively discards sites (in different ways).
If negatively impacted by the October 2023 algorithm in ANY way at ALL, you should pay attention.
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How to hide a dead entity
This clearout of unhealthy entities has led to some confusion, and understandably so, especially when SERPS are full of sites – or entities – going south (and north) and also:
- Full of UGC (User-generated content in forums like Reddit).
- Traffic is also being decimated by AI overviews.
All that in a sea of confusing and often amateur SEO advice.
Maybe that obfuscation was on purpose.
Clarifying the Disconnected Entity Hypothesis
If you’re confused, don’t be embarrassed. I am confused, and I came up with the hypothesis, built a tool to identify some of it, built a tool to help fix entity issues, and I had to write all these case studies up in some way that made sense.
This is the reason for this series of posts on algorithm impacts: to clarify simply how the Disconnected Entity Hypothesis fits in an age of cross-over and secret evolving algorithms, ranking demotions, helpful UGC content, and AI overviews.
This particular class of algorithm may have launched alongside (which in ITSELF could be pertinent) HCU 1 (Helpful Content Update), but the noise didn’t reach me at least until HCU 2 in September 2023.
I had no incumbent customers impacted by these (which in itself was telling – I was only working with well-established sites at the launch of HCU).
I never really looked into it all properly until November 2024, and that was purely because of the noise from small publishers and the criticisms of Google and SEOs and the bullying of Google liasons, and even the infighting in the SEO industry (which normally I stay out of).
I remember thinking, looking at the helpful content checklist they gave us – this is just them enforcing their Quality Rater Guidelines.
I kept looking at the sites in my Search Console, honestly thinking Google was taking out the spammers – business as usual – nothing to be concerned with.
At this point, I did take a lot of the Google Creator Conference attendees on to review their sites and, by the end, many more (almost 200 sites have been reviewed).
When I looked at the patterns of these sites, things started to look strange and similar across the sites.
This did not look like traditional SEO patterns to me.
It looked like a global impact on the site’s traffic across the board, which could be for me best understood by a drop in quality score assuming a label at Google’s end (like Penguin is) affects a site quality score (-1) or the label itself is ust a WEIGHT that gets heavier over time.
Splitting hairs here, though, no?
Like Penguin, or Panda, or Phantom (which the October 2023 spam update reminds me most of), you are toast if this thing clips you.
The October 2023 Google Spam Update was as bad as HCU
Up until the October 2023 Google Spam Update, I assumed Spam updates were reserved for obvious spam, eg clear violations of the webmaster guidelines as laid down in spam policies.
I’m convinced that the spam updates after October 2023 heavily emphasized Entity Health, which, while technically a violation of quality rater guidelines, resulted in penalties for many authentic websites (who hadn’t even heard of the Quality Rater Guidelines).
It’s likely some of these sites confused traffic drops with the September 2023 Helpful Content Update, too.
In retrospect, the October 2023 Google Spam Update exhibited similar characteristics and affected similar sites as the March 2024 Google Spam Update and also the December 2024 Google Spam Update.
They targeted the same type of disconnected entities and look closely related.
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Analysis of 200 search console accounts
Analysis of about 200 Search Console accounts – a very wide spectrum of accounts, including famous brands and relatively unknown players – indicates it targeted websites Google deemed ‘unknown’ or ‘disconnected entities,’ reflecting a broader trend of Google prioritizing the identity and connectivity of sites and their associated entities.
This focus can lead to seemingly inconsistent outcomes, with comparable sites experiencing varying degrees of penalty or success.
This also suggests potential transparency issues regarding domain ownership and entity association.
A lack of transparency leads to a disconnected entity status in this hypothesis.
If a page only exists to make money, the page is spam to Google:
Google wants to check that these sites profiting in search are not just spam (as termed in the Quality Rater Guidelines, at least):
Your website should have its papers on it at all times (and it better have those papers somewhere; this isn’t just about demonstrating EEAT – it is about actually 1. HAVING EEAT to demonstrate – and THEN 2. demonstrating it in 3. The Right Places on your site).
What you demonstrate, Google should be able to verify by proxy.
This is the entire point of the Disconnected Entity Hypothesis.
The signals Google has to work with are WEAK.
Strengthen them on your site.
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And if you don’t have those papers…:
If your site was negatively impacted by the October 2023 update or even the subsequent updates, especially the March 2024 Core update (which had a spam component), contact me.
Only if you have the papers, naturally.
This entire series is not about helping spammers, unfortunately.
