Key Takeaways
Google is addressing the spam related to obituary searches
It leads to frustration in users who are searching for a particular piece of information related to someone’s death or other related information
Obituary-related searches - Know what are these? These are search terms that people search to confirm or know more about the death of a person. When you search for these terms on Google, it means you are looking for the details about a person’s death, their funeral or other relevant information.
Google is now actively addressing the issue of spam that is related to obituary searches. Google Search Liason Danny Sullivan acknowledged the issue and stated that they are actively playing their role to resolve this issue.
This issue was highlighted when Matthew Brown complained about it on X and expressed his frustration over the obituary-related spam.
The “data void” is mainly responsible for that. It is the vulnerability that arises when there is little to no credible information available but demand for this topic is high.
When initially no information is available, Google displays low-quality or spammy results that match the query well. It is good to know that legitimate obituaries push down the spammy resources with time but it takes time until a legitimate source confirms it.
The initial flood of spammy search results is however frustrating for users who are searching for a reliable source of information to confirm the obituary or related information.