Manual Actions for Unnatural Links: How to Diagnose and Recover
A manual action is different from an algorithm update. When an algorithm devalues links, there's no message, no reviewer and no form to fill in. When Google applies a manual action, a person on Google's team has reviewed your site and found a policy violation, and Search Console tells you about it directly. That's bad news, but it also gives you something algorithm hits don't: a clear problem, a clear process, and a way to ask for review once you've fixed it.
Where to find it
In Google Search Console, go to Security and Manual Actions, then Manual Actions. If there's nothing to report, you'll see "No issues detected". If there's an action, it will name the issue, describe whether it affects the whole site or only some pages, and give you a "Request review" option.
Google also sends an email to verified owners when a manual action is applied, so check the inbox linked to your Search Console account.
The link-related manual actions
Unnatural links to your site. Google has found a pattern of artificial, deceptive or manipulative links pointing to your site. This is the one most businesses dread. It can reduce visibility for the affected pages or the whole site.
Unnatural links from your site. Your site is linking out in ways that look like selling links or taking part in link schemes, such as paid followed links in posts. This often affects publishers and bloggers who accept sponsored content without marking it.
In some cases Google has also told sites that it is distrusting certain unnatural links pointing to them without demoting the site, essentially ignoring those links. The message wording will tell you which situation you're in.
Step 1: Understand what triggered it
Google doesn't hand you a list of offending links, though the message sometimes includes a few example URLs. Your job is to find the pattern. Start with a full backlink audit using Search Console's link export plus at least one third-party tool.
Usually the cause is obvious once you look. Common examples:
- A previous agency's PBN links with exact-match anchors
- Paid guest posts across unrelated sites, all using the same commercial anchor
- Mass directory or article submission links from years ago
- Sitewide footer links from client websites, such as "Web design by [agency] in Chandigarh" with a keyword anchor
- A link exchange network with dozens of partner pages
Step 2: Remove as many links as you can
Google wants to see real effort to remove links, not just a disavow file. For each problem domain:
- If you control the account (profiles, Web 2.0 pages, guest posts you wrote), delete the link or the page.
- If a vendor built them, ask the vendor for a list and for removals.
- If a site owner placed them, email a short, polite removal request.
Keep a record: domain, contact method, date of request, outcome. You'll use this in your reconsideration request.
For sitewide footer links on client sites, change them to your brand name with a nofollow attribute, or remove them.
Step 3: Disavow what remains
For links you couldn't remove, build a disavow file using domain: entries for clearly manipulative sites. Be thorough here. Reviewers want to see that you've dealt with the problem pattern, not a token sample. The Google Disavow tool guide covers the format and the mistake of overwriting older files.
Step 4: Fix outbound link problems
If your action is for unnatural links from your site, the fix is on your own pages. Find sponsored posts, paid reviews and partner pages, then add rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow" to paid links, or remove them. Update your editorial policy so future sponsored content is qualified.
Step 5: Write the reconsideration request
This is where many people rush. A good request is short, factual and specific. It should explain:
- What happened. For example: "Between 2022 and 2024 we hired an agency that built paid links on article sites using keyword anchors."
- What you did about it. Number of domains reviewed, number of removal requests sent, number removed, number disavowed.
- Evidence. Link to a shared spreadsheet or document listing the domains, actions and dates.
- What changes going forward. Who now manages link building and what you've stopped doing.
Don't argue that the links were fine, blame Google, or claim you didn't know if you clearly did. Reviewers read a lot of these requests.
Step 6: Wait and respond
Google says reconsideration reviews can take anywhere from several days to a few weeks. You'll receive a message in Search Console with the result. If it's rejected, the message may include more example links. Expand your audit, clean up further and resubmit.
What recovery looks like
Once the action is revoked, rankings don't usually snap back to where they were. The links that caused the action were probably inflating your old rankings, and now they're gone or disavowed. Recovery means returning to where your genuine signals would put you, and then building from there.
That's why the period after a manual action is the right time to change approach. Focus on links you could explain to a Google reviewer without discomfort: real PR, useful resources, local citations, relevant guest contributions and partnerships. The article on Google's link spam policies sets out where the boundaries sit.
If you have no manual action
Plenty of people search for this topic after a traffic drop when Search Console shows "No issues detected". In that case you don't have a manual action, and there's no reconsideration request to file. The cause lies elsewhere: algorithm updates, technical issues, content or competition.
Today, open Search Console, check the Manual Actions report, and confirm that the email address on your account is one you actually read.