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Last week, Google launched the new manual actions viewer within Webmaster Tools. Since then, webmasters have been asking where the reconsideration request form has gone.
Well, it is now part of manual actions.
Why Did Google Remove The Reconsideration Request Form?
Why? Well, reconsideration requests only work for manual actions, not for algorithmic actions. So it makes sense that Google only allow you to submit a reconsideration request, which they are now calling "request review," under the manual actions. It will lead to less reconsideration requests for Googlers to review and the requests submitted should be more on target.
I know that after this manual actions launched, webmasters and SEOs felt duped. They removed tons of links, disavowed, nofollowed, and spent countless hours fixing things when in fact they either didn't have a manual action or had a manual action that didn't hurt their rankings. So the communication is indeed better right now, but has room to improve.
How Do You Submit A Reconsideration Request?
Now, you need to login to Webmaster Tools click on "manual actions" under "search traffic" and if there is a manual action you can view it and click "request review." If not, you cannot submit a reconsideration request.
When you click request review, this pop up overlays on top of the manual action:
Forum discussion at Threadwatch.
Comments:
ethalon
08/13/2013 12:30 pm
Sounds like a good plan to me. Browse the webmaster section of Google groups and there are tons of threads that consist of "this happened, my rankings/traffic have fallen, I have submitted 63 reconsideration requests since last Thursday..." Someone tells them they probably don't have a manual action against their site and so the reconsideration requests are probably being ignored... "...alright, so I have changed XYZ and submitted a reconsideration request, why hasn't..." ...and everyone face palm.
guy
08/13/2013 01:15 pm
google found unnatural links, was unable to recognize is it really bad or not, and prefer to ban site. Not count this links is not option, because of "puppy training process".
guy
08/13/2013 01:19 pm
it everything because lack of information from google. Google give us 0.0001% from real things how it works. And often it lie or even bugs in google code. Really search engines must have open-source code, it will prevent also cheat by search engine owners. But of course code need to be updated often and using anti-spam signatures, which updated in real time. It harder way to do, but it only way to everyone sure what search engine not cheating them with youtube/wikipedia/brands and own properties and have ONLY ONE way for every site to earn trust, authority and ranking. Google doing by other way, so I can only imagine how much webmasters hate google after their animal kingdom.
ethalon
08/13/2013 03:04 pm
...oh.
guy
08/13/2013 03:06 pm
yeah, exolon.
maxumer
08/16/2013 08:29 pm
i don't understand. we spent hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars trying to fix the problems and now we can't submit a reconsideration request because we didn't have a manual action against us? We still lost 80% of our organic search traffic so there must have been some aggressive action...
Liz
08/20/2013 03:24 pm
My site is listed has the warning "Site may be compromised" In the Google search results. I removed a pharm hack from the header and went to submit a reconsideration request on the manual actions page, and since they don't find any manual actions, the reconsideration request link is not there. How do I submit a request if I don't get the link????
kristinwilkinson
09/09/2013 03:33 am
ARGH!! I am in the same boat! I don't know what to do, either, and I've been working on how to get this warning removed all day...to no avail. If I figure it out, I'll let you know!
Matt Stott
10/09/2013 07:47 am
Hi Roundtable Team, Do you know of any other way to contact Google regarding issues with a webmasters specific site? From reading a lot of the chatter around this move, it seems like a few sites are stuck in a compromising position. Our site has had an 'unnatural links' message it's still in our account to this day....but we now can't file a reconsideration request because no manual action has been taken. Does anyone have any advice? Regards Matt
rlhs76
11/05/2013 01:43 pm
I think it is time for a multi BILLON dollar class action lawsuit against Google. Who is with me?
yossef
11/11/2013 06:27 am
why don't you take a manual action? should be pretty easy to do even just a little. review the list of links on your WMT and select couple of them which are really bad. contact the site's owner and request to remove them. site wide links should be a good place to start with
yossef
11/11/2013 06:31 am
sounds like your issue related to algorithm change. you have to go over the changes as done in the algorithm in the last few months and the data you have about your site/marketing activities to see what can be the reason.
Lauren
12/03/2013 02:08 am
Hello: I have no manual actions and no errors on my sitemap. However, after the October 4th release my site has completely erased from the search results. I have no idea of how to resolve this. I can't file for a review because it isn't telling me anything is wrong. Thanks!
Jannatul Ferdous Shumi
12/10/2013 04:28 am
If my site did not get any manual action warning, but still after disavowing the bad links I want to send reconsideration request. How should I proceed to send reconsideration request to Google Spam team.