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Google Manual Penalty: New Google Videos Explain Webspam (With Commentary)

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Google is “on the warpath” against Web spam. Webspam, of course, is Google’s definition of anything that attempts to manipulate the Google search engine. SEO is the art and science of getting to the top of Google for free by influencing Google. White Hat SEO is doing this by “putting your best foot forward” vs. Black Hat SEO which is doing this through nefarious techniques, most notably link manipulation. And then there’s Grey Hat SEO, which is what most of us do: pushing the limits of the acceptable, yet hoping not to get in trouble with Google. .

What is the Difference Between an Algorithmic and a Manual Penalty on Google?

Google Manual Penalty - New VideosIt’s important to understand the difference between these two. An algorithmic penalty means that Google changed its computer-based algorithm, and the computer (not the humans) is penalizing your site. Penguin is an example of this; Penguin penalizes sites that have many inbound links from low quality, over optimized links. In this case you don’t have a person to please; you just need to reconfigure your SEO to work with the “new and improved” Google algorithm. You will also not see anything in Webmaster Tools that notifies you that you have been penalized.  Think of an algorithm as a global Google change, affecting everyone. It’s a change of the rules themselves.

A manual penalty, in contrast, is a penalty that is imposed by real people: by Googlers. Someone has noticed your website, and complained to Google and/or a Googler has noticed that you are doing bad things. In this case, you are being penalized by humans; not be Google directly.

In a manual penalty, you need to please the humans by fixing what they are mad at you about and then submitting a reconsideration request inside of Webmaster Tools. Think of a “manual penalty” as a special case: the police officer has singled you out for penalty. It doesn’t matter that “other sites are doing it.” You have been busted, you are in jail, and you must do some time to fix your crime.

Finally, Google is becoming more transparent. It notifies you inside of Webmaster Tools if you have been subject to a manual penalty.  See their latest blog post on the topic, here.

Actions that Are Likely To Evoke a Manual Penalty

Here are the actions most likely to evoke a manual penalty:

  • Keyword Stuffing: this is the heavy overuse of keywords, especially when you misuse English grammar. There is a fine line between writing the kind of keyword heavy text that Google clearly prefers and going too far. Keyword stuffing is “going too far.”
  • Doorway Pages: these are pages that are usually automatically created and target very narrow keyword phrases; especially geographic cities or states plus your keywords.
  • Unnatural Inbound Links: these are links to your site, usually that you paid for and that pass PageRank in violation of Google’s guidelines.
  • Unnatural Outbound Links: these are when you link to someone else as part of a link scheme.

In all cases, remember that if you are subject to a manual penalty you will receive a notification in Webmaster tools.  If there is no notice and you see a drop in your SERP rank on Google / traffic, you are most likely subject to an algorithmic penalty and not a manual penalty. For the former, the remedy is “playing by the new rules”; for the latter it is pleasing the human censor at Google and getting him or her to release the manual penalty.

A final thought. In my experience, many times the only way that you will receive a manual penalty is when a competitor files a webspam complaint against you. Google is a very, very busy organization. It is not likely that they have the resources, or will ever devote the resources, to a team of highly paid individuals policing the Web. Therefore, like police on a busy intersection, their objective is to a) penalize high-profiile violators and “make examples of them,” and b) rely on fellow citizens to “turn in” violators. Google is building a kind of IRS / anonymous tip system: competitors are encouraged to identify others who are “playing unfairly” and turn them into Google.

The moral of this story is, therefore, don’t crow about your SEO success to competitors. You want to “fly under the radar” and thereby avoid a manual penalty if at all possible. Be modest!

New Videos by Google on Manual Penalties

Google has released some informative new videos on the topic. Remember, however, these are the official videos. So we are seeing the “traffic cops” whose job it is to intimidate everyone from doing anything too aggressive. Read between the lines here; read the comments… Don’t believe everything that they say. These are official Googlers sharing the official rules; not necessarily the way things actually play out.

Videos -

Watch these videos and pretty much the message is to play by their rules, when penalized fix the violations, and ask for forgiveness. Reading between the lines, Google is “on the warpath” against SEO, and interestingly seems to be turning to a human-generated system that complements its algorithms.

 

 

The post Google Manual Penalty: New Google Videos Explain Webspam (With Commentary) appeared first on Search Social Marketing Blog.


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