What Is A Manual Action Penalty?
A manual action penalty is a penalty that is manually applied by Google to a website for violating its search engine guidelines. Manual actions appear in Google Search Console with a notification explaining why the penalty was applied.
Manual actions usually involve a demotion in the search rankings. Repeated offenses or strong violations of Google’s guidelines are punished by the removal from the search index.
These penalties don’t have a fixed duration and can last for a month or much longer. Some manual penalties are even automatically removed after a set expiration date that is not shared with the website owner.
Website administrators can shorten the manual penalty duration by taking steps to amend the issues that prompted Google to review a site manually and submit a Reconsideration Request through Google Search Console. Google retains the right to reject the request or extend the penalty after the second review.
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Go to the SEO Glossary to find more terms and definitions that relate to the field of search engine optimization.
The Editorial Staff at SEO Chatter is a team of search engine optimization and digital marketing experts led by Stephen Hockman with more than 15 years of experience in search engine marketing. We publish guides on the fundamentals of SEO for beginner marketers.
