Manual action vs algorithm drop#
Most ranking drops are algorithmic — caused by updates or competitors — and come with no notification. A manual action is different: it appears in Search Console under Security & Manual Actions → Manual actions, with a description of the problem and which pages are affected.
Common manual actions#
- Unnatural links to your site (bought links, link schemes)
- Unnatural links from your site (selling links)
- Thin content with little or no added value
- Pure spam, cloaking or sneaky redirects
- User-generated spam (comments, forum profiles)
- Structured data issues (misleading markup)
- Site reputation abuse (third-party content exploiting a host site’s rankings)
How to recover#
- Read the notice carefully and identify every affected page or link.
- Fix the cause completely — remove spam, rewrite thin pages, remove or disavow bought links.
- Document what you did, with examples.
- Submit a reconsideration request from the Manual Actions report explaining the problem, the fix and how you’ll prevent it.
- Wait for review (days to weeks). If rejected, read the feedback and try again.
Related: black hat SEO, disavow tool, algorithm updates.