Few things are more feared in the world of SEO ranking than suffering a penalty from Google. Why? Basically because if Google penalizes you, it could happen that overnight, your website goes from the first page of results to getting lost in infinity, completely disappearing from users' eyes.
But there's something even more serious than suffering a Google penalty, which is not knowing why you've suffered that penalty, not being aware that your website is penalized, or not having the knowledge to fix that penalty.
So, whether Google has penalized your website, or you only want to stay alert and take the necessary precautions to prevent this from happening, pay attention because we'll tell you below everything you need to know to not suffer Google's wrath.
Why does Google penalize your website?
When your website has been penalized, it's because through Fred, Hummingbird, Panda or Penguin, which are the four Google algorithms, the search engine has detected that a series of poorly valued practices have been carried out on your web page. Below we show you some of the most common ones:
- Duplicate content.
- Poor user experience.
- Buying low-quality links.
- Error pages.
- Massive advertising on the website.
- Load speed.
- SPAM.
- Hidden content.
- Excessive use of keywords.
Although there are other practices that are poorly valued, these are the most common among users and those Google focuses on most, and therefore the ones you must most avoid.
Keep in mind that Google values above all naturalness and user experience, so if you don't want your website to be penalized, we recommend you avoid the bad practices encompassed by negative SEO and go for White Hat SEO, which is the most beneficial and ethical way to improve your website's ranking and keep it among the top positions.
How to know if Google has penalized your website?
Once you know the main reasons why Google might penalize your website, we'll give you the keys to identify a penalty, so you can take the necessary measures to get out of it as soon as possible.
Is it really a penalty?
When your website suffers a significant and sudden drop in positions in the SERPs, the first thing you think is that it's been penalized. It's very
likely to be so, but first you should rule out other possibilities.
Keep in mind that fluctuation of search results in Google is very common, since it could be the case that another webmaster has cleanly surpassed you, that ranking trends have changed and you haven't been on top of it, or that you've made some mistake you're completely unaware of.
Likewise, the most common symptoms of a Google penalty are the following:
- Organic traffic is reduced.
- Your website loses relevance for a series of keywords.
- There are pages that completely disappear from the SERPs.
- The domain has been deindexed.
If you've ruled out other possibilities, and it's finally a penalty, let's see what type of penalty you may have suffered.
What types of penalties exist?
You can suffer two types of penalties from Google: manual or automatic
Manual penalty: manual penalties are the most serious, and therefore, the hardest to recover from. This type of penalty is performed directly by a search engine member, after receiving an alert signal or a SPAM report from a user. When the penalty has been carried out, you'll receive a notification from Search Console informing you about it.
Automatic or algorithmic penalty: on the other hand there are automatic or algorithmic penalties, which occur after one of Google's algorithms has analyzed your website, and has detected some irregularity, applying the corresponding penalty.
It's very important that you know how to recognize the type of penalty you've suffered, since the actions you must take to recover will depend on it. You have it easy, since if Search Console has left you an email, there'll be no doubt that it's a manual penalty. If on the contrary you haven't received any notice, everything points to it being an automatic penalty.
How to get out of a penalty?
To get out of the penalty you've suffered, first you'll have to identify whether it's come through Panda or Penguin, which are the two algorithms that most focus on detecting and penalizing bad practices.
Tools that help you detect Google penalties
- Search console: access the "manual actions" section of search console, if you don't see any alert message, you don't have to worry.
- Google penalty Checker
- Duplichecker: to know if there's plagiarized content. This cause could be a reason for penalty.
- Barracuda Panguin Tool for me the best tool to detect Panda and Penguin penalties.
- Google Analytics: observe the chart of monthly sessions, if it drops drastically, you may have been penalized.
- Website penalty indicator
How to fix a Panda penalty
If you've been penalized by Google Panda, it'll mean it has problems with your website's content:
- Duplicate content
- Low-quality and unhelpful content
- Abusive ads throughout the website
- Page content isn't related to user queries
Once you know why, let's see how to fix it:
- Remove all duplicate content from your website
- Publish only original quality content
- Pay attention to outgoing links from your website. They must be directly related to the content.
- Avoid or reduce as much as possible advertising.
- Avoid keyword over-optimization
How to fix a Penguin penalty
If on the contrary the penalty has come through Penguin, it'll be because you've tried to trick Google into climbing positions, mainly, through link manipulation:
- Buying artificial links.
- Compulsive link exchange.
- Using link farms.
- Creating manual links.
The good thing here is that recognizing this type of link is quite simple, since they usually use the same link text, keywords, over-optimized texts, or come from sites of disputed reputation.
In any case, to fix this penalty, yes or yes you'll have to get rid of them. We'll tell you how to do it:
How to get rid of your toxic links?
- Download your link profile through Google Search Console
- Isolate the toxic backlinks from the rest. You'll have to do it individually.
- You'll have to ask those websites that link to your site to remove the links.
- Carry out a disavow with links that couldn't be removed.
- Send a reconsideration request to Google if you've suffered a manual penalty.
How to send a reconsideration request to Google?
If you suffered a manual penalty and you've already fixed all the errors, we recommend sending a reconsideration to Google. This way, a Google team member will analyze your website, and decide if you've really taken the necessary measures to get out of the penalty.
If the penalty was automatic, you'll have to wait for Google's bots to pass through your page again, to check that the errors have been fixed and let you out of the penalty.
Related reading
- How to index your website on Google
- Ranking on Google: technique, content and authority
- Best SEO agency: real criteria
Shall we work together?
If you want to apply this in your company with a team that combines technical SEO, GEO and paid acquisition measured against the income statement, request a no-commitment audit. You can also check real case studies or read the public GEO baselines that Elevam Labs publishes every quarter.
