October 2022 spam update

What changed

Google released a spam update on 19 October 2022 that completed on 21 October and applied across all languages. Google described it as improving detection of spam covered by its published spam policies rather than introducing a new policy. No separate guidance accompanied it.

Timing

Rollout began 19 October 2022. Google declared it complete on 21 October 2022, 2 days later. Rankings typically remain unstable for the whole rollout window, so measurements taken inside it are not a reliable read on the outcome.

What it affected