What does the Google link spam update mean?

[Kurt]

In more general terms that specific, it looks like Google is finally cracking down/devaluing links that are easy to get. Over the years there's been tons of lists of footprints you can use to find places to post links. Sites that use pages like "guest post", "submit article", "Comment below" are easy enough for us to find using Google, we have to assume Google knows about them too.

This is definitely the trend IMO and I'm surprised Google didn't do this 10 years earlier. But what should we anticipate this means for us?

I think we'll see linking partnerships go underground. While "favorable" links will become harder to get, they'll also become more valuable. Teaming up with other webmasters and SEOers to discreetly link to each other will likely be beneficial.

The value of existing sites for sale with decent, solid backlink profiles will increase. This may be a good time to look into investing in buying sites before the demand catches up with the situation.

Expired domains are probably on the decline, or will be. If we can find them, Google probably can too. So the issue becomes if someone should get a linking advantage because of it's history? This is a tough one because there are plenty of legit reasons to redirect and rebuild sites.

On page SEO, including engagement, and content will be more important. Google was built on the principle that links are like a vote for quality. What people actually do when visiting a page is an even better way of determining the quality of a page.

Internal links sculpting may play a bigger part in the future. What pages of its own does a site think are the most important?

What do you think are some good ways to anticipate Google's trending anti-spam links policies?