What is Google Penalty?
A Google penalty refers to a negative impact on your website’s search performance as a result of violating Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.
When penalized, your website may experience a significant drop in organic traffic and search engine rankings. To avoid penalties, it's crucial to follow Google's quality standards precisely.
Although the term "penalty" is widely used by SEO professionals, Google officially refers to these actions as either a Manual Action or an Algorithmic Action.
Manual vs Algorithmic actions
If your website sees a sudden decline in traffic or rankings, it could be due to one of the following types of actions:
Manual Action
Algorithmic Action
What is Manual Action?
A Manual Action occurs when a member of Google’s webspam team reviews your site and determines that it violates their guidelines. This is a human-reviewed penalty.
If your site is hit by a Manual Action, you’ll receive a notification in the Manual Actions Report within Google Search Console (GSC). These actions typically target attempts to manipulate rankings through spammy tactics.
What is algorithmic action?
An Algorithmic Action happens automatically when Google’s ranking algorithms detect signals that your site no longer meets quality standards. This is not manually applied by a Google employee.
Google’s ranking systems rely on complex algorithms that evaluate websites using hundreds of ranking signals. When a site is negatively affected due to an algorithm update, it’s called an algorithmic action.
These actions result in ranking drops or traffic loss and cannot be resolved through a reconsideration request. The only remedy is aligning your website with current algorithm expectations and waiting for re-evaluation during future crawls or updates.
To identify an algorithmic hit, check the timeline of ranking declines and compare it with known Google algorithm updates.
Two major updates have historically caused widespread algorithmic actions:
Google Panda (2011): Targeted sites with low-quality, thin, or duplicate content.
Google Penguin (2012): Penalized sites using manipulative backlink strategies, including link schemes and spammy link networks.
Google frequently refreshes these updates—mostly minor changes—but any site can be affected at any time.
How to Detect Google Penalties?
Manual Actions: Easy to detect via the Manual Actions Report in Google Search Console. You’ll see whether the issue affects individual pages or the entire domain.
Algorithmic Actions: Harder to identify. No notifications are issued. Watch for sudden traffic or ranking drops and match the timing with known algorithm changes via tools like Google Search Central Blog or industry monitoring tools (e.g., Moz, SEMrush, or Search Engine Roundtable).
Possible Manual Actions and ways to fix them
Although algorithmic penalties can occur, most documented cases involve manual actions, which are more direct and easier to diagnose. Below are some of the most common manual penalties and how to resolve them:
Thin Content
Thin content refers to pages with little or no value to users. This includes:
Poor-quality guest posts
Affiliate pages lacking original insights
These types of content violate Google’s guidelines.
How to Fix:
Audit and identify thin content pages.
Remove or improve them with high-quality, original content.
Eliminate duplicate or near-duplicate content.
Remove doorway pages.
Once resolved, submit a Reconsideration Request via GSC.
Cloaking and/or Sneaky Redirects
Cloaking presents different content to Google than what users see.Sneaky redirects send users to a different page than what Google indexes.
How to Fix:
Use the URL Inspection Tool in GSC to compare fetched content with user-facing content.
Make sure the content is identical for both Google and users.
Remove JavaScript-based or .htaccess-based sneaky redirects.
Review CMS plugins that might cause redirections.
After resolving, send a Reconsideration Request. presents different content to Google than what users see.
Sneaky redirects send users to a different page than what Google indexes.
How to Fix:
Use the URL Inspection Tool in GSC to compare fetched content with user-facing content.
Make sure the content is identical for both Google and users.
Remove JavaScript-based or .htaccess-based sneaky redirects.
Review CMS plugins that might cause redirections.
After resolving, send a Reconsideration Request.
Cloaked Images
Cloaked images show different visuals to users than to Google, often via overlays or hidden image swaps.
How to Fix:
Ensure the same image is visible to both users and crawlers.
Remove any plugins or scripts responsible.
Submit a Reconsideration Request once resolved.
Sneaky Mobile Redirects
These redirects affect only mobile users, sending them to unrelated or spammy content, often without the site owner's knowledge.
Legitimate redirects (e.g., to mobile-optimized versions of the same content) are allowed.
How to Fix:
If the redirect is unintentional, check for malware or hacking in the Security Issues report in GSC.
Remove or debug third-party scripts causing mobile redirects.
Use mobile emulators or real devices to test the user journey.
If the redirect was intentional, remove it and explain your fix in a Reconsideration Request.
Hidden Text and/or Keyword Stuffing
Hidden text includes content hidden from users but visible to Google, often via CSS or white-on-white text. Keyword stuffing involves overloading content with keywords unnaturally.
How to Fix:
Use CTRL+A to highlight hidden elements.
Remove or make the hidden text visible.
Edit content to remove repetitive keywords and rephrase into natural language.
Request a review via GSC after changes.
