What Causes Google Penalties?

In their article entitled "How to detect manual action penalties in Google Search Console and lift them," Serpstat.com enumerates the several ways to get your site a Google penalty. Basically, it comes down to breaking an important rule that Google has chosen to "govern" the internet using. They want websites on their search engine to function in particular ways. You break the rule, you get the consequence. The consequence, in the case of many specific "SEO-crimes," is a penalty for your site, which results in a lowering of ranking, and ultimately, less traffic to your website. 

What Are the Two Kinds of Google Penalties?

There are two kinds of Google penalties: algorithmic, ​and manual actions.

Search Engine Land describes the difference in their article "Google Manual Actions: Frequently asked questions and their answers." Recent Google algorithm updates Panda and Penguin can be the cause of algorithmic penalties, which are automatically given when a site breaks a rule that the algorithm is able to detect. 

More important, though, are manual actions. These are manual penalties given by Google to sites who were able to avoid an automatic algorithmic penalty. These are harder to fix, as you often have to submit requests to Google to reconsider the penalty, and they can take months to recover from. These can affect your ranking and traffic for months at a time, which can debilitate a website. These are to be avoided at all costs, and fixed ASAP if they occur. 

How to Check if Your Site Has a Manual Action

Fortunately, Google does let you know when you've been hit with a manual action. Unfortunately, since Google Search Console was recently given a makeover, nearly all the online guides describing how to do things with it are now outdated. 

To check if your site has a Google penalty on the new Google Search Console layout, follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to your site's page within Google Search Console
2. On the left sidebar, find "Security & Manual Actions"
3. Select "Manual actions," with the flag beside it. 

If your site has been hit with a Google manual penalty, this page will tell you. If your site does have a current Manual Action against it, your best course of action would be to schedule a free SEO consultation with an SEO expert and have them resolve the issue for you, as it can easily and quickly become a months-long ordeal that ought to be done efficiently. This is not the type of thing that should be attempted DIY by someone not familiar with the in's and out's of SEO. 

Another option would be to take advantage of the many free internet SEO Audit tools that can sometimes detect penalties. The tool on my homepage has this capability, as does SEOsitecheckup.com's free Audit tool. Be aware that automated audits can, and often do, miss things, and a penalty is something best dealt with by a human being to ensure you don't miss something that may be costing you customers. 

Other Useful SEO Tools

We offer several free resources here at Tustin SEO, from Free SEO Reports to Speed Checking Tools. For access to more, head on over to our Facebook Page and give us a quick like/recommendation. 

Here are some more tools to take advantage of to leverage your SEO Campaign:
​1. SEOlium's Rank Tracking Tool
​2. Neil Patel's Site Analyzer
3. Chase Reiner offers tons of educational Youtube videos and Facebook Live videos that help SEO's and business owners everywhere.