Google Penalties

However, it’s crucial to be aware of the risks involved and what your SEO agency should avoid to prevent a Google Penalty.

Is it a Google Penalty or an algorithmic change?

Google is vital for business opportunities, so following its rules is essential. Understanding these rules helps avoid penalties and improves website rankings.

While some of these topics might seem technical, we will explain them simply. 

Over the past 15 years, Google has made numerous changes to its algorithm (the system that ranks websites). Here are some significant updates:

The most famous major updates that can lead to a Google Penalty 

• Panda (2011) – Targeted poor-quality content (thin content) and sites with too many ads.
• Penguin (2012) – Focused on penalising spammy tactics like keyword stuffing and shady link building. Penalties focused on, cloaking which is basically, any method you’ve heard of referred to as “black hat” SEO tactics”.
• Hummingbird (2013) – Enhanced Google’s ability to understand search queries.
• Pigeon (2014) – Significantly impacted local search results.
• Secure Update (2014) –  Preferred secure websites (those starting with HTTPS).
• Mobile Update, aka Mobilegeddon (2015) – Favoured mobile-friendly websites.
• Intrusive Interstitial Penalty (2017) – Punished sites with annoying pop-ups on mobile devices.

What is a Google Penalty as a result of a manual action?

Further to the algorithmic updates, there also are hundreds of thousands of manual actions that Google takes every year.

Manual penalties can occur if your SEO agency is doing the following:

• Unnatural Links to Your Site: Creating or purchasing spammy backlinks to manipulate rankings.
• Hacked Site: Failing to properly secure your site, making it vulnerable to hacking.
• Thin Content: Publishing very short or low-quality content that offers little value to users.
• Spammy Behaviour: Employing deceptive practices like cloaking or sneaky redirects.
• Hidden Text and Keyword Stuffing: Hiding keywords on your page or excessively using them to manipulate rankings.
• Using Spammy Hosts: Hosting your site on servers known for spam.
• Spammy Structured Markup: Providing false information in your site’s structured data to deceive search engines.

How to determine if your site is affected by a Google Penalty

As weird as it may seem, although many websites get punished for “black hat” SEO tactics, most marketers or webmasters do not notice when they have. According to Kissmetrics, only 5% of penalised websites submit a reconsideration request every month to recover their rankings.

Business owners generally get worried when the business opportunities driven by their websites drop dramatically and for a long time. This drop means the penalty has already happened, costing you time, money, and missed leads. 

We helped website owners in a couple of situations of this kind, which involved fixing the issues and requesting manual reconsideration from Google – a long and painful process.

What to Watch Out For 

Here are some red flags indicating your SEO provider might be putting you at risk:

• Overstuffed keywords in content

• Low-quality or short content

• Spammy backlinks

• Hidden keywords

• Copied content from other sites

A Google penalty can result from a lack of knowledge or the purposeful violation of rules using black-hat techniques. 

To avoid a penalty:

• Ensure your agency runs regular SEO audits

• They should remove or disavow bad links

• Use relevant anchor texts

• Avoid duplicate content

• Create high-quality, non-spammy content

Keeping your website helpful, trustworthy, and up-to-date is essential

Trust your SEO to reputable agencies with proven track records. By doing so, you can avoid the risks of Google penalties and ensure your website’s success.

Get started with PinkSEO today with a complimentary SEO audit and consultation.