October 2023: Google’s spam and core updates land one after another
Covers October 2023. Part of our search timeline: a month-by-month look at the changes that shaped SEO, AI search, paid ads and social media, written in November 2026 for local businesses with the benefit of hindsight.
Quick answer: Google ran a spam update in October 2023, then a broad core update straight after. The spam update went after manipulative tactics across several languages, while the core update took a fresh look at overall quality. Sites that followed the rules mostly just had to wait it out, while sites taking shortcuts got caught.
This search timeline entry, written in November 2026, revisits October 2023. It’s especially relevant to trades covering lots of towns, where it’s tempting to churn out a page for every place name.
Two updates in quick succession
The October 2023 spam update dealt with kinds of spam that users had reported, and the core update came along shortly afterwards. Each took a couple of weeks to roll out.
Who was most at risk
UK businesses that had paid for links, built doorway pages or published copied content were the most exposed. For everybody else, the two updates were a reminder that SEO that lasts is built on quality and trust.
Think of a roofer covering three towns. Three genuinely useful area pages, with local jobs, photos and reviews, are fine. Thirty copies of the same page with only the town swapped are the sort of thing that gets treated as doorway content.
How to keep your site safe
- Go through your site looking for doorway pages, thin location pages and automatically generated content.
- Check any paid links are tagged correctly.
- Keep improving your most important pages instead of chasing quick wins.
Frequently asked questions
How is a spam update different from a core update?
Spam updates go after breaches of Google’s policies. Core updates take a fresh look at quality and relevance across the whole web.
Will Google see my area pages as spam?
Not if every page is truly helpful for that area. Pages that are almost identical apart from the town name can be treated as doorway pages.
Sources and further reading
Want help with this? Our local SEO service builds area pages that help customers and stay on the right side of Google. Get in touch.
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