Have you encountered a “Pure Spam” manual action from Google? Many find Google’s official documentation on these penalties to be vague and not particularly helpful in providing actionable steps. Recently, there’s been a noticeable increase in individuals reaching out for assistance in understanding and resolving pure spam manual actions.
This article aims to clarify what we know about these penalties and offer guidance. Furthermore, if you’re struggling to remove a pure spam manual action, we offer a website review service. For more information on this, please navigate to the review section at the bottom of this article or click here.
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Understanding Pure Spam Manual Actions: Insights and Experience
While Google provides documentation on Pure Spam actions, many recipients are often left puzzled about the underlying reasons for the penalty. Through reviewing numerous affected websites, we’ve compiled a list of factors that appear to be associated with these notifications. In this guide, we will explore both definitively known causes and potential contributing factors. We will also provide advice on crafting an effective reconsideration request.
A valuable starting point is to watch Matt Cutts’ insightful video on the subject:
Matt Cutts on Pure Spam Penalties
In this video, Matt Cutts elucidates several potential triggers for pure spam actions. He mentions that webmasters seldom apply for reconsideration to lift these penalties. However, our experience indicates otherwise. Recovery from a pure spam penalty is indeed possible if you can successfully demonstrate to Google that your website merits inclusion in their index.
Identifying a Pure Spam Penalty
Typically, you will receive a notification within Google Search Console (formerly Webmaster Tools) resembling the example below:
Image: Example of a Pure Spam Manual Action message in Google Search Console, alerting website owners about penalties.
What if Google Search Console isn’t configured for your site? Upon verifying and adding your site to Google Search Console, you won’t be able to access previously sent messages. However, the action will be visible in the Manual Actions section, located under Search Traffic → Manual Actions. It will appear similar to this:
In most instances of a pure spam penalty, the website will be completely deindexed from Google. You can verify this by performing a site: query, like so:
Image: Example of a Google site: search demonstrating website deindexation due to a pure spam penalty, showing no results.
Common Reasons Behind Pure Spam Penalties
Many individuals who reach out for help are perplexed about the reasons for their site’s removal from Google’s index. Here are frequent causes that can lead to a pure spam designation:
1) Domain’s Prior Spam History
Is your domain recently acquired? Investigate its past using archive.org. It’s possible the domain carried a pure spam penalty from previous ownership. If this is the case, file a reconsideration request, clearly stating the recent domain purchase and the complete overhaul of website content. Crucially, to have the penalty removed, the site must contain substantial content. A blank or largely undeveloped site is unlikely to have the action lifted.
Avoid attempting to deceive Google about domain ownership changes to circumvent a pure spam penalty. Changing domain ownership without significant content transformation is an ineffective tactic.
2) Automatically Generated Content
Google’s definition of automatically generated content, particularly “automatically generated gibberish“, can be misinterpreted. While websites filled with nonsensical, auto-generated text are obvious pure spam candidates, penalties can also arise from using auto-translators resulting in low-quality, broken English that Google might perceive as gibberish.
Furthermore, Google classifies “stitching or combining content from different web pages without adding sufficient value” as automatically generated content. This category closely resembles scraped content, which we will explore next.
3) Scraped Content Issues
If your website has been penalized for pure spam and primarily consists of information readily available elsewhere, Google might be identifying this as scraped content. Even if you aren’t actively using scraping tools, aggregation of content can lead to this penalty. Google’s definition of scraped content includes:
- Websites that replicate and republish content from other sources without adding original material or value.
- Websites that copy and slightly modify content from other sources (e.g., synonym replacement, automated techniques) before republishing.
- Websites that reproduce content feeds from other sites without providing unique organization or user benefit.
- Websites primarily embedding media like videos or images from other sites without significant added user value.
Recently, websites offering desktop wallpapers, free Excel templates, or printable coloring pages have frequently received pure spam penalties. These sites often aggregate images from across the web, organizing them into categories. Whether the images are scraped or manually curated, this approach can contribute to a pure spam penalty. Sometimes images are slightly altered; in other instances, some original content exists alongside a large volume of externally sourced images.
We have successfully assisted several such websites in recovering from pure spam penalties. If your site aggregates content and has been penalized, the key to reconsideration is demonstrating genuine uniqueness and value to Google’s webspam team.
Avoid these counterproductive arguments:
- Claiming that similar practices by others justify your approach.
- Asserting unique value based solely on content organization.
Here are effective strategies we’ve used to help content aggregation websites regain Google indexing:
- Provide evidence of original designs: Show Google proof that designs on your site are original creations. For example, present a design, identify its creator (an employee), and provide a statement from the designer confirming its original creation for your site. This is obviously not applicable if you are using content from elsewhere.
