(UPDATE) December 2022 Link Spam Update

lapascore said:

So it finally looks like a lot of the volatility I was seeing during those rollouts might finally be settling down and - this website anyway - actually came out on top. Others did NOT:
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Eventually got round to get it. Funny how similar it is.

A lot of these pages would be position 3 or 4, some would vanish for a few days as others would come back, then they mostly all came back. It's like they were just randomising stuff to see the output, then just froze the process whenever they got what they wanted.

When I see this stuff I really get the impression they have lost the knowledge to fully control the index. It's like a drunk driving up the street.

leeVanCleef said:

View attachment 240637

Eventually got round to get it. Funny how similar it is.

A lot of these pages would be position 3 or 4, some would vanish for a few days as others would come back, then they mostly all came back. It's like they were just randomising stuff to see the output, then just froze the process whenever they got what they wanted.

When I see this stuff I really get the impression they have lost the knowledge to fully control the index. It's like a drunk driving up the street.

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That is almost an mirror image!

lapascore said:

It is, thank you. Just wish the others looked like this one. I am trying to figure out what set this one apart. If I figure anything Ill let you know.

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For sure mate, we all need some actual practical insight.

So please tell me if this thought is stupid but.... one thing different for the site I am digging in to is that instead of attempting to get rid of what I figured were the most egregious links, I just made and uploaded a disavow file. So now I am wondering if killing links was seen as an admission of guilt to Google while uploading the disavow file was seen more as "I didn't ask for these and I have no control over them please don't count them against me" EDIT: I do feel it was the link update that hit me the hardest as my content is written by copywriters and very specific to my industry.

Or maybe the disavow file actually does nothing and I screwed myself by killing links? Oh man..... oh no..... hahahaha

lapascore said:

Or maybe the disavow file actually does nothing and I screwed myself by killing links? Oh man..... oh no..... hahahaha

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I had a disallow quite a while ago after a spam attack, but dropped it about 6 months ago.

My theory for my jump was that it was authority. The algo gave me valid positions on a lot of serps, like between 4 and 8, but it had a fixed number of serps I was to be put on. So pages completely vanished from SERPS for days or weeks, then just reappeared again.

I'm YMYL and I think they very noticeably suppress my reach. Domain also just passed the 3 year registration date.

leeVanCleef said:

I'm YMYL and I think they very noticeably suppress my reach. Domain also just passed the 3 year registration date.

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How are you planning to recover?

RealDaddy said:

How are you planning to recover?

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Praying.

Doing more whitehat SEO now, outreach specifically. Providing content for EEAT.

Gonna give it 2 more google core updates, I have a feeling that I'll do pretty well in the next one but if not and the next one then i'll have to can it.

My lighthouse scores are all 97+ now, I got a massive boost from the last May core update, then it dwindled away. I had google maps and google charts on most pages and that hammered my scores ( 60s ) and I suspect helpful content got impacted from that. Bounce rate is now down to low 60s, was high 70s before.

edit. just checked cloudflare, google came in last night and crawled 3k links in 90 minutes. That's significant, they have not crawled like that in 9 months.

leeVanCleef said:

Doing more whitehat SEO now, outreach specifically.

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no active link building is whitehat