Technical SEO
Algorithmic Drop vs Manual Action: How to Tell the Difference
The first question after any traffic drop: did a person at Google act on your site, or did something else change?
A manual action happens when a human reviewer at Google decides pages on your site don’t comply with Google’s spam policies. Google notifies you in Search Console. Everything else that changes your rankings, including algorithm updates, competitors and technical problems, comes with no notice.
Telling them apart takes a few minutes and decides what you do next.
Short answer: Check Search Console’s Manual actions report. If it lists an action, a human reviewer has found a spam-policy violation: fix it and submit a reconsideration request. If it shows no issues, the drop has another cause, such as an algorithm or ranking change, a technical problem (indexing, noindex, robots.txt, server errors), tracking changes, seasonality or competition. Diagnose those using Search Console’s Performance and Page indexing reports.
Key Takeaways
- Manual actions are always shown in Search Console’s Manual actions report and message center.
- No manual action means a different cause; there’s nothing to submit for review.
- Rule out technical and tracking problems before assuming an algorithm change.
- Compare the timing of the drop with site changes, seasonality and known updates.
- Recovery from algorithmic changes means improving the site, not requesting review.
Side by side
| Manual action | Algorithmic or other change | |
|---|---|---|
| Cause | A human reviewer finds a spam-policy violation | Ranking systems, technical issues, competition, demand |
| Notification | Manual actions report and message center | None |
| Scope | Specific pages or the whole site, as stated | Varies |
| Fix | Remove the violation, then request review | Diagnose and improve; no review process |
A quick diagnosis checklist
- Check the Manual actions report and the message center.
- Check the Page indexing report and key URLs in URL Inspection: noindex, robots.txt or server errors can look like a penalty.
- Confirm your analytics tracking didn’t change or break.
- In the Performance report, compare by page, query, country and device to see where the drop is.
- Check whether demand fell: seasonality, news or market changes.
- Note any site changes around the date: redesign, migration, content removals.
If it’s a manual action
Fix every issue listed, then follow how to write a reconsideration request. For link-based actions, see unnatural links recovery.
If it isn’t
Fix any technical issues first; our indexing problems guide covers each Page indexing reason. If the site is technically sound, focus on the content and pages that lost visibility: are they genuinely the most useful result for the searches they lost?
Frequently asked questions
Will Google tell me if my site is penalized?
For manual actions, yes: they appear in Search Console. Algorithmic changes don’t come with notifications.
Can I request reconsideration for an algorithmic drop?
No. Reconsideration requests apply only to manual actions.
How long do manual actions last?
Until the issue is fixed and Google revokes the action after a reconsideration review.
Want a second pair of eyes on your technical SEO?
We review crawling, indexing, rendering and speed issues by hand and give you a prioritized list of fixes, starting with a free manual audit.
Sources
- Search Console Help: Manual actions report
- Google Search Central: Spam policies for Google web search
- Search Console Help: Page indexing report
- Search Console Help: URL Inspection tool
Last reviewed October 14, 2026.
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