In a Webmaster Hangout, Google’s John Mueller addressed a question regarding link-related manual actions, discussing two types of link-related penalties and detailing how they are managed differently, impacting the recovery timeline.
How Long to Recover from a Link Penalty
Question:
"After a links manual action, how long does Google treat the domain once the reconsideration request is accepted, but potential rankings and traffic have not been regained?"
John Mueller’s Two-Part Response:
"I think there are two aspects here. On one hand, if the manual action is resolved, then that site will be visible in search without that manual action almost directly."
This response might apply to cases where a manual action was triggered by actions like purchasing links.
There’s an exception for sites removed for pure spam reasons, which are completely removed from our index.
What is Pure Spam?
Google’s Matt Cutts in a YouTube video explained, "What is Pure Spam?"
Matt Cutts on Pure Spam:
"Pure spam is the label we typically use for something that any sufficiently tech-savvy person would recognize as spam.
For example, what you might traditionally call ‘black hat,’ auto-generated gibberish, cloaking, scraping, throwaway sites, or domains used for churn and burn activities.
These are instances where we believe most people would agree it’s complete junk."
He noted that pure spam penalties affect entire sites because they typically encompass the whole site, not just parts.
Cutts mentioned that many who receive a pure spam penalty don’t attempt recovery since spamming is often part of a business model that’s expected to be caught eventually.
He advised that reconsideration requests for pure spam should focus on convincing Google of the site’s trustworthiness. Recovering from a pure spam penalty is challenging, so requests must be thoroughly documented.
Cutts discussed scenarios where a domain was purchased without the buyer knowing about its spam history as a potential reason for lifting a pure spam penalty.
Recover from a Pure Spam Penalty
John Mueller elaborated on recovering from a pure spam penalty. After removal, the site starts from scratch, similar to a new site.
Mueller’s Explanation:
"So, we can’t just turn it back on and show it again. We need to re-crawl and reprocess that site, which can take a few weeks."
Link Penalty Recovery
Mueller talked about normal link penalty recovery and mentioned that Google doesn’t treat the site with extra caution, despite speculation otherwise.
John Mueller:
"For other manual actions, once resolved, the site returns to its previous state without Google holding a grudge. If resolved, it’s resolved."
Ranking Where You’re Supposed to Rank
"Ranking where you’re supposed to rank" refers to cases where poor rankings are misunderstood as penalties. Often, a site isn’t penalized but ranks appropriately.
Sometimes, after a link penalty is resolved, a site that ranked artificially high due to link manipulation will begin to rank naturally again.
Mueller’s Points:
"If a site ranked due to unnatural links and you resolve it by removing those links, the site won’t appear artificially high anymore.
The change in visibility after resolving such issues is normal. A site visible due to other factors loses that artificial visibility once those are resolved."
Recovering from Penalty Recovery
There’s an expectation for reinstated sites to rank again. However, they might start as weaker competitors without the previous link support.
This requires a strategy for cultivating links within Google’s guidelines, essentially recovering from the penalty recovery.
Watch the Webmaster Hangout to gain further insights.
