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Google's Latest Search Update Means You'll See Less Clickbait

We're all tired of results trying to game Google Search.

Imad Khan Senior Reporter
Imad is a senior reporter covering Google and internet culture. Hailing from Texas, Imad started his journalism career in 2013 and has amassed bylines with The New York Times, The Washington Post, ESPN, Tom's Guide and Wired, among others.
Expertise Google, Internet Culture
Imad Khan
2 min read
Google search results page on a mobile phone

A Google Search update will elevate original content and push down clickbait and spam. 

Taylor Martin/CNET

Google Search is getting a new update that will elevate original content and push back clickbait, according to a blog post Thursday.

In the coming weeks, updates to search will target content created by spam websites or bots meant to manipulate SEO, or search engine optimization. Instead, Google will aim to bring forward original content and reporting "made by and for people." Google said this Search update will be similar to the reviews update it did earlier this year that prioritized product reviews from experts rather than sites that summarized multiple products. Google will aim to improve results for educational, entertainment, shopping and tech-related content. 

The update to search comes as people have shown themselves to be increasingly frustrated over the lack of quality search results. Threads on Reddit point to a degradation of valuable results and an increase in ads or sponsored content. Bloggers and publications such as The Atlantic say inferior results are a symptom of sites constantly trying to optimize for Google. Bing, DuckDuckGo and other search engines continue to compete against Google's dominance in search, but the company still holds a 91% market share

In 2020, the Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google over its dominance in search and its alleged efforts to suppress competition. Later that year, 38 attorneys general from states and territories filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google alleging it holds a search monopoly. Google countered by saying its popularity is because it has the best search product. The lawsuits are currently working their way through the legal system.