Today, with our December 2022 link spam update, we’re leveraging the power of SpamBrain to neutralize the impact of unnatural links on search results. The update launches today & will take about two weeks to rollout. Learn more: https://t.co/ACO2Ut8wmi
— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) December 14, 2022
Introduction
The December 2022 Link Spam Update was one of the largest Google algorithm updates in history. It was so large, in fact, that some people called it an “algo-pocalypse.” In this article, we’ll explain what the update was and how to recover from it if necessary.
What was the December 2022 Link Spam Update?
The December 2022 Link Spam Update was a link spam update launched on December 14, 2022. It was the first of two link spam updates in 2022, with the next being the February 2023 Link Spam Update to be released on February 8, 2023.
The update targeted websites that were participating in link networks or affiliate programs to drive traffic to their sites. Websites using autogenerated links and purchased links were also affected by this update.
The Google December 2022 Link Spam Update background
The Google December 2022 Link Spam Update is one of the many algorithm updates that Google periodically releases to improve their search engine. The update was reported that it would take about two weeks to fully roll out. The purpose of this update was to combat link spam on the internet, which are links that lead nowhere or are just advertisements for a website or product.
This update helps to improve your user experience by ensuring that you’re getting relevant results when searching for something online. When users search for something specific such as “hockey team,” they expect accurate results from reputable sources within their chosen topic area; an unverified blog about hockey teams might not be considered reliable enough to provide quality information about a particular topic like this one would be too generic.
What is known about the December 2022 Link Spam Update
In December 2022, Google launched an update designed to combat link spam. As with all other Penguin updates, the exact details of this one are still unknown. We do know that it did not target any kind of link building strategy. Rather, it was focused on identifying and penalizing websites that were using links in such a way as to be deceptive or manipulative.
Google’s advice on recovering from this update
Google’s advice is to clean up any unnatural links in your website’s link profile, and then build a natural link profile by attracting links from high-quality sources.
It’s important to note that this update affected all types of sites, not just those that have already been penalized by Google. This means that even if you’re not ranking low in search results right now, you may find yourself struggling with this update if you’ve been buying or earning fake links over the past few years.
Your rankings may be hurt by this update
Google has made it clear that links are an important quality signal in their algorithm. They have also said that if you have a large amount of unnatural links, this update can hurt your rankings.
How do you know if your site has unnatural links? The easiest way is to use Google’s Disavow Links tool or a third-party service like LinkResearchTools (LRT). Once you’ve checked for any suspicious or low-quality links, remove them from the site by either contacting the webmaster or reporting them through Google Search Console (GSC).
Conclusion
Google is constantly making tweaks to its search algorithm. It’s important to keep an eye on these changes so that you can stay ahead of the curve and keep your website performing well.
