Spammers Exploit Canonical Tags and Expired Domains to Game Google Rankings Globally

SEO researcher Timothy Malmros has identified a widespread spam loop in which operators buy expired high-authority domains for around $10, flood them with low-quality backlinks, then use canonical tags to redirect that authority to fresh throwaway domains, which briefly rank before being replaced. The technique exploits Google's own canonical specification, originally designed to consolidate duplicate URLs, as a signal-transfer mechanism rather than a content-quality signal. Malmros says Google's brief 'grace period' — during which new pages must appear in results before user behaviour can be assessed — is the structural vulnerability that makes the loop viable at scale. Legitimate sites already ranking in affected niches face additional harm, as the same spam link networks also target them with junk anchor text, potentially triggering temporary penalties and clearing space for the throwaway domains. Malmros reports observing the tactic across multiple countries including Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy, and says no effective countermeasure appears to be in place.