Welcome to this week’s Pulse: Updates affect what Google considers spam, what happens when you report it, and what agent search looks like in practice.
This is what matters to you and your work.
Google’s New Spam Policy Targets Back Button Hacking
Google has added back button hacking to its anti-spam policies, which will begin enforcement on June 15. This behavior now constitutes an explicit violation under the Malicious Practices category.
Highlights: Back button hijacking occurs when a site interferes with browser navigation and prevents users from returning to the previous page. Pages engaging in this behavior face manual spam actions or automated demotions.
Why it matters
Google pointed out that some back button hijackings came from included libraries or ad platforms, meaning the responsibility lies with the publisher even when the behavior comes from a vendor.
You have two months to audit every script running on your site, including ad libraries and recommendation widgets that you didn’t write yourself.
Sites that receive a manual action after June 15 can submit a reconsideration request through Search Console once the offending code is removed.
What SEO Professionals Say
Daniel Foley Carter, SEO consultant, summarized the community reaction is LinkedIn:
“So basically this spam thing you’re doing to try to keep users from leaving? Yeah, don’t do it.”
Manish Chauhan, Head of SEO at Groww, added is LinkedIn that he was:
“I’m glad this issue is resolved. This always seemed like a short-term hack for pageviews at the expense of user trust.”
Read our full coverage: Google’s New Spam Policy Targets Back Button Hacking
Spam reports can now trigger manual actions
Google updated its spam reporting documentation on April 14 to indicate that user submissions can now trigger manual actions against sites that violate anti-spam policies. Previous guidance indicated that spam reports were used to improve spam detection systems rather than to take direct action.
Highlights: Google may use spam reports to take manual action on violations. If Google issues a manual action, the report text is sent verbatim to the reported website via Search Console.
Why it matters
Google now states that spam reports can be used to initiate manual actions, making reporting an explicit part of its enforcement process in official documentation.
It also raises concerns about potential abuse, as reports of grudges and competitor sabotage may become more appealing when the reports have a tangible impact. Therefore, the real test will be the quality of the reports that Google actually considers.
What SEO Professionals Say
Gagan Ghotra, SEO consultant, wrote is LinkedIn on why change can lead to better relationships:
“Now spam reports are directly related to Google issuing manual actions against domains. Google announced if there is a spam report from a user and based on that report Google decides to issue a manual action against a domain, then Google will just send the user submitted content in the report to the site owner (Search Console – Manual Action Report) and ask them to fix these things. Looks like Google was getting too many spam reports generics and now that the incentives to report are aligned This is why I assume people will submit reports that contain a lot of relevant information detailing why/how a specific site is violating Google’s anti-spam policies.
Read Roger Montti’s full coverage: Google just made it easy for SEOs to eliminate spam sites
Agent restaurant reservations expand to AI mode
Google expanded AI restaurant reservation agents to other markets on April 10, including the United Kingdom and India. Robby Stein, vice president of products for Google Search, announced the rollout to X.
Highlights: Researchers can describe the group size, time and preferences to AI mode, which simultaneously scans booking platforms to check real-time availability. The reservation itself is done through Google partners rather than directly on the restaurants’ websites.
Why it matters
Restaurant Reservation shows how task execution works in search. For local SEOs and marketers, traffic patterns are changing: Users now often stay in Google during discovery, with bookings routed through partners.
This depends on Google’s reservation partners, who may limit restaurant visibility outside of these platforms, making presence on Google-supported reservation sites more important than the restaurant’s website. This model may or may not extend to other experiments.
What SEO Professionals Say
Glenn Gabe, SEO and AI search consultant at G-Squared Interactive, reported the rollout on:
I feel like this is going unnoticed -> Google is rolling out restaurant reservation agents worldwide via AI mode. TBH, I’m not sure how many people would use it in AI mode rather than directly in Google Maps or Search (where you can already make a reservation), but it shows how Google is quickly evolving to expand agentic actions.
Aleyda Solís, SEO consultant and founder at Orainti, noted a key limitation in a LinkedIn Post:
“Google is expanding agent reservations for restaurants in AI mode on a global scale: however, you must still make the reservation via Google partners. »
Read Roger Montti’s full coverage: Google’s Task-Based Agent Search Disrupts SEO Today, Not Tomorrow
Theme of the week: Google gets precise
What counts as spam, what happens when spam is reported, and what agentic search looks like were all defined more clearly this week.
Hijacking the Back button becomes a named violation with an enforcement date. Google documentation now states that spam reports can be used for manual actions, not just fed into detection systems. Agent search becomes an active product for restaurant reservations in specific markets rather than a talking point about the future.
Now, compliance work, reporting mechanisms, and agent experience are all clearly understood enough to be tracked directly, instead of just planned.
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Featured image: Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock
