Is Google Search issuing more Google manual action penalties? The latest comparable figures show a small year-over-year increase in both halves of 2025 compared with the same periods in 2024. But the counts fell from the first half to the second half in both years, and they measure actions—not unique websites. They do not show that any particular site is more likely to receive a penalty. The latest comparable figures available here cover H2 2025; whether Google had published a comparable H1 2026 total by October 8, 2026, is not established.
What do Google’s manual-action counts show?
Google’s EU Code of Practice on Disinformation reports list the following global totals for manual actions against Google Search spam policies:
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| Reporting period | Manual actions | Report |
|---|---|---|
| H1 2024 | 501,659 | Google EU Code of Practice on Disinformation report, 2024 |
| H2 2024 | 275,421 | Google EU Code of Practice on Disinformation report, 2024 |
| H1 2025 | 513,525 | Google EU Code of Practice on Disinformation report, 2025 |
| H2 2025 | 318,012 | Google EU Code of Practice on Disinformation report, 2025 |
Comparing matching half-years, H1 2025 was 11,866 actions higher than H1 2024, and H2 2025 was 42,591 higher than H2 2024. The pattern is not a steady rise within each year: H2 totals were lower than H1 totals in both 2024 and 2025.
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These are counts of actions, not a count of distinct domains. A total therefore cannot tell you how many separate websites were affected or predict the risk to your own site. Google also reports algorithmic actions separately. For example, its H2 2025 report lists 38,837,715 algorithmic actions alongside 318,012 manual actions; those figures should not be combined or described as manual penalties.
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What counts as a Google manual action?
Google defines a manual action as one issued after a human reviewer determines that pages on a site do not comply with Google’s spam policies. Affected pages or a site may rank lower or be omitted from Search results. Google says the owner is notified in the Search Console Manual actions report and message center. See Google’s Manual actions report guidance.
Automated systems also detect policy violations, and Google makes ranking changes through automated systems and updates. Those are not, by themselves, manual actions. A traffic decline can have many causes; it does not establish that Google issued a manual action.
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How to check whether your site received one
- Sign in to Google Search Console and select the property for the affected site.
- Open Security & Manual Actions, then select Manual actions.
- Read any issue listed, including its description and examples or patterns of affected pages. If no manual action is reported, the traffic drop alone is not evidence of one; it may still reflect an automated ranking change or another cause.
What to do if Search Console reports a manual action
- Understand the specific issue. Use the report’s description and linked policy guidance rather than assuming a generic penalty or applying a one-size-fits-all cleanup.
- Find the full affected pattern. Check the pages identified in the report and look for other pages with the same issue.
- Fix the issue across all affected pages. Google’s guidance warns that correcting only some affected pages will not result in a partial return to Search results.
- Request review after the fixes are complete. Document the issue, the changes made, and their outcome. Google says most reconsideration reviews take several days or weeks; some link-related reviews may take longer.
- Wait for Google’s decision. Google will notify you when its review is complete and revoke the action if it determines the site no longer violates the policy. A review does not guarantee a particular recovery timeline or ranking outcome. Follow the exact issue details; do not treat disavowing links or another generic cleanup as a default remedy.
See Google’s instructions for responding to a manual action for the current report and review process.
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Recent policy changes do not prove an overall increase
In April 2026, Google announced a spam policy against back-button hijacking, with enforcement scheduled to begin June 15, 2026. Google said the behavior could lead to manual spam actions or automated demotions, and advised site owners to check scripts, imported libraries, and advertising integrations that interfere with browser navigation. This adds a policy area; it does not establish that total manual actions are rising overall. Read Google’s back-button hijacking policy announcement.
Google Search Central also announced a site-reputation-policy update on August 28, 2026. The stated treatment differs for users in the European Economic Area (EEA) and those outside it. That qualification applies to the site-reputation policy; it should not be generalized to every manual action. Google’s notice says site owners continue to receive Search Console notifications when a manual action is applied. See Google’s site-reputation-policy update.
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