Over the years Google has taken various steps to maintain the quality of the content which is being provided through its platform.
These actions taken by Google were targeted towards the removal of unethical SEO search engine optimization practices like sneaky redirects and duplicate content so that Google can provide its users which high-quality content. This is why every website owner has to follow a set of rules which are mentioned in Google Webmaster Guidelines. If those rules are broken they may face a penalty that can lower their website rankings and in some cases, the websites may even get entirely removed from the SERP’s. This Google penalty removal guide can assist webmasters in removing their Google penalty and restoring their rankings so that all their hard work does not go to waste.
Rank by focus Toronto SEO Google penalty removal team helps creators remove the penalties and recover their pages to their former glory.
Types of Google Penalties
Google has come up with two different types of google penalties called manual actions and algorithmic penalties. These two penalties target websites breaking different kinds of rules e.g. manual action targets spam and low quality and Algorithmic penalty targets issues like link schemes and keyword stuffing. SEO Singapore will go through some of the different types of penalties.
1) Manual Actions: Google has hired reviewers who go through sites and search for any material which violates the Webmaster Guidelines. Various reasons manual google penalty actions can be applied on your website are:
- Cloaking
- Thin content
- User-Generated spam
- Keyword stuffing and hidden content
Manual penalties are made to target any misleading or spammy material. These penalties are harder to remove if compared to algorithmic penalties.
What is Cloaking?
What is considered Thin Content or scraped content ?
Some website owners use content taken (“scraped”) from other, more reputable sites on the assumption that increasing the volume of pages on their site is a good long-term strategy regardless of the relevance or uniqueness of that content. Purely scraped content, even from high-quality sources, may not provide any added value to your users without additional useful services or content provided by your site; it may also constitute copyright infringement in some cases. It’s worthwhile to take the time to create original content that sets your site apart. This will keep your visitors coming back and will provide more useful results for users searching on Google.
Some examples of scraping include:
- Sites that copy and republish content from other sites without adding any original content or value
- Sites that copy content from other sites, modify it slightly (for example, by substituting synonyms or using automated techniques), and republish it
- Sites that reproduce content feeds from other sites without providing some type of unique organization or benefit to the user
- Sites dedicated to embedding content such as video, images, or other media from other sites without substantial added value to the user
This refers to irrelevant and useless content. Sites with duplicate or auto-generated content may face manual penalties. The Google manual penalty for deindexation of useless pages e.g. a page dedicated to providing information on top salons in an area without giving any address or specific details about how to contact those salons or what services they provide. This will not meet Google standards as it is not providing enough information to users. That’s why we stress the importance to hire a Great Website Designer. The manual penalty for thin content is deindexation of these sites. A simple method to remove this penalty and recover any site is to:
- Rather than starting again, recycling old material by rewriting it and making it more detailed and helpful for users can be a great way to not let previous hard work go to waste.
- Find scraped content and get rid of it. It is advised for webmasters to get a writer to help them come out with helpful information.
- Find pages with simple lists and rewrite them into useful tutorials and guides so that the site is providing searchers with the answers to all their queries regarding any topic.
SEO Singapore team believes that users do not want to waste their time trying to get answers regarding the same topic on different sites. E.g. if a webmaster has a page regarding top places to visit in new york on their site, then their article should also provide the relevant information about those places like the address, open and closing timings, etc. If they just provide the names of the places then that would be considered as thin content and leave a bad impression on users.
What is User generated spam?
User-generated spam tends to be an issue for large, user-driven sites. If this penalty is applied, that generally indicates that the affected site is being exploited by spammers and black hats. Here, Google is essentially asking the site owner to get their own house in order — or else.
The message usually includes a sample URL where user-generated spam has been detected. Accordingly, the penalty’s impact, a removal from Google Search results, is limited to the exact URL or directory mentioned.
What is Keyword Stuffing and hidden text
Google condemns the usage of black hat practices like hidden text which is a method of showing text in a way that is unreadable. Keyword stuffing refers to when website owners load a page with excess keywords to rank high. These practices increase the rankings of the pages unnaturally. This keeps Google from providing helpful content as it shows users irrelevant results that are not related to their query.
Unnatural Links
Google condemns the use of unnatural links to Increase Backlinks ( Off Page SEO Strategy ). Hiring a link seller for link building purposes who sends non- social links to a webmasters site to unfairly boost their rankings is against the Google Webmasters Guideline. This is because, when Google spots someone using unnatural backlinks, they de-rank their website in the SERP’s.
