How Do You Recover From a Google Penalty?
Have you notice your rankings are dropping? Maybe you are not ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs) at all anymore. Have you been penalised by Google? Before worrying, you need to know you are not alone.
There are over four hundred thousand manual penalties handed out by Google monthly, this does not include websites that are penalised by the core algorithm updates. The good news is that you can recover from a Google penalty.
It is not an easy tasks to recover from a Google penalty. You need a process in place and be committed and focused to achieving the results you need. The good news is that there are some steps you can take to recover from a Google penalty:
The first step to penalty removal is to identify what type of penalty you are facing. There are two types of Google penalties:
Depending on the type of penalty you have will determine what you need to do. Each requires a different strategy or a number of strategies to bypass them.
Manual penalties are handed out by employees working for Google's search quality or webspam team. They review websites and decide if there are any penalties and what actions need to be taken. Common manual penalties include:
You will be notified if you receive a manual penalty through the Google Search Console.
Google relies on algorithms to provide relevant and valuable results to users. In fact, the entire Google search is run by algorithms. Algorithms are complex mathematical equations used to determine what results to show to a user.
There are two main algorithm penalties to worry about:
Panda was launched in 2011 targeting content related issues, such as pages with little or no value, or those with too many adverts. The Penguin algorithm update was introduced in 2012 targeting sites with dodgy links used to manipulate search engines and increase ranking.
Do you think you have been hit by a Google penalty? There are some useful steps you can take as part of your recovery process.
Before you can take action and start recovering, you need to understand what is happening. There are a few places you can check to see what penalty you have been hit with:
After examining the ranking issues and you still cannot find the problem, then you are going to want to see if there have been any recent algorithm updates. Google updates their algorithms up to six hundred times each year and a simple change in algorithm can cause your traffic to drop and your site performance to lower. In some cases, an update can result in a penalty. Ensure you remain updated on:
If you still haven't found the problem, take a closer look at your website to identify any issues. You should run a SEO audit and content audit, helping you identify problems that may have caused your Google penalty.
If you are still trying to recover from a Google penalty, cleaning up your backlink profile may be necessary. Identify if you have any poor quality backlinks or spammy links. Google Search Console and Moz offer valuable tools to track your backlinking profile.
If you suspect you have been penalised by Google, you can follow the steps listed above and try and find and rectify the problem. If you are unsure, it's recommended to hire an experienced and reputable digital marketing agency to assist. At Genie Crawl, we have experience helping our clients recover from Google penalties and help them achieve even better results in the long run.
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