Google is considered the world’s most popular search engine. It’s now part of our daily lives, with more than 90% of people searching for something online. If your website isn’t ranking well on Google, you will not get the traffic you need to succeed. That’s why avoiding penalties and keeping your site ranking well on Google is crucial.
This guide will expound on what you need to know about Google penalties and how to identify and fix them if they occur on your website.
What is a Google Penalty?
A Google penalty is a punishment given to websites by Google. It’s an algorithmic action that affects your website’s rankings. The Google algorithm is a set of rules determining how to rank websites and penalties that may result from low-quality content, bad links, or other factors. You can get rid of the penalty if you fix the issue that caused it in the first place.
Why do sites get Google Penalties?
There are different reasons why a site might be penalised by Google. For example, your site may be penalised if you use “black hat” SEO practices, like cloaking, keyword stuffing, or hidden text.
You could also get a penalty if your site violates Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. For example, if you have too many ads on your site or use insecure content delivery methods that put users at risk of malware and phishing attacks.
These include:
- Duplicate content
- Cloaking
- Spamming the search engines with low-quality content that is not relevant to the user’s query
- Using hidden text or links tricks users into clicking on something you don’t want them to click.
Another reason is that they violate copyright laws. This includes using copyrighted content without permission or building a site around someone else’s work without attribution.
Consider Reviewing Google Algorithm Updates
Here are some of the algorithms and updates you need to review if you think Google is penalising your content.
Panda
Panda is a Google algorithm that focuses on content quality. It was first introduced in February 2011 and designed to filter out low-quality content from search results.
Google announced they would be rollout a new Panda update focused on content farms and thin sites (sites with little substance or value).
Secure Update
The Secure algorithmic update is a new set of algorithms that will change how Google treats content. These are designed to identify and penalise pages that are not secure. To be clear, this means that pages that are not secure have a greater chance of being punished if they have any security issues.
Google has been working on these algorithms for months, but no implementation yet. The reason is that Google wants to ensure that it will be effective enough at detecting insecure content before it rolls out these new algorithms for everyone to use.
Mobilegeddon
Mobilegeddon is a Google update designed to improve mobile users’ search results.
Google’s algorithm has always favoured sites optimised for mobile devices, but in 2015, Google made an update to its algorithm that would penalise sites that were not mobile-friendly. The update came into effect on April 21, 2015.
Mobilegeddon is a significant reason to optimise your site for mobile devices. However, it’s not the only reason or the most important one! Mobilegeddon is just one of many Google algorithms that affect rankings and can help you achieve better search rankings.
Penguin
Penguin is an algorithm update Google released in 2012 to target websites manipulating their ranking through black hat SEO. It is part of Google’s effort to prevent spammy sites from ranking well.
Penguin targets sites with bad links pointing at them, which can be either paid links or natural links from low-quality sources. Sites affected by Penguin will see a drop in their rankings for keywords they were previously ranking for.
Intrusive Interstitial Penalty
A Google algorithm that penalises websites for having intrusive or disruptive interstitials.
Intrusive interstitials are pop-ups, overlays, and other elements that request permission to display before the user can continue using the site. These elements are considered a bad user experience and can lead to penalties if found on your website.
Can we Identify Penalties?
Google prioritizes content as a key factor in determining a website’s ranking. Failure to optimize your page for search engines may result in penalties, that Google rolls issue for specific aspects of your entire site.
1. Unnatural Links Penalty
If your website has an abundance of unnatural links—connections that seem forced or irrelevant—Google may impose penalties. These penalties can negatively impact your site’s link profile, affecting its overall ranking in search results. Monitoring and addressing issues related to unnatural links, outgoing links, and spammy links can help prevent such penalties.
2. Thin Content Penalty
Google penalizes websites with thin content—material that lacks substance or value. If your pages fail to provide meaningful information, you risk incurring penalties. It’s crucial to focus on content quality and avoid having low quality links or low-quality pages to maintain favorable search engine rankings.
3. Algorithmic Penalty
Google’s algorithms continuously evaluate such websites for adherence to guidelines. Violations can lead to automatic penalties known as algorithmic penalties. These penalties, governed by Google’s ranking algorithm, are applied without manual intervention and underscore the importance of aligning with search engine standards.
