Has you site traffic decreased due to a manual webspam penalty by Google? Previously the only way to find that out was to send in a reconsideration request and wait for Google to inform you via email that your site is affected by a manual penalty or an algorithmic penalty and you need not file further reconsideration requests.
Manual Actions Report
Now Google webmaster tools will inform you if your site has been affected by a manual webspam action. Go to the Google webmasters tools > Search Traffic > Manual Actions
This is what we see on our panel for this site – No manual webspam actions found. Affected by multiple Google penalties, the same no penalty status was also conveyed to us by a reconsideration request also.
With this new feature, you do not need to keep filing reconsideration requests, as falling traffic will be due to algorithmic penalties, which can only be fixed when a Panda/Penguin refresh occurs. (Maybe there is no Google Penalty at all!)
Manual Penalty Report
Here is what a typical penalty message will look like
Here is another one
The manual action report will clearly indicate which urls are affected on your domain, what was the reason the Google penalty was imposed and a request review button will help you file a reconsideration request after you have fixed the issue.
I think this is a great step on Google’s part as this will help in several ways –
- Webmasters know they have a Google manual penalty
- Webmasters know which urls are penalized
- Webmasters know exactly the cause of penalty and can work to fix it
- The request review button will help Google quickly identify the site, know the problem and if it is totally fixed.
- Lesser reconsideration requests for Google webspam team, as webmasters realize it is an algorithmic penalty and will not be fixed by multiple reconsideration requests.
- More quick manual penalty resolution
So login today into the GWT account of your site and check your Manual Actions report – any you may actually find the cause of your low search engine traffic rankings.