Link spam is Google's term for links created primarily to manipulate search rankings. Its spam policies name buying or selling links for ranking purposes, excessive link exchanges, automated link building, forum and comment links stuffed with keywords, and paid placements that do not block ranking credit. The consequence is usually that the links stop counting; in serious cases it is a manual action against the site that acquired them.
What the policy actually names
Buying or selling links for ranking purposes, including paying with goods or services or sending someone a free product in exchange for a link. Excessive link exchanges. Using automated programs or services to create links. Requiring a link as part of a terms of service or contract. Text ads and paid links that pass ranking credit. Low-quality directory and bookmark links. Widely distributed widgets and footers with keyword links. Forum comments with optimised links in the post or signature.
Google is explicit that buying and selling links is a normal part of advertising, and is fine when the links carry a sponsored or nofollow attribute so that they do not pass ranking credit. The offence is the credit, not the money.
Spammy-looking is not the same as spam
A link from an ugly site is not link spam. A link from a small blog with adverts is not link spam. Links from sites you have never heard of in countries you do not trade in are usually not link spam either, or at least not yours. The policy is about intent and pattern: a network of links built to move rankings. A tool's toxicity score cannot see intent, which is why it flags so much that Google simply ignores.
What happens when Google finds it
Mostly the links are neutralised, silently. Rankings that were propped up by them subside, which is why sites that bought links often report a slow decline rather than a sudden crash. Where a person at Google reviews the pattern and judges it deliberate, a manual action appears in Search Console and the site's rankings are demoted until it is cleaned up and a reconsideration request is accepted.
What legitimate link building looks like
Being listed by suppliers, partners, venues and associations you genuinely work with. Sponsorships marked as sponsored. Press coverage you earned by being newsworthy. Resources people cite because they are useful. Guest content written for an audience, on a relevant site, once, rather than the same article placed on fifty. If the link would exist without Google, it is not spam.
Sources
Where this shows up in the tracker
Every term in this glossary is something the product actually measures or acts on. Plans start at £29 a month, with rank tracking, AI visibility, the daily AI readiness scan, security and domain health, Search Console, backlinks and audits on every one of them.
Related terms
Backlink
A backlink is a link from someone else's website to a page on yours. Search engines treat it as a vote: the more trusted and relevant the site casting it, the more it counts. Links are still among the strongest ranking signals Google has, which is exactly why buying them is against Google's rules and why earning them is slow.
Toxic backlinks
Toxic backlinks, spammy backlinks and high spam-score links are all names for links that an SEO tool has flagged as coming from low-quality or manipulative sites. The score is the tool's estimate, not Google's judgement. Google says it ignores most such links on its own, so a red number in a report is usually information, not an emergency.
Disavow tool
The disavow tool is a Search Console feature that lets you upload a list of links or domains and ask Google to ignore them when assessing your site. Google describes it as an advanced feature that can harm your site if misused, and says you should only use it when you have a considerable number of spammy or paid links and those links have caused, or are likely to cause, a manual action. For most sites that never happens.
Negative SEO
Negative SEO is any attempt to lower another site's search rankings. The version people fear most, pointing thousands of spam links at a competitor, rarely works, because Google largely ignores links it judges to be spam and has said the disavow tool was not built for this. The attacks that do real damage are different: hacking, scraping, fake reviews, and bot traffic that distorts click data.