4. Manual Penalty
Human reviewers at Google may manually impose penalties on many websites for various violations. Submitting a reconsideration request after addressing the issues identified in manual actions can help lift manual penalties, emphasizing the need to align with webmaster guidelines for sustained search engine success.
5. Sneaky Mobile Redirects Penalty
Engaging in unauthorized mobile redirects can result in penalties, particularly for mobile device users. To avoid penalties related to sneaky mobile redirects, ensure a smooth experience for visitors using mobile devices, aligning with Google’s emphasis on mobile-friendliness.
6. Duplicate Content Penalty
Having identical content across multiple pages can trigger penalties, especially if it involves the creation of doorway pages. It’s essential to avoid duplicate content issues, emphasizing unique and valuable content to maintain a positive standing in Google’s search rankings.
To know if your site is facing penalties, use free tools such as Google Search Console (GSC). These Google Webmaster tools assess your site’s performance, offering insights into potential issues and suggesting improvements. Regularly monitoring the GSC aligns with proactive measures to maintain a healthy website and secure optimal search result rankings.
Fixing Google Penalties – Algorithmic and Manual
If Google penalises you, your business is hit with a penalty that will last for a specific time. A penalty can be either algorithmic or manual.
Manual penalties are less common than algorithmic penalties and occur when Google manually finds something wrong with your website and manually applies a penalty to your site.
- Algorithmic Penalty?
If you’re running your business, you need to know that Google often updates their algorithm and the said algorithm is then distributed to sites that fail to comply with Google’s guidelines.
To identify the type of penalty you’re facing, you have to track when your ranking first declined and match it with Google’s date of update rollout. The best way to pinpoint an algorithmic action is to check Google’s organic traffic and identify if you have a ranking drop that coincides with a specific algorithm update.
An algorithmic penalty is a ranking change that happens because of an algorithm. When hit with an algorithmic penalty, your site will be ranked lower than it should be for specific keywords.
These are usually the result of some manual action by Google. The most common cause is duplicate content, but other reasons include link schemes and unnatural keyword stuffing.
These penalties can be split into two types: Penguin is for sites with unnatural link profiles, and Panda is for sites with poor content quality. Penguin focuses more on low-quality backlinks. On the other hand, Panda focuses on content quality. The latter identifies thin and duplicate contents.
- Manual Penalty?
Manual action is always visible under Google Search Console’s Security and Manual actions. This will result in web pages being omitted or ranked lower in the search results. Manual review penalties happen for various reasons, any time but a vast majority of them start by triggering an algorithmic penalty.
The search quality or webspam team is responsible for identifying and fixing penalties applied to a website in Google’s search results. The team consists of engineers, analysts, and other specialists who work together to identify problems with a website’s content, design, and structure. They also ensure webmasters can access the tools they need to resolve these issues.
Once the team identifies a problem on a website, they will notify the webmaster through email. The message will provide information about how to fix the problem and explain how long it will take for the site’s ranking in Google’s search results to return to normal.
Structured Data Issue
Building structured data seems like good news. However, the wrong implementation of the same can cause Google to impose a manual action. One of the main penalties that might be imposed is a loss in ranking. Here are the most common structured data mistakes you should stay away from:
- Use of improper structured data
- Structured data is not the same as on-page content
- Structured data violates Google’s specific data or general guidelines
- Manipulative behaviour like shortcuts
Structured data issues are typically caused by incorrect or duplicate structured data on your website, which could attribute to a lack of knowledge on the proper implementation of schema markup or mistakes made when implementing it.
Cloaking
Cloaking is the practice of hiding content from search engines. It’s typically done by creating two versions of a page—one for human visitors and one for search engine spiders. The version intended for search engine spiders will have no links, no navigation elements, and no content that would help a user find what they’re looking for. The version intended for human visitors will have all of these things.
If you’re running a site with many pages only intended to be seen by search engines, then you risk getting penalised by Google. This is because Google wants to show users what they want to see when they search, not just some random page optimised for search engines.
