# Link spam

Category: [Link Building & Off-Page](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/category/link-building-off-page/) › [Link spam & risks](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/category/link-building-off-page/link-spam-risks/)

In SEO, **link spam** means links to or from a site that exist primarily to manipulate search rankings. It does not refer to spam links in email or phishing messages.

## Examples from Google's spam policies

Google lists, among others:
- Buying or selling links for ranking purposes
- Excessive link exchanges
- Automated programs or services that create links
- Text ads or text links that do not block ranking credit
- Forum comments with optimized links in signatures
- Low-value content created mainly to manipulate linking and ranking signals

Buying or selling links is not a violation when the links are qualified with `rel="nofollow"` or `rel="sponsored"`.

## How Google responds

Google detects violations through automated systems and, as needed, human review that can lead to a manual action. Affected sites may rank lower or not appear. In the link spam update announced on December 14, 2022, Google used its spam detection system SpamBrain to neutralize manipulative links.

## Example

```html
<a href="https://partner.example/" rel="sponsored">Partner</a>
```

## Related terms

- [Link building](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/link-building/index.md)
- [Link profile](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/link-profile/index.md)
- [Dofollow link](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/dofollow-link/index.md)
- [Link scheme](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/link-scheme/index.md)
- [SpamBrain](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/spambrain/index.md)
- [Link spam update](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/link-spam-update/index.md)
- [rel="sponsored"](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/rel-sponsored/index.md)
- [Private blog network (PBN)](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/private-blog-network/index.md)
- [Toxic backlinks](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/toxic-backlinks/index.md)

## Sources

- [Spam policies for Google web search – Google Search Central](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies)
- [December 2022 link spam update – Google Search Central Blog](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2022/12/december-22-link-spam-update)
- [Qualify your outbound links to Google – Google Search Central](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/qualify-outbound-links)

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Last updated: October 7, 2026
URL: https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/link-spam/