Google Link Spam Update (Everything You Need To Know)

On July 26th, 2021, Google announced about its search link spam update.

Google will be employing this update in its algorithm for the next couple of weeks. It was bound to happen since many people were reportedly spamming backlinks on their websites to get better organic ranking on search engines.

However, with this update, several websites will now find it difficult to rank their website by using unethical SEO methods.

If you monetize your websites and blogs with affiliate links or sponsored and guest posts, it’s very important to qualify these ???? ???? links. Learn more about commercial links and link spam → https://t.co/piENjy5azO pic.twitter.com/joqIvPFXlE

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) July 26, 2021

Meanwhile if you are new in SEO and don’t know anything about the history of Google Algorithm Updates then here is a detailed guide from where you can read about all the updates which Google has made in past.

What Is Google Link Spam Update?

On Google’s official forum, it reads that “a reminder on qualifying links and our spam updates”.

It further entails the guidelines and requirements of a link to get excluded from the spam section. There’s a broad explanation given by Google which you can check on their forum.

This recent Google update has now become part of their ranking algorithm and is in immediate effect from 26th July 2021.

How Will It Affect Your Website & SEO?

Website owners use many methods to rank their website and articles on 1st page of Google. Some uses legit ways while some uses wrongful ways.

Spamming the website with low quality or crappy backlinks is one such bad tactic used by SEOs to rank fast on top position of Google.

These low quality links are categorized into various types and are mostly used in order to rank high on search engine.

Google found that many users were abusing backlinks on their websites for better ranking. To eliminate this and improve its algorithm, Google introduced link spam update.

With this update, things are changing now and the traffic of websites that use spam links is significantly reducing.

What Impact Will This Update Make On Your Website’s SEO?

Google in its official blog mentioned that any website found using black hat SEO or spamming their website with low quality backlinks for the sake of improving their website’s rank on search engine can receive a Manual Action which is a type of Google Penalty.

Also, this update will nullify the benefit of such links and it would feel like a penalty to the users.

But if you are using white hat ways of SEO to rank your website on Google then you don’t have to worry at all about your website’s organic ranking.

What Is The Response From SEOs?

So far, SEOs has shown mixed reactions to this Google search link spam update.

While some have praised it and called it a good step for the future of SEO, some have shown disdain. Many users have complained that their backlinks were 100% legit, however, Google still identified them as spammy and dropped a manual action penalty on their website.

As a result of this, the sites have seen a sharp drop in their organic traffic.

While we don’t know the whole truth, it certainly begs the question, how does Google’s algorithm work?

If it’s proving harmful to even legit links, what’s the guarantee that it will exclude spam links? Hopefully, Google will surely answer to all the doubts soon.

What You Should Do Now?

First things first, to avoid the hammer of Google link spam update, you need to follow all the guidelines which are mentioned on Google’s official blog.

Furthermore, you need to ensure that the links you have on your website are 100% organic, legit, and do not contain any hint of spam.

This goes for both internal links as well as external links.

You can improve your website’s performance by improving and optimizing the quality of content published on your website. If your content is well received by Google, the links for the most part won’t pose any problem.

You should be consistent in posting high quality content on your website.

Also, avoid making low quality or crappy backlinks for your website.

Final Thoughts

In the long term, this update is certainly going to be a good step by Google.

However, the early response depicts that many SEOs are not liking it. The disagreement is majorly coming from the so called SEOs who don’t know anything about how SEO actually works.

Our advice for all SEOs out here will be to publish high quality content, optimize your page experience, work on On-Page SEO and follow what Google says.

Implementing wrong or black hat tactics will never rank your website on top position of search engine for a long period of time.