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-{{expert|reason=This article confuses algorithmic actions, manual actions and penalties.  The term "penalty" isn't even used by Google, so it means different things to different people.  This ambiguity must be made clear. |date=December 2017}}
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-A '''Google penalty''' is the negative impact on a website's search rankings based on updates to Google's search algorithms or manual review.{{dubious|date=December 2017}} The penalty can be a by-product of an algorithm update or an intentional penalization for various [[black-hat SEO]] techniques.
-==Overview==
-Google penalizes sites for engaging in practices that are against its [https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35769?hl=en webmaster guidelines]. These penalties can be the result of a manual review or algorithm updates such as [[Google Penguin]].<ref>{{cite web|title=View manual webspam actions in Webmaster Tools|url=http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2013/08/manual-actions-viewer.html|publisher=Google|accessdate=11 March 2014}}</ref>
-Google penalties can result in the drop of rankings for every page of a site, for a specific keyword, or for a specific page. Any drop in rankings brings with it a major drop in traffic for the site.
-To find out if a website has been affected by a Google penalty, website owners can use [[Google Webmaster Tools]] as well as analyze the timing of their traffic drop with the timing of known Google updates.<ref>{{cite web|last=Cutts|first=Matt|title=View manual webspam actions in Webmaster Tools|url=http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2013/08/manual-actions-viewer.html|publisher=[[Google]]|accessdate=7 March 2014}}</ref>
-==History of penalties==
-Google has been updating its algorithm for as long as it has been fighting the manipulation of organic search results. However, up until May 10, 2012, when Google launched the [[Google Penguin]] update, many people wrongly believed that low-quality backlinks would not negatively affect ranks. While this viewpoint was common, it was not correct, as Google had been applying such link-based penalties<ref>{{cite web|title=Recovering from Google’s Link-based Penalty Action|url=https://treuemax.com/recovering-from-googles-link-based-penalty-action/|publisher=Treuemax}}</ref> for many years, but not made public how the company approached and dealt with what they called "link spam". Since this time there has been a much wider acknowledgement about the dangers of bad SEO and a forensic analysis of backlinks to ensure there are no harmful links.
-==Link-based penalties==
-Penalties are generally caused by manipulative backlinks that are intended to favor particular companies in the search results; by adding such links companies break Google's terms and conditions. When Google discovers such links, it imposes penalties to discourage other companies from following this practice and to remove any gains that may have been enjoyed from such links. Google also penalizes those who took part in the manipulation and helped other companies by linking to them. These types of companies are often low-quality directories which simply listed a link to a company website with manipulative anchor text for a fee. Google argues that such pages offer no value to the Internet and are often deindexed as a result. Such links are often referred to as paid links.
-==Common forms of links spam==
-===Paid links===
-Paid links are simply links that people place on their site for a fee as they believe this will have a positive impact on the search results. The practice of paid links was very popular prior to the Penguin update when companies believed they could add any types of links with impunity since Google claimed prior that time that they simply ignored such links they detected instead of penalizing websites. To comply with Google's recent TOS it is imperative to apply the [[nofollow]] attribute to paid advertisement links. Businesses that buy backlinks from low quality sites attract Google penalty.
-===Comment spam===
-These are links left in the comments of articles that are impossible to have removed, as this practice became so widespread Google launched somethihelp curb such practices. The nofollow tag simply tells search engines not to trust such links.
-===Blog networks===
-Blog networks are a collection of sometimes thousands of blogs that aim to appear unconnected which then link out to those prepared to pay for such links. Google have typically targeted blog networks and once detecting them have penalized thousands of sites who gained benefits.
-===Guest blog posts===
-Guest blog posts became popular as a practice following penguin as these were considered 'white hat' techniques for a while. However, Google has since stated.<ref>{{cite web|title=Guest Blog Posts now considered as spam|url=https://www.mattcutts.com/blog/guest-blogging/|publisher=Matt Cutts}}</ref> that they consider these links to be spam.
-==Dealing with a penalty==
-Google has encouraged companies to reform their bad practices and as a result demand that efforts are taken to remove manipulative links. Google launched the Disavow tool on 16 October 2012 so that people could report to Google the bad links they had. The Disavow tool was launched mainly in response to many reports of negative SEO, where companies were being targeted with manipulative links by competitors knowing full well that they would be penalized as a result.<ref>{{cite web|last1=MacDonald|first1=Chris|title=How to Recover from a Penguin Google Penalty|url=http://engagethecrowd.com/recover-penguin-google-penalty/|publisher=Engage The Crowd|accessdate=30 January 2015}}</ref> There has been some controversy<ref>{{cite web|title=Controversy over the Disavow tool|url=http://linkaudit.co.uk/blog/to-disavow-or-not-to-disavow-that-is-the-question/|publisher=The Link Auditors}}</ref> over whether the Disavow tool has any effect when manipulation has taken place over many years. At the same time, some anecdotal case studies have been presented<ref>{{cite web|title=Case Study: Improving Rankings After a Google Penalty|url=http://www.malleeblue.com/recovering-first-page-of-google-after-a-penalty/|publisher=David Trounce}}</ref> which suggest that the tool is effective and that former ranking positions can be restored.
