Manual Sanctions: When Google Judges Your Site by Hand
A manual sanction, also called a manual action, is a penalty applied by a human reviewer when a site violates Google's guidelines. This guide explains what to do.
A manual sanction, also called a manual action, is a penalty applied by a human reviewer when a site breaks Google's guidelines.
What a Manual Sanction Is
A manual sanction is a penalty placed on your site by a Google reviewer, not by an algorithm, for violating the guidelines.
You get a notification in Search Console when it happens.
Why It Happens
Common causes include unnatural links, hidden text, thin or scraped content, and spammy structured data.
Someone at Google looked and found a reason to act.
What It Does
- Hurts rankings or removes pages from results.
- Applies to the whole site or just certain pages.
- Stays until you fix the cause and request review.
- Needs real cleanup, not quick workarounds.
How to Fix It
- Read the exact reason in Search Console.
- Remove or fix what violated the guidelines.
- Disavow unnatural links you cannot remove.
- Request a review once the cleanup is done.
The notice: a site gets a manual action for unnatural links.
The cleanup: the team removes the bad links and disavows the rest.
The review: they request a reconsideration with proof.
The result: the sanction lifts once Google confirms the fix.
Quick Tip
Act on the exact reason stated in Search Console and keep records of your cleanup, because the review process rewards proof.
Frequently Asked Questions
Manual Sanctions (Manual Actions), Bottom Line
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