On Wednesday, December 14, 2022, Google rolled out a major update to its search algorithm. The goal of the update was to reduce link spam on the internet and penalize websites found to be engaging in it.
While reducing link spam is generally meant to improve the quality of search content on the web, website owners and digital marketers could have noticed and been affected negatively by this update.
You may have seen a drop in your web traffic as your keyword rankings dropped.
The big change that the Google December 2022 update brought was how it handled backlinks.
Any website found to be engaging in link spam will now receive a penalty, causing its search ranking to drop.
Referring to the link spam update, Google announced:
“Today, we’re leveraging the power of SpamBrain to neutralize the impact of unnatural links on search results.”
Meet, SpamBrain
SpamBrain is an AI-based tool from Google that helps identify link spam and discrepancies in website SEO.
“SpamBrain is our AI-based spam-prevention system.”
The December 2022 Link Spam Update is just one of many Google algorithm updates that have been released recently. To avoid a penalty, it’s usually best practice to stay on top of the latest Google updates and audit your website for any potential issues.
“Besides using it to detect spam directly, it can now detect both sites buying links and sites used for the purpose of passing outgoing links.”
What this update means for your site
For most websites, the December 2022 Link Spam Update should not have a drastic effect on rankings and web traffic. However, if Google’s SpamBrain found you to be engaging in “link spam,” it’s possible that your website could have been affected.
Consequently, you could see a hit to keyword rankings and website traffic.
