Ever since the Google Penguin 4 update in 2016, the sites stopped being ‘penalized’ for spammy link profiles. Too many sites that were not actively creating spam links got caught up in the penalty box. But that is not to say site owners don’t quake a bit when there is a new update.
Now that another update has been released that specifically targets spam links, webmasters are gearing up for swings in their rankings. The announcement was at the bottom of Google’s article about the release telling people to keep it clean.
Even with clean link-building efforts, Google’s release can wreak havoc on rankings. While there is not a penalty for a bad link profile, having links suddenly stop counting will change the rankings.
The best defense is to continue developing partnerships, create and disseminate content that can garner links from other sites. This is so simple, but core to building up a site’s rankings.