Google's Search Liaison, Danny Sullivan, recently clarified how the search engine handles algorithmic spam actions and ranking drops. He explained that traffic drops don't always indicate algorithmic spam action and manual reviews to override ranking drops are unlikely. He also hinted at potential improvements in Search Console for more transparency.
Sullivan's insights came in response to a website owner's complaint about significant traffic loss and the inability to request a manual review. He emphasized that many sites experiencing ranking drops mistakenly attribute it to an algorithmic spam action, which might not be the case.
Sullivan acknowledged the idea of providing more transparency in Search Console, potentially notifying site owners of algorithmic actions similar to manual actions. However, he highlighted two key challenges: revealing algorithmic spam indicators could allow bad actors to game the system, and algorithmic actions are not site-specific and cannot be manually lifted.
Sullivan also discussed various systems that assess the helpfulness, usefulness, and reliability of individual content and sites. He acknowledged that these systems are imperfect and some high-quality sites may not be recognized as well as they should be. He revealed ongoing discussions about providing more indicators in Search Console to help creators understand their content’s performance.
In response to a suggestion about manually reviewing “good” sites and providing guidance, Sullivan shared his thoughts on potential solutions. He mentioned exploring ideas such as self-declaration through structured data for small publishers and learning from that information to make positive changes. He expressed hope for finding ways to move forward positively, even though he can't make promises or implement changes overnight.
