Google's Targeted Penalty Webmaster Tools Notification

Apr 9, 2013 - 9:04 am 12 by

Google Notification of Granular Link ActionA WebmasterWorld thread has a webmaster sharing a notification message he received via Google Webmaster Tool. The interesting part is that this notification is very specific that although the site has a penalty, the penalty is only being applied to a specific page or section of his site.

Google said the penalty is "very targeted action to reduce trust in the unnatural links," but not in the other links pointing to the site. Google said they took "very targeted action" because they know these "links may be outside of your control" and thus don't want to penalize you for that.

Google did add that they "recommend removing any unnatural links to your site" and when you do, you are recommended to "submit a reconsideration request."

This is the first time I've seen someone post a webmaster tools message of a penalty with this type of language.

We do know that Google does often take very targeted and granular action on sites, as to not impact the whole site or all the links. This came up recently with the BBC penalty and has come up before.

Have you seen this message?

Personally, I think this is great because the previous penalty notifications were never that specific and webmasters went overboard to remove all links pointing to their sites. Hence the disavow tool.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Follow

Search Video Recaps

 
Google Core Update Rumbling, Manual Actions FAQs, Core Web Vitals Updates, AI, Bing, Ads & More - YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: March 18, 2024

Mar 18, 2024 - 4:00 pm
Google Updates

Google Urges Patience As The March 2024 Core Update Continues To Rollout

Mar 18, 2024 - 7:51 am
Google

Official: Google Replaces Perspective Filter With Forums Filter

Mar 18, 2024 - 7:41 am
Google Maps

Google Business Profiles Now Offers Additional Review After Appeal Is Denied

Mar 18, 2024 - 7:31 am
Google Maps

EU Searchers Complaining About Google Maps Features Changes Related To DMA

Mar 18, 2024 - 7:21 am
Google

Google Showing Fewer Sitelinks Within Search

Mar 18, 2024 - 7:11 am
Previous Story: Google's "Big Memory" On 404 Pages