Did you notice your website’s traffic? Is it unexpectedly low? This often gives goosebumps to any webmaster. Does Google penalize you for something? If yes, then you need to take it very seriously. When Google has a problem with your website, they exclude you from their search results.
So, what’s next?
In order to tackle such problems, you need to understand all the rudimentary facts about Google penalties. This post addresses all these facts about Google penalties. So, let’s get started.
Understanding Google Penalties
When there is some problem with your website, Google always keeps a close eye on that. They set some ground rules which helps them to keep the website in order. When any website violates those rules, Google penalizes them either by warning message or excluding them in their search results.
This is done to make sure that the websites rectify the issue asap. Most of the Google guidelines are based on user interaction and user security. After rectifying the issue, the webmaster needs to inform Google to recrawl the website to make sure that the issue is resolved.
There are two types of Google penalties, Manual penalties & Algorithmic Penalties. Let’s discuss them in detail.
Algorithmic Google Penalties
When Google changes its guidelines, it penalizes website under algorithmic penalties. Google uses a defined “Algorithm” to cater the best search results from the ocean of websites for the users. For serving the user in better ways, Google constantly tweaks the algorithm. This results as beneficial for many websites but some websites face downside as well.
When Google updates its algorithm, many websites almost disappears from its search results. You can reckon these websites as algorithmically penalized websites. A receiver of Google Algorithmic penalty.
The main reason is only the violation of guidelines of Google webmaster. There is, however, one problem with these algorithmic penalties. Google does not inform you that you have received any penalty. You have to figure it out yourself. How can you speculate that? I will cover that later in this post. Let’s move to the next penalty.
Manual Google Penalties
As the name suggested, manual penalties of Google are actually manual actions of a homo sapiens from Google. These penalties are given when a human in Google investigate your website and find some flaws which can potentially harm the user. There are many reasons for which Google can penalize you manually.
The upside of manual penalty is that you will get notified that your website is penalized. All the website with Google Search Console account will receive the message. Not just a text about the penalty. They also guide you in rectifying the issue with your website. That is surely a bright side.
How Can You Find That Your Website Is Algorithmically Penalized?
As there is no notification for the algorithmic penalty for your website, the first sign of trouble will be a significant/noticeable drop in your website’s organic traffic. Remember, organic traffic is the one which comes directly from search engines.
One important thing to mention. There might be a possibility that even when you are algorithmically penalized by Google, you still rank high on other search engines.
So, the simplest way to figure out if you are penalized or not is to visit your Google Analytics account. Then you need to Login to your account. After that click on Acquisition on the left-hand side of the dashboard. Then click on All Traffic, then Source and then Medium.
When you click on Medium, you will see a graph. Then you need to click on Google/Organic.
Now, adjust the time span to refine the graph according to the timeline. If you have been penalized algorithmically, you’ll see a drastic change in your website’s organic traffic.
How Can You Find Out If Your Website Is Manually Penalized?
This is very simple in comparison to algorithmic penalty. All you need to do is log in to Google Search Console. It is the common channel through which Google communicates the website issues.
You need to click on the Search Traffic option on the left-hand side of the dashboard. Then select Manual Actions. If you have any manual penalties, you will see that info in this section. And if not, then you will see a magical typo saying, “No Manual Webspam Actions Found”. It is as simple as this.
Some Common Problems Every Website Faces
Whenever there is a change in Google’s algorithm, several websites all over the globe face one or many issues. In this section, we will discuss those issues and try to find a plausible solution. Let’s get started,
Do You Have Spam Links To Your Web page?
If you frequently do guest posting, then there is a chance that Google reckons it as a malpractice. Backlinking is a good SEO practice, however, you need to be sure that the backlinks you getting are from reputed and authentic websites. In these scenarios, the best practice is to either disavow those links or nofollow them.
Do You Link To Any Spam From Your Website?
If you are in a practice of selling links or affiliate links, you need to be reasonable with that. If those are excess in number, you must disavow them or nofollow them.
Do You Show Poor Content To Your Users?
A bad content is worthless. You need to make sure that your website content shares value with your user. In-detail contents are paramount nowadays. Share value and get value is the new formula for avoiding Google Penalties.
Over To You
So, this is all about Google Penalties. Whether it is manual or algorithmic, you must avoid them in order to get most from your website. So, tackle the issues and rank higher. Ciao for now!!!
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