An unnatural links penalty is the common name for a Google manual action applied because a site is part of a link scheme. It shows up in Search Console as one of two notices: Unnatural links to your site, when Google has found manipulative links pointing at you, or Unnatural links from your site, when your site is selling or trading links to others. A Google reviewer applied it, so a reviewer has to lift it, after you fix the problem and file a reconsideration request.
Recovery follows the same pattern every time: confirm which action you have, find the links responsible, remove what you can, disavow the rest (for inbound links), document all of it, and explain it honestly in your request. The work is tedious but predictable, and most sites that do it thoroughly get the action lifted.
If you don't have a notice and your rankings simply dropped, you're probably not dealing with a manual action at all. This guide covers how to tell the difference, how to recover from each type of manual action, a reconsideration request template you can adapt, and what to expect afterward.
What is an unnatural links penalty?
Definition
An unnatural links penalty is a manual action Google applies when a reviewer determines that a site is participating in link schemes, either by receiving links intended to manipulate rankings or by placing such links on its own pages. It's reported in Search Console's Manual actions report and is lifted through a reconsideration request.
Google's spam policies describe the behavior behind it as link spam: buying or selling links that pass ranking credit, excessive link exchanges, large-scale guest posting campaigns with keyword-rich anchors and automated link building. A manual action is what happens when that behavior is clear enough for a human reviewer to act on.
The word “penalty” is SEO shorthand. Google calls it a manual action, and it's distinct from the far more common situation where Google's systems simply ignore spammy links without telling anyone.
Inbound vs outbound manual actions
The two notices look similar but describe different problems and need different fixes:
| Unnatural links to your site | Unnatural links from your site | |
|---|---|---|
| Direction | Inbound: links pointing at you | Outbound: links your site gives to others |
| Typical cause | Bought links, PBNs, large-scale exchanges, keyword-rich guest post campaigns | Selling followed links, sponsored posts without qualifiers, link exchanges at scale |
| Who controls the fix | Mostly other site owners; you can request removal and disavow | You. The links are on your own pages |
| Main fix | Remove what you can, disavow the rest | Remove the links or add rel="sponsored" / rel="nofollow" |
| Difficulty | High: slow outreach, many domains | Lower: a site-wide edit, often done in days |
| What you prove in the request | Removal attempts, disavow file, an end to link buying | That paid or traded links are gone or qualified, and a policy going forward |
Some sites receive both, typically when they've been buying links and also selling placements on their own blog. Fix both before you submit, and address both in the same honest explanation.
Manual action vs algorithmic devaluation
Most link problems never produce a manual action. Google says its systems, including SpamBrain, detect and neutralize many spammy links automatically. Since Google folded its Penguin link-spam system into the core algorithm in 2016, the default response to link spam has been to devalue the links rather than demote the whole site. The effect is that links stop helping, quietly.
| Manual action | Algorithmic devaluation | |
|---|---|---|
| Applied by | A Google reviewer | Automated systems |
| Notification | Yes: Manual actions report, plus a Search Console message | None |
| Typical effect | Ranking demotion of affected pages or the whole site | Links ignored, so rankings they supported fade |
| Can you file a reconsideration request? | Yes, after fixing the issue | No; there's nothing to request |
| Is disavowing needed? | For inbound actions, usually yes for what you can't remove | Rarely; ignored links already don't count |
| How recovery looks | Action lifted after a successful review | Gradual, as you earn links that do count |
How to tell which one you have
- 1
Check the Manual actions report
Search Console → Security & Manual Actions → Manual actions. “No issues detected” means no manual action, full stop. - 2
Line up the timing
Compare the date your traffic dropped with any message in Search Console and with announced Google updates. A drop that coincides with a core update is usually about content and relevance, not links. - 3
Look at which pages fell
If the pages that lost rankings are the ones you built links to, with the same keyword anchors, devalued links are a likely factor. - 4
Rule out technical causes
Check indexing, redirects, robots.txt and canonical tags on the affected pages before blaming links. Our indexability checker does this for any URL.
No notice? Don't file a reconsideration request
How to read the notice
Before you touch a single link, read the manual action carefully. It tells you more than people expect:
- The type. “To your site” or “from your site” decides your whole plan.
- The scope. The report indicates whether the action affects the whole site or only part of it. A partial action can mean Google is already discounting some links rather than demoting everything.
- Example links. Notices and rejection responses sometimes include sample URLs. Treat them as examples of a pattern, not a complete list. Find every link that shares the pattern.
- The date. It tells you which campaigns were live at the time and narrows down where to look.
Stop all link buying now
Recovering from “unnatural links to your site”
Inbound recovery is where most of the work is. Google expects to see a real effort to get manipulative links removed, with disavowing as the backstop. Plan for several weeks.