AMP Content Mismatch
This happens when the AMP version of a page doesn’t match its canonical version in terms of topic or functionality.
How to Fix:
Ensure the topic and content type are consistent across AMP and canonical versions.
Use the URL Inspection Tool to compare both versions.
Fix mismatches and submit a Reconsideration Request.
Pure Spam
This is a severe violation, applied to websites using aggressive black-hat tactics, such as:
Auto-generated or gibberish content
Cloaking and redirection abuse
Scraped content from other websites
Throwaway domains with no long-term value
How to Fix:
Pure Spam usually requires a complete site overhaul.
Remove or replace all black-hat techniques.
Create original, useful content and rebuild a clean backlink profile.
Submit a detailed Reconsideration Request outlining changes.
Spam via Free Host Services
While free hosting platforms may seem appealing, they often come with significant drawbacks—most notably, a lack of control over unwanted ads and spammy user-generated content.
What starts as a cost-saving decision can lead to serious SEO consequences. Google has explicitly warned against using unreliable free hosting services, and violations may trigger Manual Actions.
How to resolve it:
Avoid using free hosting services altogether.
Migrate your website to a reputable and secure hosting provider.
After migration, go to Google Search Console (GSC) and use the Request Review option to submit your reconsideration request.
Unnatural Inbound Links
Inbound links gained through manipulative methods—such as link buying or participating in link schemes—are violations of Google's Webmaster Guidelines. These can lead to Manual Actions against individual pages or your entire site.
How to resolve it:
Use tools like Google Search Console or Ahrefs to download and audit your backlink profile.
Identify links that breach Google's guidelines. Reach out to site owners to either remove these links or apply a
rel="nofollow"attribute.For links you can’t remove, use Google’s Disavow Tool.
Once your backlink profile is cleaned up, submit a Reconsideration Request in the Manual Actions section of GSC.
Google will notify you once the Manual Action has been lifted.
Unnatural Outbound Links
If your site is selling or distributing manipulative outbound links or engaging in link exchange schemes, Google may issue a Manual Action for violating link quality guidelines.
How to resolve it:
Remove deceptive outbound links or add a
rel="nofollow"attribute to them.Audit your website thoroughly for any link exchanges or promotional links that violate policy.
After cleaning up, submit a Request Review in Google Search Console.
Monitor for updates. The Manual Action will be lifted once all issues are resolved.
User-Generated Spam
User-generated spam includes forum posts, blog comments, guestbook entries, and other user inputs posted solely to insert promotional links or irrelevant content.
How to resolve it:
Familiarize yourself with Google's guidelines on user-generated spam.
Identify areas on your site that allow user interaction (comments, forums, etc.).
Remove content with spammy usernames, irrelevant links, automated posts, or advertisement-based spam.
Configure your CMS to better prevent future spam (e.g., comment moderation, CAPTCHA).
Once cleaned, submit a Request Review in GSC to lift the Manual Action.
Google News and Discover policy violations
In February 2021, Google introduced specific policies for content appearing in Google News and Google Discover. Below are the major categories and how to fix related violations.
Discover Policy: Adult-Themed Content
Content with nudity, sexually suggestive material, or other adult themes is strictly prohibited in Google Discover.
How to resolve it:
Remove all adult-themed content from your site.
Ensure compliance with all Google Discover and News content policies.
Submit a Request Review through the Manual Action Report. Google will revoke the action if your site meets compliance.
Discover & News: Artificial Freshening
Making minor content changes and updating the date to appear as fresh without adding real value violates Google’s freshness guidelines.
How to resolve it:
Provide genuine updates that add substantial value to the reader.
Clearly document changes and updates to demonstrate meaningful revisions.
Ensure all content meets Google News and Discover standards before submitting a Request Review
Google News and Discover: Dangerous content
Content that could harm individuals or animals—or incite dangerous behavior—violates Google's Dangerous Content policies.
How to resolve it:
Remove all dangerous, threatening, or harmful content.
Reassess your website’s content against Google’s policy guidelines.
Submit a Request Review in GSC once compliance is ensured.
Discover & News: Harassing Content
Harassing, threatening, or doxxing individuals through your site content breaches Google's harassment policies.
How to resolve it:
Identify and remove all harassing content immediately.
Update your site to prevent similar future violations.
Submit a Request Review after thorough content revision.
Google News and Discover: Terrorist content
Promotion, celebration, or endorsement of terrorism or extremist behavior is strictly banned.
How to resolve it:
Remove any terrorist-related content immediately.
Reassess your editorial guidelines and content practices.
Submit a Request Review only after full compliance is ensured.
Final Note
If your site receives a Manual Action, the path to recovery depends on your ability to fix violations transparently and thoroughly. Use the Reconsideration Request feature in Google Search Console to explain what actions you've taken.
Once Google reviews your site and finds it compliant, the Manual Action will be lifted, and you'll receive a notification in GSC.