2) Algorithmic penalties: Google has created ‘Google’s core algorithmic updates’ which include Hummingbird, Panda, Penguin, etc. These algorithmic updates are created to target websites violating specific kinds of Webmaster Guidelines. For example:
- Penguin refers to the ‘Link Penalty’ which is created to target websites that are involved in creating link schemes and keyword stuffing.
- Panda: refers to the ‘Content penalty’ which is created to search for low-quality content such as duplicates and content farming. Google releases new algorithm updates when they discover something which they don’t like. These updates are like warnings for webmasters. They warn and encourage webmasters to create quality content that meets the new requirements and standards of Google.
One difference between the two penalties is that a website hit with a manual action penalty receives a report by Google. But, websites hit with algorithmic penalty find out about it after the damage is done. Some of the signs which a website may notice if they are hit with a Google penalty are:
Deindexation: This refers to a website being removed from the Google index. This means that the full website or a part of it ends up disappearing from the search engine. Spam and duplicate content are the most common reasons for websites being removed from the Google index. Webmasters must identify these issues that might get their sites to be deindexed because this can make all their hard work go to waste and sometimes webmasters are left with no choice rather than having to start from scratch.
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How to find out if you have a Google penalty
SEO Miami team explains that you can login to Google Search Console to see if your website is under a manual penalty.
You can find this under SECURITY & MANUAL ACTIONS / MANUAL ACTIONS.
Check for Google Penalties using the Manual Actions Report.
how to remove google penalty
Clocking & Redirect Penalty
These penalties can be removed by the use of a URL inspection tool. This tool helps webmasters see information through the eyes of Google and users. This makes it easy to identify the differences and correct the issue. After correcting all the issues it is advised to submit a reconsideration request to Google to speed up the Google penalty removal process.
Keyword stuffing and hidden text
This penalty can be removed by getting rid of irrelevant and repeated keywords from a website. Third party websites such as surferseo or yoast SEO plugin will be able to scan keyword density.
Unnatural links to the site
Cleaning up a websites backlinks profile is the first step that our SEO singapore agency will take to fix this issue. Start by checking context, domains, and anchor text to find bad links. Next, request webmasters to get those bad links removed. ‘Monitor Backlinks’ can also be used to search for all links leading to a website. Then, make a ‘ready-made disavow file’ and upload it to Google. First, webmasters need to login to their account and click on the links tab. Then, they need to check the list of backlinks to find toxic links. If any link is low quality then they will see an orange triangle right beside it. It also helps spot anchor text that may be spammy. Then, they can disavow the toxic links by clicking on the disavow button on top of the page and request a reconsideration request to speed up the penalty removal process.
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TLDR : How To Remove Penalty
Let’s talk about the 4 actions that can be taken to remove any penalty.
1) Edit all websites to follow all Google’s Guidelines: Our SEO toronto team found that the best method to remove and avoid Google’s penalty is to keep track of Google’s Guidelines. It is crucial to make sure that there is no google penalty violation site wide. Rank by focus are experts that are well versed in all Google guideline and makes sure their customer’s site complies with all of them. We avoid all common SEO mistakes. It is also beneficial to go through SEO search engine optimization news and blogs to be up to date on all the new trends and rules regarding Google Guidelines. Reading case studies will also help understand any mistakes that content creators make which leads them to be penalized.
2) Make use of the Disavow tool: Google has come out with various helpful tools like a disavow tool to help its users and webmasters. Thus, link penalties can be easily avoided by getting rid of the backlinks causing that penalty. This can be done by submitting a disavow file of toxic links to Google’s Disavow Links tool so that Google can devalue those backlinks as a method for google penalty removal method.
3) Submit a reconsideration request: After making sure that the website is following all of Google’s guidelines. It’s recommended to submit a reconsideration request so that Google can recheck the website and start the penalty removal process. To do so, webmasters have to write down the detail of all the actions they took to meet the Google penalty removal guidelines and upload that document. Google will go through their website and make sure they have successfully removed all the issues and start the process of Google penalty removal for their site.
4) Improve content quality: Users click on every page hoping to get high-quality answers to their queries. Google wants all site owners to make sure they provide users with content that meets their standards. The medic update of 2018 made by Google made it even clearer that they expect site owners to work harder on providing expert content. Thus webmasters must make sure that no user leaves their site with a bad experience if they aim to avoid being penalized.