Manual action
Google manual penalty / Manual actions report / Google search penalty
A manual action is a penalty Google applies when a human reviewer at Google finds pages on a site breaking its spam policies. Most manual actions make affected pages rank lower or drop out of search results, and Google lifts the action only after a review finds every affected page fixed.
Google issues a manual action when a human reviewer at Google has determined that pages on a site are not compliant with its spam policies. Most address attempts to manipulate the search index. The usual result is pages, or a whole site, ranked lower or omitted from search results with no visible sign to searchers.
Google notifies the site in two places: the Manual actions report and the message center in Search Console. The report lists each action with patterns of affected pages, which can cover part of the site, such as one directory, or the entire site. Not every page matching a pattern is necessarily affected.
The fix has to reach every affected page, because Google says fixing some of them will not earn a partial return to search results. Then the site owner selects Request Review and describes the fixes. A good request explains the exact quality issue, describes the steps taken, and documents the outcome. Most reviews take several days or weeks, and link-related requests can take longer.
The more common path involves no reviewer. Google says its algorithms catch most spam automatically and remove it from results, and SpamBrain is its AI-based spam-prevention system. Reconsideration requests cover problems identified in a manual action or a security issues notification, so a drop caused by those systems has no review to request. Google says changes may help if its automated systems learn over a period of months that the site complies.
Links carry an extra cost. After a link spam update, Google says any ranking benefit the spammy links generated is lost and cannot be regained. A drop after a core update may not be a penalty at all. Google says there might not be anything fundamentally wrong with the content.
In practice
A roofing company's former agency sold it a link package of paid posts on other sites. Traffic falls, and the Manual actions report shows Unnatural links to your site, affecting the entire site. The company downloads its link list from Search Console and asks site owners to remove the paid links. It disavows the links it could not get removed, since Google says disavowing every backlink blindly is not a good-faith effort. The review request documents the removals and explains the rest.
Not the same as
- Algorithmic demotion
- Google's automated systems, including SpamBrain, demote spam without a human reviewer. There is no reconsideration request to file. Changes may help over a period of months as those systems learn the site complies, though after a link spam update the lost link benefit cannot be regained.
Why it matters to you
A manual action can outlast the people who caused it. Google tells anyone who recently acquired a site with past violations to fix the issues and say so in the reconsideration request. Moving the same practice to new subdomains, subdirectories or sites counts as circumvention, and Google may respond by removing more sections of a site from results. Google delivers the notice through Search Console, so it reaches only people with access to the property.
What to ask or check
- 01Who has access to your Search Console property, and who checks the Manual actions report?
- 02Has the business ever paid for links, or traded products or services for posts that include one?
- 03If traffic fell, does the Manual actions report list an action, or does the timing match a Google update?
- 04Before a reconsideration request goes in, are all affected pages fixed, with the steps and the outcome written down?
What people get wrong
That every sharp fall in Google traffic is a manual action. Google says its algorithms catch most spam automatically, and after a core update there might not be anything fundamentally wrong with the content at all.
Red flags
- A link package that pays other sites for posts containing links, or sends products in exchange for a write-up with a link.
- Nobody at the business has access to the site's Search Console property.