Keyword Stuffing
Keyword stuffing is the practice of placing a keyword or phrase on a web page or blog post in an attempt to manipulate the search engine rankings. The problem with keyword stuffing is that it can be penalised by Google and other search engines, which means that your site won’t rank as highly as it should if you have been penalised.
User-generated Spam
User-generated spam is content posted to a website by users without permission from the website owner. This can include posts on social media sites, comments on blogs or forums, and messages on message boards or newsgroups.
The most common type of user-generated spam is forum spam—the creation of multiple threads on a forum with the same title and theme. The purpose of this is to drive traffic to another website or to advertise another product. However, other types of user-generated spam exist as well, such as:
- Comments on blogs or news articles that are irrelevant to the topic being discussed
- Messages posted on message boards or newsgroups that advertise products or services unrelated to the topic at hand
Google penalties are not limited to websites that have been penalised due to low-quality content; they also apply to websites that have been penalised due to violations of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. These guidelines include rules regarding ways to prevent comment spam.
Spammy Free Host
If a significant number of websites you host through your hosting service are spammy, there is a high chance that Google will take manual action on the entire service.
Unnatural links to your site
Unnatural links are links to your site made by people and sites with no relationship to your business or niche. Suppose you have a pet store, and someone buys an ad on your site that leads to their pet shop. This is an unnatural link.
The problem is, only a small percentage of the time do these links help improve your rankings. Most times, they harm your rankings because Google considers them spammy.
Here’s what happens: when Google finds unnatural links to your site, it can penalise you for that behaviour by reducing your search engine rankings or even removing you from their index entirely.
Unnatural links from your site
Unnatural links from your site are links that you, or someone else, have added to your site that Google has not approved. This includes links from spammy websites, paid links, or links from websites that are not related to your business.
Google wants to know that the content on your site is the best possible for users so that it will penalise sites with unnatural links.
Hidden Text
Hidden text is spam that you may not see, but Google does. Hidden text is a form of spam that can appear in the source code of your website. It’s hidden to make it difficult for Google to find and index, but it’s easy for humans to see.
When Google finds hidden text on your site, it will usually give you a manual penalty or algorithmically penalise your site. Your rankings will be reduced until the hidden text is removed from your site.
Thin Content
Thin content is content with little to no value to your users. It doesn’t help them solve problems, and it doesn’t teach them anything they didn’t already know.
If your website has thin content, Google will be less likely to rank it highly in search results because it doesn’t provide the value that Google’s algorithm looks for.
Several things can cause these types of pages:
- Duplicate content: This is when multiple pages have similar or identical content, diluting their effectiveness as a page.
- Spam content: Is often used to get higher rankings in search engines, but it’s not something you want to do because it’s against Google’s policies and can result in your site being penalised or even removed from the index entirely.
Should we inspect the backlink profile?
Analyzing your backlink profile, along with a careful examination of anchor text and referring domains, is a critical practice for maintaining the health and performance of your website.
Backlinks are integral to your entire domain and websites ranking and authority. Understanding how many building links you have and their origins is essential. Google considers various factors to assess the quality of these links, distinguishing between valuable ones and those that may be deemed spammy. Links from sites with similar topics and content are viewed more favorably, while those from unrelated or affected pages can lead to penalties.
Checking the anchor text of your backlinks is crucial. Changes in the anchor text can be indicative of a Google penalty. For example, if you’ve received a manual penalty, alterations in the anchor text may suggest that Google has intervened due to violations of its guidelines.
Referring domains, or the sites from which your backlinks originate, also require a closer check. This examination is important in assessing potential penalties and understanding alterations in how Google evaluates your links and entire website. Algorithmic penalties, for example, may result in changes in link evaluation, potentially diminishing the value of some links and leading to decreased rankings.
Conclusion
Keeping track of what’s going on with SEO can be challenging with so many updates. Avoiding the penalties of Google may seem like a daunting task since there are updates that you have to keep track of. Your goal here is to focus on trustworthiness and relevance. Continue providing your website with quality and original content and Google won’t have any reason to penalize you.
You can check for yourself using Google penalty checker tools or hire an expert to do this analysis. The sooner you act on any problems identified through these tools and ensure there aren’t any manual actions against your site, the better off you’ll be.
