What we know about the helpful content update (Google update in August 2022)

On December 14, Google announced a new update aimed at combating link spam - December 2022 Link spam Update. Unlike SEO specialists, company representatives see all paid links (and links by agreement) as spam links.

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

Detailed information about the spam update is posted on the blog page developers.google.com/search/blog/2022/12/december-22-link-spam-update. In this article I will try to systematize the information about the December spam update, known at the moment, namely:

• Date and timing of update deployment
• Who will be affected by Link spam Update
• Interesting moments related to the news
• A small summary of the December Link spam Update

Date and timing of update deployment

The rollout of the update started on December 14, 2022 and should take approximately two weeks to complete. According to the blog page, the launch will affect all geos at once. In general, before the end of 2022, we should expect changes in the issue in connection with this update.

Who will be affected by Link spam Update

According to the authors of the update note (Dui Nguyen, Ildar Akhmedyanov, Jacob N Scott and Kartikgeyan Elangovan), the update involves the use of SpamBrain technology, which in turn can "detect both sites that buy links and sites used to transfer outbound links. Accordingly, this update may affect the ranking of sites that buy links, as well as sites that sell links.

Please note that site rankings may change as the positive impact of spammy links (that is, all purchased links) is neutralized and any weight transferred by these unnatural links is lost. This is exactly what is said in the very note about December 2022 Link spam Update. At the same time, it is not indicated in any way whether there will be any punishment for those sites that sell links, or only acceptors will be squandered.

Interesting moments related to the news

In the published text of the note, Google calls for writing abuses on sites that sell / buy artificial links. This sentence sounds like this: "If you come across sites that create non-organic links, let us know." The complaint form is located at https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/paidlinks.

I haven't come across any information on how this form works, or whether it works at all, but publishing a link to the form in a recent article may lead to competitors simply complaining about each other en masse.

A small summary of the December Link spam Update

While looking through the results volatility data for the period December 14-15, I haven't noticed a strong volatility in the results yet. But that doesn't mean the rollout of the December spam update hasn't started yet: rather, the changes just haven't been committed yet.

While we are waiting for drawdown or growth cases (I will update the article with these examples when there is more information), we can say for sure that if your site is now losing positions sharply, then this is due to its purchased links. The advice here is very obvious: build your link profile more naturally, in particular, use thematic sites or content that fits the theme of the guest post, use less commercial anchors and make a good onpage. I also recommend revisiting what Google considers link spam, just to understand the reasons for the drawdown in case of such.