What Is Link Spam? Google's Definition and What Counts

Link spam is Google's term for links created primarily to manipulate search rankings. Google's spam policies list the main forms: bought or sold links, excessive link exchanges, automated link building, low-quality directories, sitewide footer links and content made only to carry links. Since December 2022 Google's SpamBrain system neutralises such links, so most link spam simply stops counting.

You have probably met the term in one of two places: a Search Console message, or a backlink report where a tool flagged half your links as "spam" and you are not sure whether that is Google's view or the tool's. This page sticks to what Google itself says counts, what it does about it, and where the line sits for ordinary tactics like exchanges.

What does Google count as link spam?

Google's spam policies define link spam as links intended to manipulate rankings in Google Search, and give a concrete list of examples. These are the ones that matter in practice.

Buying or selling links for ranking purposes

The first example on Google's list. It covers paying money for a link, but also exchanging goods or services for one, or sending someone a free product in return for a write-up with a link. Advertising links are fine when they carry rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow"; the violation is a paid link that passes ranking credit.

Excessive link exchanges

Google's wording is "excessive link exchanges" and partner pages made exclusively for cross-linking. The operative words are excessive and exclusively. Two relevant sites linking to each other inside real content is not what the policy describes; a dedicated "links" page or a swap-everyone-with-everyone scheme is.

Automated link building

Using programs or services to create links to your site at scale. Blog comment bots, profile-link generators and "10,000 backlinks for $5" packages all fall here.

Low-quality directory and bookmark links

Submissions to directories and social bookmarking sites that exist only to hold links. A relevant trade directory with editorial review is a different thing; a list of 1,000 "free directory submission sites" is the pattern Google names.

Sitewide footer and template links

Links distributed widely in the footers or templates of other sites, including the "designed by" credit link in a free theme or widget. One real citation is worth more than a link repeated on every page of a site that never chose it.

Content created only to carry links

Google's list ends with creating low-value content primarily for the purpose of manipulating linking and ranking signals. That covers spun articles on article farms, thin guest posts whose only point is the link, and the inventory sites that sell link insertions. What is a link farm and what is a PBN in SEO describe the two most common structures.

What happens to link spam?

In most cases the links are neutralised rather than the site penalised, which is why link spam often fails silently.

Google's December 2022 link spam update, announced on 14 December 2022, put its SpamBrain system to work on links. The post says SpamBrain can detect "both sites buying links, and sites used for the purpose of passing outgoing links", and that "ranking may change as spammy links are neutralized and any credit passed by these unnatural links are lost". The rollout took about two weeks and covered all languages. The important word is neutralised: the link stops counting. If you paid for it, you paid for nothing, and nothing in Search Console tells you.

That approach dates back to Penguin. When Google made Penguin part of its core algorithm on 23 September 2016, it said Penguin "devalues spam by adjusting ranking based on spam signals, rather than affecting ranking of the whole site", with data refreshed in real time. What was Google Penguin covers that history.

Manual actions still exist for the egregious cases. A human reviewer can apply an "unnatural links" action that suppresses rankings until the links are removed or disavowed and a reconsideration request is accepted. What is a manual action in Search Console explains how to tell whether you have one. For everyone else, the realistic outcome of link spam is not a penalty but a bill for links that do not work.

What is not link spam?

Links are not spam just because they are reciprocal, paid or imperfect; what makes them spam is intent and scale.

Paid links that are labelled. Google's policy says buying and selling links is a normal part of web advertising as long as the link carries rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow". A disclosed sponsorship is compliant; it just passes no ranking credit.
Ordinary reciprocal links. Sites in the same field cite each other all the time. The policy targets excessive exchanges and pages built only for cross-linking, not the fact that two sites both link. Reciprocal links and SEO goes through the evidence.
Links you did not build. Random spam pointing at your site is usually just ignored. Google's systems are designed to discount it, and it is rarely worth a disavow unless you have a manual action. See what is a bad backlink for how to tell the difference.
A tool's "spam score". Third-party toxicity and spam scores are the tool's estimate, not Google's. What is spam score in SEO explains what those numbers measure.

Is a link exchange link spam?

A link exchange is link spam when it is excessive or built on pages that exist only to cross-link, and not when two relevant sites place each other's links inside real content at a normal pace.

That is the line Google's own wording draws, and it is the line to design any exchange around: relevance between the two sites, placement inside an article a reader would actually open, and a number of swaps that would look unremarkable in a normal backlink profile. How many link exchanges is safe puts rough numbers on that.

We make Backlinkster, a one-for-one exchange, so we have an interest here and have built the product around that line. The link you submit must be an article URL on your own domain rather than the homepage, so swaps sit inside real content; a published link cannot be reused for two live swaps; and each swap is verified by API before it counts. None of that makes volume safe. Keep exchanges relevant and moderate, whichever way you arrange them.

How to check whether you have link spam pointing at your site

Run a backlink audit, look for the patterns above rather than a tool's score, and act only if you find a manual action or a pattern you built yourself.

Export your links from Search Console (Links report) or a backlink tool, and sort by referring domain.
Look for the policy patterns: many links from directories, footers, forum profiles, comment sections or unrelated commercial sites, especially with exact-match anchors.
Check Search Console's Manual actions report. No action listed means Google has not penalised you, whatever a tool says.
If you built the spammy links, remove what you can. If you have a manual action, disavow what you cannot remove and file a reconsideration request. How to disavow bad backlinks covers the mechanics, and how to audit your backlink profile covers the full process.

Frequently asked questions

What is link spam in SEO?

Link spam is any link created primarily to manipulate rankings rather than to help a reader. Google's spam policies give examples including bought links, excessive link exchanges, automated link building, low-quality directory links, sitewide footer links and content created only to carry links.

What are examples of link spam?

Paying for a dofollow link in a blog post, running a bot that drops comment links, submitting to hundreds of free directories, putting your link in the footer of a theme you give away, and swapping links through a dedicated partners page are all examples Google's policy describes.

Does link spam get your site penalised?

Usually not. Since the December 2022 link spam update, Google's SpamBrain system neutralises spammy links so they pass no credit, and Penguin has worked that way since 2016. Manual actions for unnatural links still happen, but mainly for large-scale or clearly bought link schemes.

Is a link exchange considered link spam?

Only when it is excessive or runs through pages that exist solely to cross-link. Google's policy names "excessive link exchanges", not exchanges as such. Two relevant sites linking inside real articles, in moderate numbers, is a normal pattern.

Can I report link spam to Google?

Yes. Google's link spam update post invites people to report sites that buy or sell links through its spam report form. Reports feed its systems and are not guaranteed to produce a visible action.

The bottom line

Link spam is a definition, not a score: links made to game rankings, in the forms Google lists. Most of it no longer triggers a penalty; it simply stops counting, which is worse for the buyer because nothing announces the loss. Build links a reader would follow, label the ones you pay for, keep exchanges relevant and moderate, and the policy has nothing to say about you.