Google’s user-generated spam guide now says: keep shared pages out of Search
Google revised its guide on preventing user-generated spam. Platforms that let users create shareable pages are now told to keep those pages out of Search by default.
Published 10 November 2026
What changed
Google updated the guide on 26 October 2026. A new section asks whether pages users create are meant to be found in search or only shared by link. If they’re for sharing, Google suggests applying noindex, or blocking crawling, by default.
The guide also now suggests verifying your site in Search Console and watching for unexpected spikes in indexed pages or queries that don’t match what your site does.
Who it affects
Mainly platforms: forums, website builders, form tools, and anything where users publish their own pages. Most small business sites don’t have this problem.
When it might affect you
If your site has a forum, a reviews section, user profiles or a tool that creates shareable pages, spammers can abuse it. A sudden jump in indexed pages you don’t recognise is a warning sign.
One technical catch
Noindex only works if search engines can crawl the page and see the tag. If you block a page in robots.txt, Google can’t read its noindex instruction, so pick one approach per page.
A quick way to spot the problem
Search Google for site:yourdomain.co.uk and scroll through what comes up. You’re looking for pages you don’t recognise: odd profile pages, forum posts in other languages, or pages full of links to casinos or pills. Then compare the number of indexed pages in Search Console’s Pages report with the number of pages you actually have.
If you find spam pages
Close the hole first, such as open sign-ups or unmoderated comments. Then delete the spam pages so they return a 404 or 410, or add noindex if they need to stay. Google drops them from its index as it recrawls them. Search Console’s Removals tool can hide a page quickly while that happens, but it’s temporary.
Prevention is cheaper
Turning on comment moderation, adding a basic spam filter to forms and closing sign-ups you don’t need takes a few minutes. Cleaning up thousands of spam pages takes much longer.
Read the original
Google’s guide is on Search Central and lists further steps for platforms, such as using CAPTCHAs and adding rel="ugc" to links that users post.
Next step
If you’re not sure whether your site has this problem, the site: search and the Search Console Pages report are the quickest checks. Our guides cover the basics in more detail, and you can send us an enquiry if you’d like us to look at your site.
Sources
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