--- title: "November 2021 spam update: dates, what changed and what to do" url: https://seomadman.com/updates/november-2021-spam-update section: updates language: en published: 2026-09-26T00:00:00.000Z modified: 2026-09-26T00:00:00.000Z author: Adam Hafez topics: ["Content strategy", "Link building"] --- # November 2021 spam update: dates, what changed and what to do ## The short answer Google's November 2021 spam update started on 3 November 2021 and finished on 11 November 2021, a rollout of 8 days and 1 hour. Google published no details of what changed and no impact figures. Its guidance for any spam update is to review the spam policies, because violating sites may rank lower or drop out. ## Key takeaways - The Search Status Dashboard dates the rollout from 3 November 2021 to 11 November 2021. - Google lists the duration as 8 days and 1 hour and published no detail on what changed. - Google's spam update guidance is to review its spam policies after any ranking change. - Sites that violate the spam policies may rank lower or not appear in results at all. - It finished six days before the November 2021 core update began on 17 November. ## What Google changed Google released the November 2021 spam update without publishing details of what it changed. The [Search Status Dashboard](https://status.search.google.com/incidents/AFdXceQVsh1GEfKFvHyD) entry says only "Released the November 2021 spam update." Google's general description of spam updates is that its automated spam systems run constantly, and it announces a spam update when it makes "notable improvements to how they work." ## When it rolled out The dashboard records the rollout from 3 November 2021 to 11 November 2021, with a listed duration of 8 days and 1 hour, all times US/Pacific. The dashboard did not exist in 2021: the entry and its completion note ("The rollout was complete as of November 11, 2021") were added on 22 March 2023. No other confirmed update overlapped it. The November 2021 core update started six days after it finished, on 17 November 2021, so a change in the second half of November is more likely tied to that update. ## What is known about its impact Google published no impact figures for this update. Its spam policies state that "sites that violate our policies may rank lower in results or not appear in results at all." Any percentage you see attributed to this update is a third-party estimate, not Google's figure. ## What site owners should do Google's guidance for spam updates is short: - Review the [spam policies](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies) and check your site against each one, including link schemes, cloaking and scraped content. - Fix violations. Google says changes may help once its automated systems learn "over a period of months" that the site complies. - For link spam, expect no recovery of ranking value the links provided: Google says those benefits "cannot be regained." ## How to check whether it affected you In Search Console, set the Performance report to a range from October to December 2021 and compare clicks for the week before 3 November with the week after 11 November. Stop the comparison before 17 November, when the core update began. The [Google Algorithm Updates timeline](/updates) lists every confirmed update with its dates, so you can rule out overlapping rollouts before attributing a change to this one. ## Related updates - The [June 2021 spam update](/updates/june-2021-spam-update) and [July 2021 link spam update](/updates/july-2021-link-spam-update) were the spam updates before it. - The [November 2021 core update](/updates/november-2021-core-update) began six days after it finished. - The [October 2022 spam update](/updates/october-2022-spam-update) was the next spam update. ## Frequently asked questions ### When did the November 2021 spam update start and finish? The Google Search Status Dashboard records the start on 3 November 2021 and completion on 11 November 2021, with a listed duration of 8 days and 1 hour. The entry was added to the dashboard on 22 March 2023. ### What did the November 2021 spam update target? Google did not publish a breakdown of what this update changed. Its general description is that spam updates are notable improvements to its automated spam detection systems, which run constantly. ### Can a site recover from a spam update? Google says making changes may help if its automated systems learn over a period of months that the site complies with its spam policies. For link spam, any ranking benefit the removed links gave cannot be regained. ## Sources 1. [November 2021 spam update (incident)](https://status.search.google.com/incidents/AFdXceQVsh1GEfKFvHyD) - Google Search Status Dashboard (primary) 2. [Google Search spam updates and your site](https://developers.google.com/search/updates/spam-updates) - Google Search Central (primary) 3. [Spam policies for Google web search](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies) - Google Search Central (primary)