-==Negative SEO==
-Negative SEO started to occur following the Penguin update when it became common knowledge that Google would apply penalties for manipulative links; such practices as negative SEO have caused companies to be diligent in monitoring their backlinks to ensure they are not being targeted by hostile competitors through negative SEO services.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.digitaltrends.com/web/understanding-negative-seo/|title=Understanding negative SEO and how your rivals can use it against you|date=2013-06-06|language=en-US|access-date=2016-07-09}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://tehnoblog.org/google-webmaster-tools-my-website-got-bombed-with-backlinks-what-to-do/|title=My Website Is Bombed With Backlinks – What To Do?|date=2017-02-08|language=en-US|access-date=2017-03-08}}</ref>
-In the US and UK, these type of activities by competitors attempting to sabotage a website's rankings are considered to be illegal by experts.
-The Google algorithm, Penguin, detects and discounts spammy links. Google discredits this link type. This update seems to have happened around February 1, 2017. It meant google detects this type of activity and competitors doing blackhat or negative SEO.
-If you see a significant drop in mobile traffic on Google, or any other similar changes, try to unsubscribe to Google Webmaster Help and it is likely that your request will be considered.
-==Notable penalties==
-* [[BeatThatQuote.com]] – On March 7, 2011, Google purchased BeatThatQuote.com for £37.7 million and, within the same date, penalized BeatThatQuote.com.<ref>{{cite web|last=Fiveash|first=Kelly|title=Google demotes BeatThatQuote one day after buying it|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/08/google_rate_that_quote_search/|publisher=theregister.co.uk|accessdate=8 March 2014}}</ref>
-* [[BMW]] – On February 6, 2006, Google penalized BMW.de for using [[doorway pages]] and dropped the site's [[PageRank]] to 0.<ref>{{cite web|title=Google Applies 'Death Penalty' to BMW's German Site|url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/2006/02/07/google-applies-death-penalty-to-bmw-german-site/|publisher=[[Fox news]]|accessdate=11 March 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=BMW given Google 'death penalty'|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4685750.stm|publisher=[[BBC]]|accessdate=11 March 2014}}</ref>
-* [[Google Chrome]] – In January 2012, Google's Webspam team penalized the Chrome Browser's homepage for manipulating PageRank with purchased blog posts.<ref>{{cite web|last=Cutts|first=Matt|title=Sorry that it took me until now to comment on the situation...|url=https://plus.google.com/+MattCutts/posts/NAWunDzJSHC|accessdate=11 March 2014}}</ref> The penalty dropped Chrome's homepage's PageRank from 9 to 7 and knocked Chrome off of the first page for important keywords such as "browser."<ref>{{cite web|last=Sullivan|first=Danny|title=Google’s Chrome Page No Longer Ranks For "Browser" After Sponsored Post Penalty|url=http://searchengineland.com/google-chrome-page-will-have-pagerank-reduced-due-to-sponsored-posts-106551|publisher=Search Engine Land|accessdate=11 March 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Keizer|first=Gregg|title=Google ends Chrome search rank penalty period|url=http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9225526/Google_ends_Chrome_search_rank_penalty_period|publisher=[[Computer World]]|accessdate=11 March 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Jansen|first=Derek|title=Even Google Can Suffer a Penalty…|url=http://penaltypros.com/google-chrome-penalty/|publisher=PP|accessdate=11 March 2014}}</ref>
-* [[Expedia (website)|Expedia]] – In January 2014, Expedia dropped 25% in search visibility which resulted in Expedia shares dropping 4.5%.<ref>{{cite web|last=Crum|first=Rex|title=Expedia gets hit on Google traffic decline issue|url=http://www.marketwatch.com/story/expedia-gets-hit-on-google-traffic-decline-issue-2014-01-21|publisher=[[MarketWatch]]|accessdate=11 March 2014}}</ref>
-* [[Overstock.com]] – During fiscal year 2011, Overstock.com attributed a decrease from $1.08 billion to $1.05 billion in revenue to Google penalties.<ref>{{cite web|last=Oberbeck|first=Steve|title=Google penalty, management decisions blamed for Overstock earnings dip|url=http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/53632081-79/2011-company-million-com.html.csp|publisher=[[Salt Lake Tribune]]|accessdate=11 March 2014}}</ref>
-* [[Rap Genius]] – On December 25, 2013, Google penalized Rap Genius for 10 days. The result was a drop of about 700,000 unique visitors per day.<ref>{{cite web|last=Slegg|first=Jennifer|title=Rap Genius No SEO Genius: Lyric Site Fails to Recover Traffic After Google Penalty|url=http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2321516/Rap-Genius-No-SEO-Genius-Lyric-Site-Fails-to-Recover-Traffic-After-Google-Penalty|publisher=Search Engine Watch|accessdate=11 March 2014}}</ref>
-==References==
-{{reflist}}
-<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sumner |first1=Stephen |title=What is a Google Penalty? |url=https://stephensumner.me/what-is-a-google-penalty/}}</ref>
-[[Category:Search engine optimization]]
-[[Category:Google Search|penalty]]