- Add truly valuable content: Going beyond superficial descriptions or minor content modifications is essential. Find ways to significantly enhance value. For instance, for a website offering free PowerPoint templates sourced from elsewhere, create example PowerPoint presentations using these templates. Write in-depth articles like “5 Tips for Realtors Using PowerPoint Templates” or “How to Add Animations to Our Free PowerPoint Templates.” The goal is to create a site that offers substantial value to searchers, not just unique text for SEO purposes. A few articles won’t suffice; a comprehensive site revamp is typically needed to convince Google of its index-worthiness.
This level of effort explains why Matt Cutts notes that many don’t seek reconsideration for pure spam penalties. If your business model relies on quick content publishing methods, a fundamental shift is necessary for Google to index your site.
4) Cloaking Practices
Cloaking refers to presenting different content to users than to Google. Blatant cloaking involves intentionally showing Googlebot one thing and users another. If you are engaging in this, cease the practice and file for reconsideration.
Recently, many sites have received pure spam penalties due to anti-hotlinking plugins intended to prevent image theft. These plugins can inadvertently cause Google Images to see different images than site users. In some cases, simply removing the hotlinking plugin can resolve the pure spam penalty. In others, removal led to a change in the manual action to “thin content” rather than “pure spam,” resulting in partial re-indexing.
It’s worth noting that Google has a specific Image mismatch penalty for anti-hotlinking plugins. If this is the sole issue, an image mismatch penalty is more probable than pure spam. Our belief is that anti-hotlinking alone is unlikely to trigger a pure spam penalty; underlying issues are usually also present. However, if you have a pure spam message and use such a plugin, removing it is advisable.
5) Repeated or Severe Violations of Google’s Quality Guidelines
“Egregious” violations, meaning “outstandingly bad” or “shocking,” can also result in pure spam penalties. We believe Google sometimes uses pure spam penalties for sites they simply deem undesirable in search results. The following points are our interpretations based on observations, not Google’s official publications:
Guiding Users in Manipulating Google: We have observed pure spam penalties on sites without auto-generated, scraped, or cloaked content. We believe these penalties were applied because the sites repeatedly published articles instructing users on “gaming” Google, blackhat SEO, or harmful negative SEO tactics. Google logically would prefer not to index content promoting manipulative practices.
While many sites critique Google or discuss blackhat SEO, not all are deindexed. However, if a webspam team member reviews a site consistently advising on Google manipulation, they might take action by deindexing it.
Managing Numerous Sites in the Same Niche: We’ve seen cases where site owners received simultaneous pure spam penalties across multiple similar websites, often thin affiliate sites. In some instances, a thin content penalty might seem more fitting. The distinction between pure spam and thin content penalties can be subtle. A single affiliate-heavy site lacking added value might receive a thin content penalty. However, multiple similar sites, coupled with issues like cloaking or unnatural links, might escalate to a pure spam penalty. The ultimate classification can sometimes depend on the webspam team member’s judgment during review.
If multiple sites within your Google Search Console account receive pure spam penalties, it likely signals Google’s preference for you to consolidate efforts into a single, authoritative website.
Creating a Frustrating User Experience: Some sites have received pure spam penalties for using plugins like “Exit Junction” or “PlugRush.” These plugins trigger ads when users attempt to leave a site by pressing the back button. Google’s webmaster forums contain numerous reports linking such plugins to pure spam penalties.
The Role of Unnatural Links
Do unnatural links contribute to pure spam penalties? They can be a contributing factor, but are not a prerequisite. We believe that in situations where Google detects multiple issues—thin content, auto-generated content, and unnatural links—they might issue a pure spam penalty as a comprehensive action rather than separate penalties for each violation.
Crafting an Effective Reconsideration Request
Recovery from a pure spam penalty is achievable, but requires a significant commitment to website improvement.
When drafting your reconsideration request, consider these tips:
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Avoid Argumentation: Reviewing numerous reconsideration requests, we often see site owners simply arguing against Google’s penalty. Unless you’ve recently acquired a domain with a prior spam history, penalty removal requires substantial site changes.
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Acknowledge Potential Spam Tactics: List all potential reasons for the penalty and detail the steps taken to address each issue. For example, if you suspect scraped content contributed to the penalty, explicitly mention this and explain the measures taken to add significant, unique value to those pages. Include links to these revised pages and highlight the added content.
The webspam team seeks evidence of genuine effort in website improvement.
Testimonials
“Marie is professional, highly knowledgeable, and responds promptly. My site had a ‘Pure Spam Penalty.’ She analyzed it, identified the issues, and prescribed the correct solution. The process was very fast, with delays primarily due to my own availability… My reconsideration request was approved by Google, and within days, rankings improved, with keywords reappearing on page 1. I am deeply grateful for finding Marie and seeking her assistance. I highly recommend her services.”
“Thanks again, Marie. Yes, the rankings have improved, and I already have several keywords on page 1! We are moving in the right direction.”
Your Insights?
Have you successfully overcome a pure spam penalty? Do you have additional tips to share? We encourage you to leave a comment below.
Need Assistance?
The MHC team has considerable experience helping websites recover from pure spam penalties and offers quotes for assistance.
