Google Spam Update Just Released Hell. Here’s what it did…

thanks Matt. i have a question about Anchor text.. how should we use them in our guest posts? exact Anchor or ...?

I have a quick question. All my backlinks are white hat (total around 350). But from November 2022 to December 12th, someone made around 100+ spammy "Japanese keyword hack" backlinks to my website. This caused a 30% drop in traffic till now. Please advise how I can recover from this hit.

Thanks Matt, for years I have been careful with the backlinks I get and luckily my websites have not suffered any fall, on the contrary they have multiplied their visits in the last 12 months, reaching the top 3 for many relevant keywords.
You have to understand how to select these websites where to place backlinks or guest posts... and also understand that the quality of the text that accompanies the link is crucial.

How to recover from google spam update? It seems like it put some kind of ban on the website and your new articles will not be ranking as well

Well, as a person who has a lot of toxic backlinks pointing to my website, I would appreciate if google ignored them so I don't have to manually disavow them myself. Saving me lots of time. I would much rather REAL quality blogs link to me instead of these nasty weird ones.

What's that tattoo of? Looks like something in Sanskrit.

I am just close to getting started with preparing my portfolio for a seo online marketing internship & these kinds of things feel like pulling away my motivation momentum to choose this path as my main job, at least a bit. These measures also ensure that an seo manager always has something to do, but makes me consider going for ux design instead as some policy can't ruin months of work in a finger snap. Am I overreacting here?

Advice: Disavow your spammy backlinks. Google is not perfect. Don't trust them to ignore. My disavow list has about 55,000 domains disavowed.

Don't buy or exchange links. Never. Write good content. Stop trying to manipulate Google. Eventually, you'll lose all your hard work.

It's not complicated. Create quality content.

I practice what I preach. I don't worry about Google because I'm not cheating. Think about it.

I dont get the following point:
(Referring Domains / linked Domains) > 0.12 = good
One Website got 50 referring Domains and 400 linked domains.
50/400 = 0.125
Requirement fulfilled.
Isn't that noticeable when there are so many outgoing domains but hardly any incoming domains?
Wouldn't it be better to do the calculation the other way around?
(linked domains / referring domains) > 0.12 = good?

I think you totally misunderstood the Google update. You cherry picked some parts but missed the bigger picture (EEAT).

One of my site is pure spam and its working better.

They are spending way too much time tweaking the algorithm and penalizing relevant sites that have been at the top of the serps for years. Google search results are in complete shambles nowadays for search terms that I regularly use. I often have to scroll to the bottom of the page or even on to the next page to find exactly what I'm looking for. It seems like their results are too broad matching now and not keyed in like they used to be. I hate to say it but Bing often times has more accurate results than Google nowadays.

Makes complete sense.

Hey Matt, thanks heaps for the vid. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this: Looks like I was punished by the Update, even though I don't buy or sell links. I'm still ranking in the top 3 for a few decent terms, but a lot of things I was on the second page for have been demoted to the fourth or fifth page, and my traffic has been halved as a result. And it seems I was pubished more in UK results than in US results. I'm baffled. I do let guest authors link back to their own blogs; is this wrong? Should I make external links no-follow?

Thanks for the info! Hey, how do you get the playlist name to appear with your video? I don't see this on other channels (like mine), but it's showing next to the views in your description and above each individual video when I click on the video link on your channel to see your content. 🤔

I keep waiting for your new videos. It's always filled with information.

100% useful video
Learned a lot in just 8 mins

I still don't really understand the targeting of "exchange of content" guest posting or podcasting. Seems like that builds community, relevance, and trust. Why is Google hating on that strategy? It really isn't SPAM unless the connection isn't relevant. What is really wrong with an author box? I hope you zero in on this more and explain it.

You did such a great job with this video. Moves fast and packed with info.

Another great video! Thank you and all the best in 2023!

Hi Matt, random question but I vaguely remember you recommending (in an older video) a Facebook group of freelance writers for content. Which group was that again and would you still recommend the group? Thanks.

G SUCKS and always will. An ad agency disguising itself as a search engine! That just about sums it up

I just gave you your 500th like. Totally deserved.

Really great video, but I can't watch this with my sound on. Please skip those annoying noises in between everything the whole time. Literally just reading the subtitles bc I can't deal with the noises. Super triggering. A reason not to watch a video for me :/

How to hack spambrain ai ????🤔🤔

I am already killed by Google October spam update 2022 😷😷😭😭

Where do you get 0.12 from as a baseline metric?

Hey Matt. I guess you have a niche site health affiliate website, I'm curious how you do you go about content/keywords and link building to get on google? Tried same and google de-indexed my blogs. Looking forward to your feedback

Google has turned blogging a messy job they will not rank your posts without SEO they will also penalize your website with SEO the only way I can see to be in the top page is to increase domain authority of your website and for that you have to add backlinks again here too they will penalize your website. Good job google 👏👏

I used to make nice $ selling links many years ago

Google is going tough.

I had site started in the summer get towards 40k monthly page views 96% traffic was from Google search, rest direct, 90% US then UK and Canada, engagment time average circa 1min12, no external links, no affiliate, no ads yet. I got clobbered Dec 9th in the helpful content update probably as was yet to make an about us section. I was wondering do you think a site going up the ranking without ads is a big no-no for Google, why should they send traffic to you if you're not making them money but others are? Is early payout to Google by placing ads going to rank you better, it must right?

great video man

Great content

hi matt do you think that being connected to a google service (chrome, gmail, sc..) while netlinking allows big G to detect us?

Can't even do a guest post volunteering your own time & expertise to another creator of your own free will without getting penalized by Google lol. It's like saying I can't donate Christmas presents to a toy drive because the recipient might thank me. Blogging is dead 💀

just for your information, i use (the better quality) pbn links for years now and i haven't been hit by any update of any kind; i can show you sites that have really ugly links and they rank really well...

Great content. As always. The man delivered. Again. Happy holidays Matt!

Taylor Swift Chords = thats an easy one. Every tune has the same three

The video is cool, but it doesn't translate into reality at all. What are we talking about here, the usual business of Karen, who cannot afford a link from DR94, so for her it will always be a guestpost and a bought one at that. Who is supposed to link to Karen's business and why? What is so revealing and interesting about it when there are 50,000 businesses just like it? It's all crap to buy Ads. But what happens when everyone throws themselves at Ads? There will be 10 Ads and 10 organic results and google will enlarge the page to 20 results - will it be TOP20?

What type of backlinks should i create to rank Local keywords?

About the Japanese hacks:
How do you deal with these to clean the site like you never had them at all?

"Why always porn"? because it is 20% of the traffic and pays great commissions

Hey Matt quick question ive been wondering, when using something like surfer SEO, lets say it shows the top articles use longer articles while including bunch of sub topics, do you think there is merit in creating separate, more details articles for those sub topics instead? Or do you think following the same plan as them is the right choice? Thanks a ton for your content!

Have you noticed 301 redirects no longer pass on juice since the update?
Thanks!

THIS. Just the research I have been evaluating personally and you've confirmed it for me. I have changed my strategy to mostly reactive PR and building links from high quality/traffic/authority sites that are NOT easy to get. 1 or 2 of these can replace hundreds of "dead" or weak links. Thanks Matt!

Hey matt i want Ask one question?