{"id":118318,"date":"2020-03-05T17:43:08","date_gmt":"2020-03-05T09:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seo-hacker.com\/?p=18318"},"modified":"2021-05-11T05:48:50","modified_gmt":"2021-05-11T05:48:50","slug":"google-manual-actions-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seo-hacker.com\/google-manual-actions-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Guide to Google Manual Actions and How to Fix Them"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Since the first search engine was born in the \u201990s, people who would try to exploit search algorithms and find the easy path to the top of the search results were also born. This has become problematic for search engines trying to provide users with the best results but spam websites would come out on top.<\/p>\n

As a result, Google made improvements on its algorithm so that it can better evaluate websites for shady tactics and easily detect spam. And to avoid these websites from ruining the users\u2019 experience, Google started slapping spam websites with manual actions.<\/p>\n

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Imagine going to work one morning, you pull up Google Analytics and your rank monitoring tool<\/span><\/a> and everything is zero. You sip some coffee and started investigating. Maybe there\u2019s just something wrong with the tracking code right? But there\u2019s nothing wrong with it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then it hit you. You realized you\u2019ve been penalized. In a blink of an eye, months or years\u2019 worth of work is lost.<\/p>\n

Manual actions can drive SEOs crazy. If there is one thing you must avoid in this industry, it\u2019s this one.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re reading this article, I hope you\u2019re here because you want to know more about manual actions and not because you\u2019ve been hit by one. Let\u2019s get right into it!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is a Manual Action?<\/span><\/h2>\n

A <\/span>manual action <\/i>or <\/span>penalty <\/span>i<\/i>s given out by Google to websites that use unethical practices that are against their guidelines. These strategies are better known as Black Hat SEO<\/span><\/a> and it seeks to manipulate search engine results.<\/span><\/p>\n

To determine if a website deserves a manual action, Google employs thousands of human reviewers to check if websites comply with Google\u2019s Webmaster Quality Guidelines<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What happens when I receive a Manual Action?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Once you receive a penalty from Google, pages that are affected or even the whole website will experience a huge drop in search rankings or completely be gone from the search results. Organic traffic will completely be gone as well. The drop is quick and could happen in a few days or even overnight.<\/span><\/p>\n

How to Check for a Manual Action?<\/span><\/h2>\n

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If you are given a manual action, you will be notified by Google through the Manual Action report in Google Search Console. You will see a message similar to this:<\/span><\/p>\n

In the report, you will see the type of issues Google was able to detect from your website and the list of pages that are affected. If you have submitted reconsideration requests, you will also be notified here if Google rejected your requests.<\/p>\n

List of Manual Actions<\/span><\/h2>\n

Below is the list of manual actions given by Google and tips on how to fix or avoid them.<\/span><\/p>\n

User-Generated Spam<\/span><\/h3>\n

Websites that allow user-generated content such as forums and blog comments may receive this manual action if users bombard the website with self-promoting text and links to unrelated and spammy websites.<\/p>\n

Fix<\/span><\/h4>\n

Use the \u201csite:\u201d search query to check your website for malicious content from users and delete them. Sample: [site:https:\/\/samplesite.com<\/span> viagra]. Also, it is better to avoid this by making sure all content from users is being moderated before being approved.<\/span><\/p>\n

Spammy Free Host<\/span><\/h3>\n

Opting for free hosting services are good for cutting costs but it could lead to a manual action. If you\u2019re using a free hosting service, you\u2019re website shares the same server with other websites. Even if your website is clean, spammers that you are sharing servers with might affect the whole server and Google may issue a manual action to all websites in that server.<\/p>\n

Fix<\/span><\/h4>\n

Contact the technical support of the hosting company you are using and inform them of the manual action. If there are no developments, I suggest that you move to a secure hosting provider<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Structured Data Issue<\/span><\/h3>\n

Google can detect if the implementation of structured data is against the Structured Data Guidelines<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fix<\/span><\/h4>\n

Update the existing structured data markup on your website and comply with the guidelines. You could use the <\/span>Structured Data Testing tool<\/span><\/a> to avoid errors.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Unnatural links to your site<\/span><\/h3>\n

Receiving this manual action means that Google detected unusual linking patterns to your website that intends to manipulate PageRank. Actions such as buying links from PBNs and excessive link exchanges can lead to a penalty.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fix<\/span><\/h4>\n

Go to Google Search Console\u2019s link report to check for links that Google might find suspicious.Prepare a text file and use the disavow tool<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Unnatural links from your site<\/span><\/h3>\n

There is an unnatural pattern of outbound links from your website that might give Google the impression that you are selling links or participating in link schemes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fix<\/span><\/h4>\n

Identify links that are paid or affiliate links by using the rel=\u201dsponsored\u201d tag.<\/p>\n

Thin content with little or no added value<\/span><\/h3>\n

Google has strict guidelines when it comes to the quality of content. According to Google, samples of pages with thin content or has no value are :<\/span><\/p>\n

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