Google has announced its December 2022 link spam update, which will use its AI-based spam prevention system, SpamBrain, to detect and neutralize the impact of unnatural links on search results.
According to Google, the update is expected to take about two weeks to fully roll out and will affect all languages.
SpamBrain will be used to detect both sites buying links and sites used for the purpose of passing outgoing links. As a result of the update, ranking may change as spammy links are neutralized and any credit passed by these unnatural links is lost.
Google emphasized that links obtained primarily for the artificial manipulation of search rankings are considered link spam.
The company’s algorithms and manual actions aim to nullify these unnatural links at scale and will continue to improve coverage in the future.
Google encouraged users to report any sites engaging in inorganic link building and invited feedback on the update in its help community.
Link spamming is a pervasive issue on the internet, and Google’s efforts to combat it will benefit both website owners and users.
By neutralizing the impact of unnatural links on search results, Google’s December 2022 link spam update will help to ensure that search rankings are determined by the quality and relevance of websites, rather than by artificial manipulation.
This will make it easier for users to find the information they are looking for, and will create a level playing field for legitimate website owners.
