Is My Site Being Penalised By Google?

Manual penalties vs algorithmic drops

There's an important distinction between a Google penalty (a deliberate action against your site) and an algorithmic ranking drop (your site simply doesn't meet Google's quality criteria as well as competitors). Most cases of sudden ranking loss that people call "penalties" are actually algorithmic.

Manual penalties

A manual action is when a human Google reviewer explicitly penalises your site for violating guidelines — usually for spammy backlinks, cloaking, or thin/duplicate content. If you have a manual action, it appears clearly in Google Search Console under Security and Manual Actions. Manual penalties are relatively rare.

Algorithmic drops

More common are ranking drops caused by algorithm updates. These aren't penalties — they're Google reassessing quality and relevance against evolving criteria. Recovery requires improving content quality and technical setup.

How to check

Go to Google Search Console > Security and Manual Actions. If there's nothing there, you don't have a manual penalty. If you've had a significant traffic drop, bring it to your account manager with the date it started.