Penalties in Google Search
Google and other search engines may penalize sites that are deemed low quality, spam, or are seen to be using manipulative SEO methods to rank higher. This will cause some websites to suffer in organic search results and can take time to rectify. As it is important to understand the cause of penalties and how to handle them, our SEO Office Hours notes below compile advice from Google’s “SEO Office Hours” sessions with recommendations for avoiding organic search penalties.
Site Migrations Don’t Influence Google Web Spam Reviews
A site migration or site move doesn’t feed into the web spam team’s plans of sites to analyse or the way they prioritise their focus.
Various Options Available If You Move To a Penalised Domain
If a site has been migrated to a domain with a manual action, John recommends cancelling the site move (with the change of address tool in GSC), redirecting back from the penalised domain, or alternatively you can take steps to have the manual action removed.
Manual Actions Are Given for Sites Made Up Entirely of Duplicate Content
Website rankings are only harmed by duplicate content when a site is made up purely of duplicate content. The Google algorithms and web spam team will only remove sites from the index in this circumstance.
Event Markup Needs Physical Location
Event markup should only be used if the event has a physical location. Google may penalise your site in the form of a manual action if this markup is incorrect.
Links in Search Console Don’t Reflect What Algorithms or Penalties Are Using
If a bad link appears in Search Console, that doesn’t mean this is automatically being included in any algorithms or penalties.
The Disavow File is Only Needed for Manual Action Penalties
The disavow file should mainly be used when there is a manual action to help with the reconsideration request. For sites that don’t have a manual action, Google will try to ignore any manipulative links automatically.
There Are No Lingering Effects Once a Manual Action is Lifted
Manual actions don’t have lingering effects, once it is lifted this is final.
Disavowing Links From Partial Manual Actions Isn’t Necessary
If a site has received a partial manual action for spammy links, these links will have already been taken out of consideration by the Webspam team. In this case, it is up to the webmaster if you want to disavow the spammy links or leave them there.
Google Does Not Manually Review All Spam Reports
Google does not manually review all spam reports, they focus on th ones with the biggest impact for manual action.
Blocked Sites Can Be Caused By Manipulatively Placed Phishing Content
Blocked sites by Google could be due to phishing content being manipulatively placed on a site. John recommends investigating the URLs Google send out in their notifications, conducting a general security review, checking plug-ins are up-to-date and checking server logs.