How Do You Know or Find Out if You've been hit by a Google Penalty?

[gdavey]

Hi Moz Community,

How do you find out if you have been hit with a Google Penalty?

Thanks,

Gary

[solvid]

Hi there,

For manual penalty, please check your search console under manual actions tab.

For algorithm penalty, you may notice huge drop in traffic and rankings, and may not rank for your brand name

[gdavey]

Hi Kirsten,

Thanks for sharing. I'll have a look. Thanks for sharing the three points.

Have a great day.

G

[gdavey]

Hi Deacyde,

Thanks for dropping in. I'll take a look at both sites and see what I can come up with.

It's funny the more you work at digital marketing you realize the less you know...

Fun game, just want to stay above board.

Gary

[Deacyde]

Not to barge in but I recently used these two sites coupled with analytics data to see if a drop correlated with a algo update.

I used http://feinternational.com/website-penalty-indicator/ 

Which will use estimated search traffic as far back as 2012 to present and overlays google algo updates ( color coded by type of algo ) so you can see what drop relates to what algo update.

I also used http://barracuda.digital/panguin-tool/

Which will ask to link to your analytics account ( read only ), you'll select the account, and the view and it will do the same as above, overlays the google algo updates to help you figure out what algo you were possibly hit by. ( also give further info about what each algo was and where to read more about it at )

If you don't want to use those kinda sites, your analytics data will be your best resource, looking for big drops after a steady flatline or increase could be an indication of a penalty, but really don't just assume, find out as much info about the algo update you think relates with your drops to see if your site really lacks in the area the algo was about.

Hope this helps!

[gdavey]

Thanks Kristen. appreciate the feedback. What is the top three steps I would take to check the site for an algorithm penalty?

Thanks,

G

[cbpayne]

It will be listed under Manual Penalties in your Webmaster Console.