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How to detect manual action penalties in Google Search Console and lift them
What are Google manual actions
There are two types of penalties:
- algorithmic;
- manual.
The first type is imposed automatically when the system detects actions that conflict with the existing rules. Algorithm discloses regular violations and imposes sanctions to the whole site or its several pages.
Manual penalties are semi-automatic; they are used in case algorithm fails to act. The algorithm requires some time to dismiss faulty pages from the index. It takes the system from 6 to 9 months to clean out search results. Google users will come across these low-quality pages on the web until they are eliminated. This is a significant period, especially speaking about fraud cases.
Violations that Google traces semi-automatically:
- hacked web-resources;
- user-generated spam;
- freehost spam;
- structured markup spam;
- unnatural links to a website;
- thin content with little or no added value;
- cloaking or sneaky redirects;
- unnatural links from a site;
- pure spam;
- cloaked images;
- hidden text and keyword stuffing.
What may the consequence be like? Google may react to committed breaches by dismissing pages from indexing or deteriorating site positions that lead to traffic decrease. Considering that manual action penalties are imposed for extreme violations, Google mostly deletes intruding pages. In case of light violations rating decrease is most likely to be implied.
Types of manual actions imposed by Google
![How to detect manual action penalties in Google Search Console and lift them 16261788334569 Site-wide matches in the Google Search Console](/img/blog/how-to-detect-manual-action-penalties-in-google-search-console-and-lift-them/1568123421penalties.png)
![How to detect manual action penalties in Google Search Console and lift them 16261788334569 Partial matches in the Google Search Console](/img/blog/how-to-detect-manual-action-penalties-in-google-search-console-and-lift-them/1568123423penalties-2.png)
How to identify penalties using Google Search Console
![How to detect manual action penalties in Google Search Console and lift them 16261788334570 Manual action in the Google Search Console](/img/blog/how-to-detect-manual-action-penalties-in-google-search-console-and-lift-them/1568123424penalties-3.png)
Hacked web resource
![How to detect manual action penalties in Google Search Console and lift them 16261788334570 Hacked site in Google Search Console](/img/blog/how-to-detect-manual-action-penalties-in-google-search-console-and-lift-them/1568123425penalties-4.png)
- probable reasons for hacking;
- web resource recovery procedure and removing notifications from the console;
- relation between damage level, possessed skill and required recovery time;
- troubleshooting: managing problems yourself or involving specialists.
Then you should follow the chain of actions:
![How to detect manual action penalties in Google Search Console and lift them 16261788334571 Hacking site actions](/img/blog/how-to-detect-manual-action-penalties-in-google-search-console-and-lift-them/1568123427penalties-5.jpg)
![How to detect manual action penalties in Google Search Console and lift them 16261788334571 Reconsideration request in the Google Search Console](/img/blog/how-to-detect-manual-action-penalties-in-google-search-console-and-lift-them/1568123428penalties-6.png)
User-generated spam
![How to detect manual action penalties in Google Search Console and lift them 16261788334572 User-generated spam in Google Search Console](/img/blog/how-to-detect-manual-action-penalties-in-google-search-console-and-lift-them/1568123429penalties-7.png)
Freehost spam
- inform users that spamming is prohibited;
- forbid automatic registration;
- regularly monitor violations;
- delete spammy accounts.
Proceed with removing spammy accounts and request a reconsideration review in the console.
![How to detect manual action penalties in Google Search Console and lift them 16261788334572 Spam Free Hosting Services](/img/blog/how-to-detect-manual-action-penalties-in-google-search-console-and-lift-them/1568123431penalties-8.png)
Structured markup spam
"Unnatural" links to your site
![How to detect manual action penalties in Google Search Console and lift them 16261788334572 Export external links to the Google Search Console](/img/blog/how-to-detect-manual-action-penalties-in-google-search-console-and-lift-them/1568123433penalties-9.png)
Thin content with little or no added value
![How to detect manual action penalties in Google Search Console and lift them 16261788334573 Uninformative content in the Google Search Console](/img/blog/how-to-detect-manual-action-penalties-in-google-search-console-and-lift-them/1568123434penalties-10.png)
Cloaking or sneaky redirects
![How to detect manual action penalties in Google Search Console and lift them 16261788334573 Paid Content Access in the Google Search Console](/img/blog/how-to-detect-manual-action-penalties-in-google-search-console-and-lift-them/1568123435penalties-11.png)
"Unnatural" links from your website
Find mentioned URL-addresses and limit access with "nofollow" metatag to avoid link mass transfer. Another way is to simply delete these type of links. Having cleared out the website, request a reconsideration review.
Pure spam
![How to detect manual action penalties in Google Search Console and lift them 16261788334574 Aggressive spam in the Google Search Console](/img/blog/how-to-detect-manual-action-penalties-in-google-search-console-and-lift-them/1568123437penalties-12.png)
Cloaked images
![How to detect manual action penalties in Google Search Console and lift them 16261788334574 Disguised images in the Google Search Console](/img/blog/how-to-detect-manual-action-penalties-in-google-search-console-and-lift-them/1568123439penalties-15.jpg)
![How to detect manual action penalties in Google Search Console and lift them 16261788334575 Disabling hotlinking in the Google Search Console](/img/blog/how-to-detect-manual-action-penalties-in-google-search-console-and-lift-them/1568123440penalties-13.png)
Hidden text and keyword spamming
Conclusion
To lift the imposed sanctions ensure profound clean-up of your site from any mistakes and submit a reconsideration request inside the same report. Upon the suspension, SEO-promotion will regain its effectiveness; however, some negative consequences may keep on affecting the site for quite a long time.
This article is a part of Serpstat's Checklist tool
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