Reconsideration request

Reconsideration request: request in Google Search Console to lift a manual action. First fix violations across the whole website (links, spam, cloaking etc.), document the measures and submit the request briefly and factually. There is no request for losses caused by algorithm updates.

A reconsideration request is the way to have a manual action by Google lifted. A Google employee imposes a manual action when a website violates the spam policies; the consequences are ranking losses up to removal from the index. The request is submitted in Google Search Console (formerly Google Webmaster Tools) in the “Manual actions” report. Important: it's only possible for manual actions. If a website loses rankings due to an algorithm update, there is no request – only improvements to the website help, which Google takes into account in its next assessment.

Manual actions have various causes, such as unnatural links to or from the website, thin content without value, spam – including user-generated spam in comments or forums – cloaking, hidden text or misuse of structured data. These are violations of Google's spam policies identified by the spam team during reviews. Users can also report spam to Google via a form.

When does a reconsideration request succeed?

For the request to succeed, the problem must be fixed completely. In the “Manual actions” report in Search Console, Google names the type of violation, whether the entire website or only certain areas are affected and usually a few example URLs. These examples are not exhaustive: it's not enough to clean up only the URLs mentioned – the problem has to be solved across the entire website. With unnatural links, for example, this means having as many harmful links as possible removed and disavowing the rest using the disavow tool.

In the request, you describe briefly and factually what the problem was, what steps were taken to fix it and what the result was – ideally with evidence, such as a table of the removed links and the attempts to contact website owners. It's also important to explain how the problem will be prevented from recurring. How long the review takes varies; Google usually responds after a few days to weeks. The answer is either that the action has been lifted or that violations still exist. In that case, further improvements are needed and a new request must be submitted. After the action is lifted, rankings don't always recover fully right away, especially if devalued links had previously contributed to the website's strength.