Manual action or algorithmic drop: how to tell which hit your site
Open Search Console and go to Security & Manual Actions → Manual actions. If it shows a green check mark and says no issues were detected, a Google reviewer has not penalized you, and the drop came from somewhere else: an algorithm update, a technical fault, a security warning, seasonality or a reporting glitch. If an action is listed, it names the problem and the affected pages, and you have a defined path back: fix it, then request a review.
That difference matters because the two situations call for opposite behavior. A manual action has a checklist and a review queue. An algorithmic drop has neither, so there is nobody to appeal to and no request to file.
Two reports settle most of the question
Check both reports under Security & Manual Actions before you touch any content.
- Manual actions lists anything a human reviewer applied, with a short description, the affected URL patterns (or "Affects all pages") and a Request Review button. Google also sends a message to the Search Console message center and emails verified owners.
- Security issues lists hacking, malware and deceptive content found by Google's evaluations. These can add warning labels in results or a full-page browser warning, which cuts clicks even when rankings hold.
If both are clean, you are almost certainly looking at an algorithmic or technical cause. Google's spam policies say violations are caught "both through automated systems and, as needed, human review", and only the human path produces a report entry. A site can still be demoted by automated spam systems without any notice, so a clean report does not prove your site follows every policy. It only proves no reviewer flagged it.
Read the shape of the traffic graph
In the Performance report, set the date range to the last 16 months and compare the drop period with the same weeks last year. Google's own guide on debugging traffic drops groups the patterns roughly like this:
| What the graph shows | Usual explanation |
|---|---|
| Sudden, deep, site-wide fall | Algorithmic update, site-wide security issue or spam issue |
| Same dip at the same time every year | Seasonality |
| Gradual slide over weeks | Technical problem spreading, or changing interest in the topic |
| A cliff with no matching change in real visits | Reporting glitch; check the Data Anomalies page |
Then split the data. Filter by page, query, country, device and search type. A manual action listing https://example.com/deals/* should hurt that folder and not the rest. An algorithmic reassessment usually spreads unevenly across the whole site, with some queries dropping a few positions and others falling out of the top results.
Signals that point to an algorithm, not a reviewer
Line your drop up against the dates of confirmed updates. Google posts notable changes on its list of ranking updates and on the Search Status Dashboard, including core updates and spam updates, with start and finish dates. A drop that begins inside one of those windows, with no report entry, is the classic algorithmic pattern.
Google is candid that a drop after a core update may not mean anything is broken. Its guide separates a small slide (position 2 to 4) from a large one (top 10 to position 29). Small moves happen constantly and can reverse on their own, so it advises against radical changes to pages that already perform well. For large drops it asks you to assess the whole site for helpful, reliable, people-first content, and warns that some improvements take months to register. There is no guarantee any change brings rankings back.
Rule out the technical causes first
Many drops blamed on penalties are self-inflicted. On WordPress, check these before assuming Google acted:
- Settings → Reading → Discourage search engines left on after a launch, which puts
noindexon every page. - A plugin or theme update that changed permalinks, broke canonicals or removed pages.
- A migration with missing redirects; see move WordPress to a new domain.
- A robots.txt rule that now blocks CSS, JavaScript or whole sections; test it with the robots.txt tester.
- Server errors or slow responses showing up in Settings → Crawl stats.
The Pages indexing report and Crawl stats report often show a spike that matches the traffic fall. A misplaced noindex tends to cause a slower decline, because Google has to recrawl each page before it drops.
What to do in each case
If a manual action is listed, open it, read the linked explanation, fix every affected page rather than a sample, and request a review describing what you found, what you changed and the result. Most reviews take several days or weeks, and link-related ones can take longer. Each action type has its own page in this collection, starting with unnatural links to your site and major spam problems.
If a security issue is listed, treat the site as compromised until proven otherwise. Hydrogen SEO is an SEO plugin, not a security scanner, so pair cleanup with your host or a dedicated security service. Start with Hacked: Malware.
If neither report shows anything, there is nothing to request. Improve the content that lost ground, fix technical faults, and give changes time. A site-wide audit in Hydrogen SEO can surface duplicate titles, orphan pages and broken internal links while you investigate, which is useful housekeeping but not a cure for an update.
Common questions
Does Google notify you about algorithmic drops?
No. Only manual actions and security issues appear in Search Console with a message. Core updates and automated spam systems change rankings without any notice to the site owner, so the only evidence is in your Performance data and the dates Google publishes for updates.
Can I file a reconsideration request without a manual action?
No. The Request Review button only appears on an active manual action or security issue. With a clean report there is nothing to reconsider, and the path forward is improving the site and waiting for Google to reassess it.
Can a site have a manual action and an algorithmic drop at the same time?
Yes. A partial manual action might affect one folder while an update affects the rest of the site. Fixing the manual action and getting it revoked does not reverse the algorithmic part, so judge the two separately in your Performance data.
How long after a manual action is revoked does traffic return?
Google does not publish a timeline, and it does not promise traffic will return to earlier levels. Revocation removes the penalty, but the pages still have to be recrawled and ranked on their current merits.