Google: Penalties

Parsing pages: Is it better to update or remove thin content?

There are three basic strategies for dealing with thin content: update, redirect or noindex. Contributor Kristopher Jones looks at each and says...

Kristopher Jones | Jun 25, 2018 at 3:37 pm ET

5 things to check if your traffic suddenly drops

No one’s immune to traffic drops, and the causes may be easy to overlook. Still, to avoid barking up the wrong tree, gather the evidence...

Sponsored Content: SEO PowerSuite | Jun 19, 2018 at 7:30 am ET

Google sent 45M notifications through Search Console, 6M of which were search spam-related

Google sent about 3 million fewer manual actions this past year than the previous...

Barry Schwartz | Jun 11, 2018 at 9:08 am ET

Ask the SMXpert: Google manual penalties explained

Have you ever gotten a manual penalty from Google? It's no fun. Contributor and SMXpert Kaspar Szymanski shares answers and insights on how to...

Debra Mastaler | May 7, 2018 at 10:42 am ET

Google may issue manual actions over job schema on expired job listings

You'd better remove job listings from your website shortly after you fill those positions, or Google may penalize your...

Barry Schwartz | Apr 17, 2018 at 8:59 am ET

Google warns webmasters not to use misleading event markup

Google can penalize your website if you use event markup in a misleading...

Barry Schwartz | Nov 27, 2017 at 12:47 pm ET

Private blog networks: A great way to get your site penalized

Columnist Kevin Rowe explains what private blog networks (PBNs) are, how to identify them, and why you should steer...

Kevin Rowe | Nov 17, 2017 at 11:50 am ET

Google Manual Actions: Frequently asked questions and their answers

Contributor Kaspar Szymanski addresses some of the most commonly raised questions and issues regarding Google...

Kaspar Szymanski | Nov 14, 2017 at 2:15 pm ET

All Google Manual Penalties Explained from SMX East

Eric Enge shared insights at the "All Google Manual Penalties Explained"...

Aleyda Solis | Oct 26, 2017 at 1:10 pm ET

Our ‘Ultimate Guide to Google Penalties’ launches today

Google penalty notifications - and how to respond to them - continue to be confounding issues for SEOs. Our new guide provides answers and...

Michelle Robbins | Oct 18, 2017 at 4:30 pm ET

Link free or die

Why are we so afraid of links? Columnist Julie Joyce goes through several of our biggest fears and discusses how healthy they really...

Julie Joyce | Feb 28, 2017 at 11:03 am ET

After rare Google confirmation of on-site penalty, Natural News is back in Google’s index

HealthNews.com confirms being reincluded in the Google index after being deindexed last week. ...

Barry Schwartz | Feb 28, 2017 at 9:01 am ET

Natural News was not banned from Google over fake news

A Google webmaster violation is the reason this web site was penalized by Google, not because the site is...

Barry Schwartz | Feb 23, 2017 at 3:25 pm ET

Google confirms rolling out the mobile intrusive interstitials penalty yesterday

Google said the mobile intrusive interstitial penalty went live yesterday, but webmasters have not claimed any issues...

Barry Schwartz | Jan 11, 2017 at 8:40 am ET

Google studying ways to deal with offensive search suggestions & results

Facing criticism over "fake news," inappropriate search suggestions and more, the search company is looking for long-term and comprehensive...

Danny Sullivan | Dec 16, 2016 at 8:54 pm ET

Google reviews schema guidelines to prohibit vulgar or profane language

Make sure your reviews don't contain profane or vulgar language. If they do, Google can remove your review rich...

Barry Schwartz | Dec 16, 2016 at 9:37 am ET

How to avoid an outbound link penalty from Google

We've all heard of unnatural link penalties from having a spammy backlink profile, but columnist Tony Edward notes that your site's outbound...

Tony Edward | Nov 11, 2016 at 12:10 pm ET

Google Safe Browsing “Repeat Offenders” will get a 30-day time-out

Do you continue to violate Google's safe browsing policies? Well, Google is about to get stricter on...

Barry Schwartz | Nov 8, 2016 at 6:04 pm ET

Google labels your links, such as ‘footer’ or Penguin-impacted

Google's manual action team has access to look at a page's link labels and may use that to dig deeper into the site's...

Barry Schwartz | Oct 10, 2016 at 2:23 pm ET

Google says Penguin recoveries have started to roll out now

Have you been waiting two or more years to recover from your Penguin penalty? Google said the recoveries are starting...

Barry Schwartz | Sep 28, 2016 at 8:31 pm ET