A manual action is an action taken by a human reviewer at Google against a site that breaks its spam policies. It can demote pages, a section or the whole site, or remove them from results. Unlike algorithmic demotions, manual actions are reported in Google Search Console under Security & Manual Actions, with a description of the issue and the affected scope. Once the problem is fixed, the site owner can file a reconsideration request.
Common types
The Manual actions report lists the specific issue. Frequent ones include the following.
- Unnatural links to your site
- Unnatural links from your site
- Thin content with little or no added value
- Pure spam
- User-generated spam
- Cloaking or sneaky redirects
- Structured data issues
- Site reputation abuse
Fixing and requesting reconsideration
Read the report carefully to see whether the action is sitewide or partial. Fix every instance of the issue, not just the examples Google gives. Then submit a reconsideration request from the report that explains what went wrong, what you changed, and how you will prevent it recurring. Document the work, such as links removed or pages deleted.
Reviews can take days or weeks. If the request is rejected, the response usually indicates more work is needed.
After the action is lifted
Rankings do not always return to their previous level. If the site benefited from the violating practice, such as paid links, that benefit is gone. The aim after recovery is to compete on a clean basis.
Example
Spam in a community forum
Hypothetical collaboration app Notewharf gets a manual action for user-generated spam on its community forum, which bots have flooded with pharmacy links. The team deletes the spam, adds account verification and rate limits, sets new user links to nofollow, and files a reconsideration request listing each change.
Common mistakes
Filing reconsideration before the fix is complete
Partial cleanups tend to be rejected. Fix the whole issue, then explain it clearly.
Confusing algorithmic drops with manual actions
If the Manual actions report is empty, there is no manual action, and a reconsideration request is not available or useful.
Questions
Check the Manual actions report in Google Search Console. Google also sends a message to verified owners when one is applied.
