Google June 2021 Spam Update Part 2 (28 June 2021): What Changed and How to Recover

The Google June 2021 Spam Update (Part 2) started and concluded on 28 June 2021, five days after Part 1. It completed a two-part refresh of Google’s automated spam detection, applied globally to web and image results, and again named no specific spam types. The practical takeaway: if your site dropped that week and you are sure you run a clean site, check whether someone else has been using it to spam, through hacked pages, injected links or user-generated content.

For the full sequence of 2021 changes, see my full list of Google algorithm updates.

What the June 2021 Spam Update (Part 2) changed

When Google released Part 1 on 23 June, it said “A second one will follow next week.” Part 2 arrived on Monday 28 June with this message: “The second part of our spam update has begun today, and it will also conclude later today, unless we share otherwise”.

Note the hedge, “unless we share otherwise”. Google left room to extend it, but did not, so the record treats it as a one-day update. Like Part 1, it was global and covered web and image results. Google pointed site owners to its webmaster guidelines, which have since become the spam policies, and did not say which types of spam it focused on.

Google has never explained why the spam refresh was split in two. What we can say from the record is that both halves were short, both were general, and both came in the same weeks as the June core update and the start of the page experience rollout.

Timeline

Part 2 sits in a very narrow gap. Anything you see from 1 July onwards may be the July core update instead.

Who was affected

Google named no specific sites. Reporting described a global rollout across web and image results, with an effect that was hard to separate from the core update and page experience changes happening around it. In principle, only sites using practices covered by Google’s spam policies were the target.

How to tell if Part 2 hit your site

With Part 2, the main challenge is the three-day window between it and the July core update. Here is how I narrow it down.

1. Look at 24 June to 30 June 2021 day by day in Search Console. Part 2 effects should begin on 28 or 29 June and be visible before 1 July.
2. Compare against Part 1. If you dropped on 23 June and again on 28 June, both halves may have touched the same problem. If you only moved on 28 June, focus on Part 2.
3. Check image search separately. Both parts covered image results. In the Performance report, switch Search type to Image. A drop in image clicks on 28 June with stable web traffic is a useful clue, and one that people often miss.
4. Look for pages you did not create. Search site:yourdomain.com and add common spam words for your market (pharmaceutical terms, casino, replica goods). Check the Pages report in Search Console for URLs you do not recognise.
5. Check Security issues and Manual actions in Search Console. Hacked content often triggers a security warning. An algorithmic spam demotion does not create a manual action.

How to recover from the June 2021 Spam Update (Part 2)

Google’s spam policies cover more than tactics a site owner chooses. They also cover spam that ends up on your site through compromise or neglect. When a site owner is confident they have not used spam tactics but still matches the Part 2 date, these are the areas I check, in this order.

Then:

1. Request removal of injected URLs through Search Console if they are still indexed after you delete them, and let Google recrawl.
2. If Search Console shows a security issue or manual action, fix it fully before requesting a review. That is the only situation with a review process.
3. For algorithmic demotions, Google says improvement may come once its systems learn “over a period of months” that the site complies. There is no button to press.
4. Put monitoring in place so it does not happen again: file integrity checks, regular updates, and alerts for new indexed URLs.

Compromised WordPress sites are one of the most common things I find in audits. My technical SEO work covers the clean-up and the indexing side of recovery.

Is it still relevant today?

As a one-day event in 2021, its direct effects are long settled. Two lessons still matter. First, Google’s spam systems judge what is on your domain, regardless of who put it there, so site security is part of SEO. Second, image search is a separate channel worth checking on its own whenever a spam update lands, since updates like this one have covered both web and image results.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Google Search Central: spam updates documentation
• Keywords Everywhere: June 2021 spam update
• Search Engine Journal: Google algorithm history (2021)

If you suspect spam on your site that you did not put there, or a drop around 28 June 2021 never recovered, request a free audit. My SEO audit service checks for injected pages, hidden links and indexing problems as well as content issues.