How to Recover From a Google Penalty
A penalty can have severe consequences for both your website and your online reputation. In this article, we provide insights into what constitutes a Google penalty, the various types of penalties Google imposes and the steps required to recover from a Google penalty.
What is a Google Penalty?
When a website is hit by a penalty, it’s common to witness a significant decline in its Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs) ranking or, in some cases, complete de-indexing from Google Search. Swift action is of utmost importance. However, before delving into further details, let’s explore the various avenues through which your website can incur a Google Penalty.
Manual Penalty
A manual penalty occurs when a dedicated team at Google identifies violations of their Webmaster Guidelines on your website. When operating an online business, it’s crucial to thoroughly understand and meticulously adhere to these guidelines. In such cases, Google Search Engine Console should issue a warning to notify you about the penalty.
Algorithmic Penalty
Algorithmic penalties are considerably more intricate; they transpire automatically and regrettably, there’s minimal recourse available to address them. You won’t receive a notification alerting you to the imposition of such penalties, which can be quite exasperating. Detecting these penalties can be extremely challenging. Occasionally, a substantial decline in website traffic may hint at the presence of an algorithmic penalty. The most effective preventative measure is to remain aligned with Google’s algorithm updates and meticulously adhere to all guidelines to ensure your website doesn’t run afoul of any rules.
The key distinction between these two types of penalties lies in the ability to engage with Google and request a review. For instance, if your website incurs a penalty from Google, you will receive a notification on Search Console. After rectifying the violation, you can then submit a “Reconsideration Request.” However, in the case of an algorithmic penalty, there is no avenue to initiate a reconsideration request.
How to Recover From a Google Penalty?
Let’s discuss different types of penalties and how to recover from them.
- Unnatural Links to Your Site
This penalty ranks among the most frequent challenges faced by web developers. In their pursuit of improving their Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs) rankings, businesses frequently resort to purchasing links or engaging in link schemes. While this may temporarily boost their traffic, it constitutes a breach of Google’s webmaster guidelines. The remedy involves creating a comprehensive list of all the links pointing to your website and subsequently eliminating those that do not comply or disavowing them. Upon completion of this process, you can proceed to file a reconsideration request.
- Unnatural Links from Your Site
Including links on your website with the sole intent of manipulating search rankings can lead to problems. Such unnatural links from your site are categorised as non-compliant and could result in penalties, even a ban. To address this issue, the solution remains consistent with the previous method. You must meticulously address your link profile and then proceed to submit a reconsideration request.
- Pure Spam
This is considered one of the most egregious transgressions in Google’s view and while you might plead ignorance for other types of penalties, escaping this one is exceptionally challenging. Engaging in practices such as automated content generation, publishing gibberish, employing cloaking techniques, or breaching other webmaster guidelines will result in penalties. If it’s your first offense, you might receive a milder penalty, but repeated violations of the same nature could ultimately lead to a ban..
- Hidden Text and Keyword Stuffing
This practice, commonly referred to as Black Hat SEO, constitutes a grave offense that can result in a ban. To rectify this situation, you should use Google Console to retrieve pages affected by the penalty. Subsequently, carefully examine these pages for hidden text and instances of keyword stuffing and promptly remove any such elements.
Conclusion
Google maintains a vigilant stance on enforcing its guidelines to ensure website compliance. Any violations of these policies will lead to penalties. The most effective strategy to avoid Google penalties is to enlist the services of a proficient company dedicated to website protection. We specialise in top-tier website development and SEO services, offering our clients peace of mind by safeguarding them from potential Google penalties.
