Ever since Penguin 4.0, we know Google preferred to ignore bad links versus penalize those bad links. Well, that applies to other search spam as well. Google's John Mueller said the other day on Twitter that "if we can neutralize the effect of bad links, that's enough; there's no need to remove the site completely from search then."
He said "but there are many levels" of how Google can handle search spam. He said "most of the time, the algorithms take care of neutralizing the issue on their own." John has said this before, not with the word "neutralize" but basically saying Google has a two pronged approach to spam, ignore vs penalize.
And it seems Google prefers to just ignore, or neutralize the impact, of search spam versus penalize it.
Of course, the neutralization process might end up feeling like a penalty but it is not. Manual actions are penalties though but algorithms seem to prefer to neutralize the impact of spam versus penalize it.
Here are those tweets:
Sure, but there are many levels, and most of the time, the algorithms take care of neutralizing the issue on their own. For example, if we can neutralize the effect of bad links, that's enough; there's no need to remove the site completely from search then.
— 🍌 John 🍌 (@JohnMu) February 9, 2021
Forum discussion at Twitter.
