Feel like your site has experienced a sudden drop in traffic? Maybe this is the result of a Google penalty. Penalties or sanctions can be given by Google if your site does not comply with the established regulations.
As a webmaster, of course you want to avoid anything that can interfere with your site, especially anything that can reduce your site traffic. one of the causes of the drop in traffic is the Google Penalty.
Penalties are not only given by Google for sites full of malware or illegal content or spam, even sites that look fine can be penalized by Google because they don't understand the nature of the algorithm being used.
In the end, the company's profits can decrease and even suffer losses, you know. Don't want this to happen to your site, right? So, come on, learn more about the penalties that Google can give and how to recover if it happens to your site.
What is a Google Penalty?
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| What is a Google Penalty? |
Google penalty is a punishment given to a website for violating Google webmaster guidelines. As a result, the page or website will decrease in ranking, or may even be permanently removed from the SERP. Penalties can be given manually to sites that violate the rules, but sometimes penalties can be obtained due to algorithm changes made by Google.
Sometimes, Google algorithm updates also implement regulations with certain penalties. However, this is different from the Google penalty, because in its operations there are manual actions carried out by the Google webspam team, not an AI-supported algorithm.
Therefore, it is important for you to understand Google's webmaster guidelines and implement appropriate SEO strategies to avoid Google penalties. To find out more, read the following article to the end..
Google will always update to overcome the competition that occurs in the internet world, this is because many webmasters do keyword stuffing. So updates will always be needed to overcome people who try to cheat Google's algorithm.
For sites that are given a manual penalty, it is possible that your site has already been reviewed by Google employees after being flagged.
What is an example of a Google penalty?
After knowing some of the causes, do you know what examples of websites are hit by a Google penalty?
Generally, websites that are subject to a Google penalty will show a drastic and sudden decline in graphics. In fact, it is not uncommon for the website to disappear from the search results page (SERP).
Apart from a decrease in organic traffic, other signs of a Google penalty can include direct notification from Google via Google Search Console.
In it, Google will notify site owners about detected violations and the actions that need to be taken to fix them.
What are the types of Google penalties?
From slightly severe to very severe. Starting from temporary penalties to "no forgiveness for you" penalties. Even though Google is not the only search engine, it cannot be denied that currently Google is the largest and most widely used search engine.
We can compete with other websites in terms of rankings or traffic, but fighting Google is not recommended and not worth trying. Because Google can do the following 3 things to our website:
1. Sandboxing
Sanboxing is still a matter of debate in the world of SEO. Some say that this sanboxing really exists, some argue that this is just imagination. Whatever the speculation, we think it is important for you to know this so you can stay alert.
Sandboxing can be interpreted as a trial period that Google applies to new websites and websites that are recovering from penalties. Sanboxing came into effect in March 2004, so websites created after that will usually go into a trial period before they can start working on search engines.
2. Penalized
Being penalized is like being told to stand in front of the class with one leg raised and your hand holding your earlobe. Your website will be downgraded in search results. Some don't even appear at all. This is a type of penalty that occurs frequently and has different impacts.
Manual penalties are a type of penalty that Google directly gives to websites that violate Google's quality guidelines, while the algorithm applies to all websites due to changes in the Google algorithm.
3. Banned/Deindexed
Well, if this is the case, your website will no longer be asked to stand in front of the class, but will be thrown out of the class. In other words, your website is completely “dethroned” from search engines. You won't be able to find it anywhere. You and your website, disappear from the world.
How to Avoid Google Penalty?
To avoid Google penalties, you need to understand the rules and guidelines set out in the Google webmaster guidelines. Generally, you can avoid Google penalties in the following ways:
1. Avoid Paid Links
As previously explained, paid links are one of the common causes that webmasters often experience Google penalties.
Therefore, if you want to implement this practice, then make sure you collaborate with an authoritative and reliable backlink partnership.
2. Create Automatic Content
To avoid Google penalties, avoid creating automated content such as spinning articles or content that is generated automatically using AI.
This type of content tends to be of low quality. According to Ahrefs, Google has even updated its algorithm to detect and punish websites that use this method.
3. Focus on quality content
Focusing on quality content is key to avoiding Google penalties. Although some spam websites can still get through, Google will immediately recognize and punish websites that violate webmaster guidelines.
Using the right SEO strategy is the best way to attract long-term traffic to your website. By creating user-friendly content, you have a greater chance of appearing in Google search results.
4. Follow Google's E-E-A-T Guidelines
E-E-A-T is an abbreviation for experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. A main aspect that Google assesses is the content of websites on the internet.
For this reason, make sure your content reflects a high level of experience, expertise, authority and trust in the target audience. By paying attention to E-E-A-T guidelines, you can produce content that is relevant, quality, and liked by your audience.
5. Improve content
If your site is hit by a Google penalty due to thin content, it means you need to improve and increase the content on your site. Usually, this problem can be identified with Webmaster Tools.
Thin content means your site doesn't have enough quality and quantity of content. Make sure the content created is not duplicate, OK? The reason is, duplicate content is one of the most frequent causes of penalties.
Duplicated content can also occur on other sites. If there are other sites that duplicate your content, try to ask them to remove it.
How do I recover my Google penalties?
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| Recover my Google penalties |
If the penalty you get is a manual penalty, you can take care of it directly in Google Search Console. After you fix the problems that caused you to get a penalty, you can immediately contact Google to ask for your website to be indexed again.
For algorithmic penalties, you just fix the problem that caused you the penalty, then wait. You have to be patient because Google only refreshes data a few times a month. The penalty you get will not disappear until the data refresh process occurs from Google.
Some even have to wait up to a year to recover from the penalty. Therefore, immediately check and fix the problems you encounter, so that the recovery process can run quickly. Overcoming Google penalties requires careful and strategic steps to correct the violation and return the website's ranking to the desired position. Here's the recovery method that you can follow:
1. Identify Ranking Issues
Google penalties can have an impact on your website's ranking in search results, and can even result in a drastic decline and removal from Google's index.
One way to find out whether your site has been penalized is to use a tool to identify the location and impact of Google penalties on your website.
2. Check for Google Algorithm Updates
Use Google Analytics to compare traffic drops to Google algorithm update dates. Identify the update that caused the penalty, then analyze the update to understand what fixes are needed.
For example, website display penalties that require UI/UX updates. By understanding algorithm updates and implementing the right fixes, you can restore your search position and website performance.
3. Conduct an SEO and Content Audit
Audits help identify technical and content issues that may be causing a website's performance to decline in search results.
By conducting regular SEO and content audits, and taking steps to fix problems, you can recover your website from Google penalties and improve your website's performance in search results.
4. Fix links that violate Google rules
Identify problematic backlinks and then remove or disable them. If it can't be removed, you can use the Google Disavow Tool to disavow unwanted or irrelevant links.
On the other hand, you must remain focused on healthy link building practices by getting quality backlinks from credible websites organically.
Conclusion
If you are involved in the world of SEO, penalties are something that will definitely happen if you don't do SEO properly. Not only do you have to know what a Google penalty is, but you also have to understand how to recover from this penalty.
If you have other opinions that can help other people in dealing with Google Penalty, please share them in the comments column. Don't forget to share this article.