The Dreaded Google Penalty: Here’s What You Need to Know - JD Supra

We hear from many firms with websites that have been penalized by Google. Sometimes the firm is aware of the cause (working with an agency that violated Google’s rules). Other times, they can’t figure out what triggered the punishment.

Luckily, Google is on your side and wants you to succeed. It is possible for law firms to recover from the dreaded Google penalty by taking steps to rectify the mistake.

Here is a basic explanation of what a Google penalty is, how Google penalties happen, and how to recover from a Google penalty.

What is a Google penalty?

Let’s start with a very important clarification.

A Google penalty is not the same as an algorithm impact.

In most cases, a sudden drop in organic ratings is the result of a Google algorithm update. This means that your website has been demoted because it doesn’t meet the newest quality standards.

A Google penalty is different. It happens when your website violates Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. Google penalties are handed out manually by an in-house webspam team. It can affect a single page or your entire website.

When you get a Google penalty, you’ll see a Manual Action report in the Google Search Console. The result of a Google penalty is that your website may drop in the organic search results—or it may not even appear in the results at all.

How does a Google penalty happen?

There are many, many reasons your website may have received a Google penalty. We’ll cover a few examples below.

Be aware that some agencies...

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