how does Google pick sites for manual penalty

pankajg said:

Many of the big sites which was getting 2 M + VIEWS and got decimated was all called out by other SEOs on twitter...

There is a whole lot of them who calls out such sites...

Maybe someone snitched you too...

One guy on YT posted that all his sites which was on his GSC got hit.... he regularly did video on AI and how to make content using AI and ProgrammaticSEO and rank..

All his AI sites and pSEO site which was not in GSC, is still thriving

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Rating Savvy said:

Here are a few possibilities for why your site might have been flagged, even if you wrote all the content yourself:

1. Misinterpretation or Unintentional Violation: It's possible that your content or some SEO tactics you employed (knowingly or unknowingly) were interpreted by Google's review team as manipulative or spammy. This could include over-optimization, keyword stuffing, or hidden text/links that you might not have realized would be problematic.
2. User-generated Spam: If your site allows comments or user submissions without strict moderation, it could become a target for spammers. If spammy content is prevalent enough, it might lead to a site-wide penalty.
3. Backlink Profile: Your site could have been penalized due to its backlink profile. If you've acquired a large number of low-quality or spammy backlinks (intentionally or unintentionally), this could trigger a manual action.
4. Reported by Users or Competitors: It's also possible that someone reported your site to Google. Competitors or individuals might report sites for a variety of reasons, sometimes even maliciously. If the Google review team then found issues during their manual review, they might issue a penalty.
5. Automated Tools with Human Review: Google uses automated tools to flag potential violations of their Webmaster Guidelines. These flags might then be reviewed by a human team member who decides whether to apply a manual action. Even if you didn't use AI to generate your content, other aspects of your site could trigger these automated flags.
6. Association with Penalized Entities: Sometimes, the issue isn't with the site's content directly but with associations to other penalized sites or services, such as hosting on IP addresses known for spam.

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phaneros said:

I think 4 is most likely because I have a tight structure that ensures the other issues are handled. I never built backlinks deliberately

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phaneros said:

The annoying thing is that I have a Pseo site with over 40k indexed pages in the same gsc and the site is still going fine. No manual penalty.

I have also seen instances where one twitter user snitched and tagged Danny Sullivan and in a few hours, the site was nuked.

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UKSEO2022 said:

so depends, if your big enough its manual, I have worked on these, google helps you more if its manual, although its quite like stabbing in the dark and a game of poker as they wont tell you all they see, and you dont want to tell them too much either. If your small then the use the algorythm. Google will not drop a big important site overnight that either intentionally or accidently breaks the rules (well there are expeptions likebmx germany and interflorer. but on the whole they give you time. If your under 2,000,000 visits a month then you have very little chance of knowing and they wont tell you.

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phaneros said:

Why I'm pissed off is that I wrote the articles myself. It's a news site. I get news scoops from press releases like every other news site in my niche. I write like 3 news articles per day and I have written almost 1k articles over the course of a year.

So the Google with the pea sized brain think it's not possible for one person to write such number of articles without AI?

I even took journo courses so I can write great news reports.

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phaneros said:

The annoying thing is that I have a Pseo site with over 40k indexed pages in the same gsc and the site is still going fine. No manual penalty.

I have also seen instances where one twitter user snitched and tagged Danny Sullivan and in a few hours, the site was nuked.

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pankajg said:

I hope you were not putting all of those articles under same author profile.

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MrNimbus said:

Google calls the penalties manual, but they are definitely not manual.

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prodon said:

it's just a random pick.

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Panther28 said:

Don't use google webmaster prodcuts, and you won't care about such issues! lol its your daily visitors, and returning visitors, and revenue that counts. Your site should be obviously growing from day 1, and stay that way, unless your writing is not keeping up with the subject universe expansion.

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Panther28 said:

Don't use google webmaster prodcuts, and you won't care about such issues! lol its your daily visitors, and returning visitors, and revenue that counts. Your site should be obviously growing from day 1, and stay that way, unless your writing is not keeping up with the subject universe expansion.

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maxmayer said:

It's unlikely you were snitched on, but Google's algorithm might have flagged certain patterns or behaviors on your site. Check your content for any unintentional spam signals, like keyword stuffing or hidden text.

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phaneros said:

I am just curious though.
My human written website was given a manual penalty for pure spam.
I wrote all the content my sef and didn't use AI.

I Posted a few screenshots on my progress( great ones indeed)

it would have been possible to figure out the site by googling my name.

So my question is how the fxxk the Google pick out my site for manual action

Was I snitched on, or do they have another way?

All responses are welcome

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