Core Concepts Wiki Entry

Manual Action

A penalty applied by a Google reviewer for guideline violations.

Manual actions appear in Search Console with specific reasons (unnatural links, thin content, hacking, etc.) and require remediation followed by reconsideration request. Manual actions are public to site owners but algorithmic suppression is not. Recovery from manual actions can take weeks to months even after issues are resolved.

Related Entries

Google Spam Policies

Google's published rules defining content and link practices that violate guidelines.

Algorithmic Penalty

A ranking suppression applied automatically by Google's algorithms.

Reconsideration Request

A formal request to Google to remove a manual action after fixing issues.

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