Take-away: Google is getting a lot more aggressive about using purely algorithmic spam penalties. About 6 months back, they changed the Webmaster Guidelines to

Take-away: Google is getting a lot more aggressive about using purely algorithmic spam penalties. About 6 months back, they changed the Webmaster Guidelines to specifically make a point that penalties can be either manual OR algorithmic (previously they just discussed manual penalties). Everything they've done lately follows this trend. What's surprising to me and most SEO's is the thought Google was not already heavily using this approach to combat spam. Either they always have, but now are just telling the world about it... (But if so, shouldn't the results speak for themselves? Why make such a point to talk about it? Is this just marketing? Is their bark more effective tool than their bite?) ...or they were NOT, and now actually are really using algos for the first time. (In which case, I wonder why did it take so long? Were the algos not effective in the past? Were they worried about collateral damage? How much do they expect now? Were the algos limited in other ways and not adaptable/flexible?) Is this a sign of desperation? It could be a) a good solid enhancement, b) pure marketing noise, or c) a potentially risky algorithm with bad consequences.