How to Recover from Google Penalty

Originally published: October 28, 2021 08:49:17 AM, updated: November 19, 2022 12:00:00 AM

Image source: Unsplash

Managing your website and keeping track of every little SEO rule is highly challenging. Your website might suffer a Google penalty no matter how well you perform, and pay attention to all the little details. If that happens, do not despair. There are ways to recover from the Google penalty, and today you will learn about them.

Types of Google penalties

There are two different types of Google penalties to understand:

• manual penalty;
• algorithmic penalty;

A manual penalty happens when a human auditor makes a note of an SEO mistake on your website. You need to follow Google's Terms of Service strictly, and any deviation from them might earn you a manual penalty.

A change in the algorithm usually causes an algorithmic penalty. A change that you are not aware of.

To proactively prevent both of these penalties, make sure to understand Google's ranking factors for the current year.

Be sure that you received a Google penalty

Before you start fixing the issue, you need to make sure a Google penalty hits your website. To check if this is the case, it is best to look at the Google Search Console.

To prevent future penalties, stop doing this

The most common reasons that trigger both manual and algorithmic penalties are:

• keyword stuffing;
• irrelevant keywords;
• hidden or bad links;
• duplicate content;
• spammy content;
• data issues;

Do a full audit of your website and make sure that none of these situations apply to it.

Check for algorithm updates

If you discover that you received an algorithmic penalty, the first step is to figure out what has changed. Google algorithm is constantly being updated, so don't be too upset about this. It is not something that you can control.

Image source: Anastasia Gorlanova / EyeEm

However, you can learn about the change and make a correction as soon as possible.

Analyze any recent changes you made to your website

If you had a major website upgrade just before your ranking dropped, or the penalty appeared right after it, revisit the changes you made. There might be a mistake you made, so make sure to correct it quickly.

A good example would be changing the website domain. To do this without losing your ranking or making any mistakes, you need to follow a specific set of rules.

Do a full SEO audit

We already mentioned common SEO mistakes that may lead to a Google penalty. Doing a full SEO audit will help you to track the error and fix it.

It is an excellent practice to keep notes about these changes so that you have something as a reference in case the incident occurs in the future. It will be easier to fix the mistake if it happens again because you will have something to guide you.

Make sure you are producing and publishing relevant content

Relevant content is everything to Google, and it is a factor that directly affects your SEO ranking. Your goal should be to generate quality content that will secure a good ranking for your website.

Website owners often make mistakes of publishing everything just for the sake of content creation. Even if all of your pieces are written well, you still need to stay within your niche.

If you have guest bloggers working for you, make sure they follow all the rules of SEO. All content needs a thorough examination to find out if it breaches any of Google's rules.

Spend time working on your link building

Cleaning up your backlink profile is an excellent way to ensure there are no outside factors that may cause a Google penalty. Revisit all of the backlinks from time to time, and make sure they are not connecting your website with any "bad" domains.

Google looks at all links, and if your website leads to one of the blacklisted websites, or if they send people to you, this will quickly affect your ranking and earn you a penalty.

The easiest way to do this is by utilizing SEO auditing software.

Check your spyware and adware

Make sure that all of your spyware and adware is up to date. Failing to update it means you are creating a potential threat for hackers. If your website keeps sensitive customer data, that is a bad situation to recover from.

Furthermore, make sure you are not overusing your adware. Spamming with advertisements is a good way to harm your rating. We all realize that advertising is a part of the online world, but it should not be the main focus of your website. You want to provide quality content and solutions for your customers.

How long will it take for your website to recover?

The answer to this question depends on many different factors. If you received a manual penalty, it might take up to 30 days for it to go away after you have fixed the issue.

In case you receive an algorithmic penalty, you will have to wait for about six months. This all implies that you did not create any other mistakes in the meantime.

As you can see, you must track your SEO rating all the time. Start fixing the issues as soon as you notice them. Do not allow for a Google penalty to sit in your backyard.

The best way to recover from the Google penalty is to start now!

The consequences of manual and algorithmic penalties will seriously hinder your business and website rating. It is worth investing in software that will help you to solve these issues immediately. Give your best to recover from the Google penalty as soon as possible. Furthermore, make sure not to repeat any mistakes. You don't have the time or the resources to fight the same battles constantly. You should focus on clients, not fixing errors. With that in mind, it is crucial to learn everything about Google penalties and do everything you can so you never have to recover from one.