Google releases December 2022 link spam update

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Just when you thought Google Search updates were done for the year, Google rolled out a December 2022 link spam update. This update will take about two weeks to roll out and is a global update.

What Google said. Google wrote: “Our rollout today, which we’re calling the December 2022 Spam Link Update, will take about two weeks to fully roll out. Ranking may change as spam links are neutralized and any credit passed by these unnatural links is lost. This rollout will affect all languages.”

SpamBrain for links. This is leveraging what Google calls SpamBrain, Google referenced this in the 2018 Google spam report, specifically in the spam trends section where Google talks about its machine learning systems to improve spam detection in search.

Google added that SpamBrain can not only “detect spam directly, but it can now detect both sites that buy links, as well as sites used for the purpose of outbound link broadcasting.”

Useful content system still rolling out. Google is still rolling out the December 2022 helpful content system, while this anti-spam update is rolling out.

Because we care. Again, if you see a drop in your Google ranking in the next couple of weeks, it could be related to this new link spam update. Make sure your links are natural and follow Google’s webmaster guidelines. Work on improving your site to naturally attract new links over time.

As Google wrote with previous link spam updates, site owners should make sure they are following best practices on links, both inbound and outbound. Focusing on producing high quality content and improving the user experience always wins over link manipulation. Promote awareness of your site using properly coded links and monetize it with properly coded affiliate links.

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About the author

Barry Schwartz, Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land and member of the scheduling team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a New York-based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular research blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry can be followed on Twitter here.

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