- 1
Collect every link you can
Export links from Search Console (Links → Export external links, both the sample and latest links) and Bing Webmaster Tools, and add a third-party index if you have one. Our guide on how to check backlinks covers each source. - 2
Reconstruct your link-building history
Gather invoices, agency reports, marketplace orders and exchange agreements. Past campaigns are the fastest route to the links that caused the action. - 3
Work by referring domain
Group links by domain and classify each domain: natural, irrelevant but harmless, or manipulative. One network site might link to you from hundreds of pages. - 4
Look for the patterns Google flagged
Clusters of exact-match commercial anchors, sitewide footer links, network sites, sponsored posts without qualifiers, swap partners. Running your anchors through an anchor text analyzer usually surfaces past campaigns quickly. - 5
Request removals
Contact each manipulative domain from an address on your own domain. Ask for removal, or for rel="nofollow"/"sponsored" if they prefer to keep the mention. Follow up once. - 6
Log every attempt
Record the domain, example URL, contact method, dates and outcome. This spreadsheet is your evidence. - 7
Disavow what remains
Add every manipulative domain you couldn't get removed to your disavow file, usually with domain: lines, and upload it before you file the request.
Domain | Example URL | Anchor | Link type | Campaign / source |
Contact used | 1st request (date) | Follow-up (date) | Response |
Outcome (removed / nofollowed / disavowed / natural - kept) | NotesWhat reviewers look for
- Most manipulative links removed or qualified
- A disavow file covering the rest, by domain
- A clear, shareable log of outreach attempts
- An honest account of how the links were built
- Evidence the practice has stopped
What gets requests rejected
- Disavowing everything without trying to remove anything
- Sample links from the notice still live and not disavowed
- New paid links appearing during cleanup
- Vague explanations or blaming an unnamed “SEO company”
- Disavowing by URL when the whole domain is a network
For the exact disavow format and how to upload the file, see the disavow sections of our toxic backlinks guide, or build the file with the tool below.
Recovering from “unnatural links from your site”
An outbound action means Google believes your site sells or trades links that pass ranking credit. You control every link involved, so recovery is faster.
- 1
Find every paid or traded outbound link
Crawl your site and export external links. Prioritize sponsored posts, guest posts you accepted for payment, link pages, sitewide footer and sidebar links, and any post written around a commercial link. - 2
Remove or qualify them
Delete links that only exist because of payment or a trade. For legitimate sponsorships, affiliate links and ads, add rel="sponsored" (or rel="nofollow"). - 3
Remove link pages
Delete or rebuild “partners,” “resources” or “friends” pages that exist mainly to hold exchanged links. - 4
Set a policy going forward
Publish a clear sponsored content policy and make qualifying paid links part of your publishing checklist. Mention it in your request. - 5
File the request
Explain what you sold or traded, what you removed or qualified, how many links were affected and the policy that prevents it happening again.
If your outbound links came from link swaps, our guides to reciprocal links and link exchanges explain where Google draws the line, so you can keep genuine partner links while removing trades.
Reconsideration request template
In the Manual actions report, open the action and choose Request review. Reviewers want three things: what happened, what you did about it, and why it won't happen again. Be specific, factual and brief. Adapt this template:
We received a manual action for unnatural links to [domain] on
[date]. Thank you for flagging it.
What happened
Between [start] and [end], [we / an agency we hired] built links
to our site through [paid guest posts / a private blog network /
link exchanges / sitewide sponsorship links]. These links were
created to influence rankings and we understand they violate
Google's spam policies.
What we've done
- Collected links from Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools and
[other index], and reviewed [number] referring domains.
- Identified [number] domains with manipulative links.
- Contacted every one we could reach, up to twice, between
[date] and [date]. [number] removed the links and [number]
added rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored".
- Disavowed the remaining [number] domains at domain level,
uploaded on [date].
- Our full cleanup log, including contact dates and outcomes:
[link to a viewable spreadsheet]
What we've changed
- We have ended our contract with [agency] / stopped all paid
link building as of [date].
- All link building now goes through [person/role], and we no
longer buy links that pass ranking credit or exchange links
at scale.
We'd be grateful if you would review our site again.
[name], [role], [company]Before you click Request review
0/7Google says reviews can take days to weeks, and you'll get the result in Search Console. If the request is rejected, the response may include more example links. Treat them as evidence of a pattern you missed, go back through your data, and resubmit with an updated log.
After the manual action is lifted
Expect a recovery in visibility, but not always a full return to your old rankings. If those positions depended on the links you removed, they were borrowed. Lifting the action removes the demotion; it doesn't replace the value those links were providing.
- Keep your disavow file. Don't delete it after the action is lifted. Add to it only when you find links tied to the same past campaigns.
- Audit regularly. A quarterly backlink audit catches leftover campaign links and new problems early.
- Avoid the patterns that caused it. No paid followed links, no network placements, no swap programs, no keyword-stuffed anchors. If you used a network before, our guide to PBN links will help you recognize one next time.
- Rebuild with relevant, editorial links. Links from sites in your niche, inside real content, with natural anchors, earned at a steady pace.
HrefClub is built around that last point. Members request links with credits; a matching algorithm assigns at random which niche-relevant member site places each one, inside real content, with one member link per page and keyword-heavy anchors limited. Link farms and sites that sell links can't host. It's not a guarantee, and nothing in link building is, but it's designed to avoid the exact patterns that lead to manual actions.