MUST READ regarding May Broad Core Update
I truly hope you will not delete this one, but I found the article really helpful and it's from reputable SEO resource.
This is great read and shows how this update hit different websites differently.
https://www.seroundtable.com/google-may-2022-broad-core-update-seo-impact-33512.html
If you have your own story, please let me know in the comments.
Sorry for this question, but I recently became interested in the topic of website optimization. So, is it possible to somehow prepare for Google updates?
It's tough. You can't tell what kind of websites will be the next victim before it all happens. So I'd say read Google's guidelines, push out great content on regular basis, always try to beat your competition and if you do something "grey hat", make sure you don't leave footprints. AT ALL.
Can't compose better overall answer, because it depends on so many attributes.
I do agree with @ms.
One more thing here, if you're building/buying links, focus on quality, not quantity. Don't go after cheap spammy links just to have links.