Penalty and recovery
Find out what actually dropped your rankings, then fix that.
Most traffic collapses that get called a penalty are not one. Before any disavow file or reconsideration request, we work out whether you are looking at a manual action, an algorithmic suppression, a botched migration or a core update, because each is fixed a completely different way and three of them are not links at all.
Straight answer
Half the "penalties" we get asked to fix are not penalties.
The traffic fell off a cliff, so it feels like Google reached down and hit the site. Often it was a redirect that broke, a noindex that shipped, or a core update reassessing the content. The wrong diagnosis wastes a budget and fixes nothing.
What people assume it is
- A penalty Google applied on purpose overnight
- Something a disavow file will lift on its own
- A competitor's negative SEO attack
- Fixable by filing a reconsideration request and waiting
- Nothing to do with the site's own technical state
What it usually turns out to be
- A manual action with a stated reason, or an algorithmic drop with none
- A migration that broke redirects or canonicals
- A stray noindex or robots rule de indexing pages
- A core update reassessing thin or outdated content
- Links the site or a past supplier built, not an attacker
Said plainly
We tell you which of these it is before proposing any work. If it is a manual action for links, that is a backlink audit, a disavow and a reconsideration request. If it is a redirect from a migration, no disavow file on earth fixes it. Paying for the wrong recovery is the most expensive mistake in this whole area, so the diagnosis comes first and it is honest.
Scope
What recovery actually involves.
The work depends entirely on the cause, which is why the diagnosis is not a formality. Here is what each kind of drop takes to put right.
Diagnosis first
Search Console for a manual action and its reason, the timeline of the drop against known updates, the redirect and canonical state, and the index coverage. We establish whether this is a penalty, a technical fault or a content reassessment before a penny is spent on the wrong fix.
Manual action recovery
If Search Console shows a manual action, we fix the stated cause, whether that is unnatural links, thin content or cloaking, and file a reconsideration request written for the human who reviews it. Reconsideration is a document that has to convince a reviewer, not a button, so it is written to do that.
Backlink audit and disavow
The full profile pulled and sorted: genuinely harmful links separated from merely untidy ones, and a disavow file built to remove the toxic without discarding links that help. Over disavowing makes recoveries worse, so the file is precise rather than a blanket cull.
Algorithmic recovery
No message and no reconsideration request, so the job is finding what the system is suppressing and removing it, then waiting for the reassessment. For core update drops that often means the next update, and we are honest that the timeline is not in anyone's hands.
Technical drops that look like penalties
A migration that broke redirects, a canonical aimed at the wrong URL, a noindex carried over from staging, or a robots rule blocking a section. These are the most common "penalties" of all, and they are the fastest to fix once correctly identified.
Content reassessment
Sometimes the honest answer is that a core update reassessed genuinely thin, spun or outdated content, and no disavow file touches that. We will tell you when the fix is the content itself rather than a penalty to lift, so you spend on the thing that will actually move it.
Boundaries
What we will not tell you.
Penalty recovery is a field full of fear and a lot of suppliers who profit from it. Here is where we stay honest.
No guaranteed recovery
We will not promise your rankings back, because Google's reassessment is not ours to control and some lost ranking reflects that it was never earned honestly. We guarantee the diagnosis and the work, not an outcome nobody can promise.
No invented penalty
If your drop is a core update reassessing weak content, or a technical fault, we will say so rather than sell you a disavow file you do not need. A penalty that is not there is the easiest thing in the world to charge for.
No new links on a dirty profile
We do not sell you link building to "bury" a penalty. You clean the profile first, then earn links honestly. Piling new links on top of an unresolved cause is how sites dig the hole deeper.
How it runs
Diagnose, agree, fix, monitor.
Diagnosis
We establish what actually happened: manual action, algorithmic drop, technical fault or content reassessment. You get a straight answer on the cause and an honest view of how much is recoverable before any recovery work is quoted.
The part that decides everythingThe fix
Whatever the cause calls for: the disavow file and reconsideration request, or the redirect and canonical repair, or the content that has to be rewritten. Scoped and agreed in writing, with the items we think you should skip called out.
Agreed before we startMonitor and reassess
Search Console, rankings and the reconsideration response watched through the recovery window. For algorithmic drops that means holding through to the reassessment rather than declaring victory early, and being honest if the recovery is partial.
Watched, not assumedCost
What it costs.
Recovery is technical SEO, billed at £90 to £110 an hour. The diagnosis is a fixed first step; the recovery is scoped once we know the cause. Minimum engagement is 4 hours.
Diagnosis
From £900
What actually happened and how much is recoverable, with the manual action, the backlink profile, the timeline and the technical state all checked. The honest answer comes before any recovery is quoted.
Backlink audit and disavow
Scoped
The full profile audited, the toxic links separated from the useful ones, the disavow file built, and a reconsideration request written where there is a manual action to lift. Scoped to the size of the profile.
Full recovery
Scoped
The complete job through to monitoring, whatever the cause turns out to need. Fixed scope and cost agreed in writing once the diagnosis tells us what we are actually fixing.
Time is logged as it is spent and the ledger is open to you, including anything scrapped or reverted. Full breakdown on the rates page.
FAQ
Questions clients actually ask
Is it actually a penalty, or did something else drop my traffic?
That is the first thing we work out, because most traffic drops are not penalties at all. A core update reassessing your content, a migration that broke redirects, a canonical pointing at the wrong page, or a de indexing caused by a stray noindex all look like a penalty from the outside and none of them are fixed the same way.
A real penalty is either a manual action, which shows in Search Console with a reason attached, or an algorithmic suppression from something like the link spam or the core systems. We tell you which of these it is before proposing anything, because spending on a disavow file when the problem was a redirect helps nobody. Most unsolicited spam needs no disavow at all, and we have published our reasoning on 130 junk domains we deliberately left alone.
What is the difference between a manual action and an algorithmic penalty?
A manual action is a human at Google reviewing your site and applying a penalty, listed in Search Console under Manual actions with a category such as unnatural links. It is lifted by fixing the cause and filing a reconsideration request that a person then reviews.
An algorithmic penalty is not a message, it is a system deciding your site no longer deserves the rankings it had. There is no reconsideration request, because there was no human. You fix the underlying cause and wait for the system to reassess, which takes a recrawl and, for the core systems, often the next update. We are honest about which timeline you are on.
How does the backlink and disavow work fit in?
If the cause is links, the job is a full backlink audit: pulling the profile, separating the links that are genuinely harmful from the ones that merely look untidy, and building a disavow file that removes the toxic ones without throwing away links that were actually helping. Over disavowing is a real way to make a recovery worse, so the file is built with a scalpel, not a hedge trimmer.
We do this work anyway as part of link building and digital PR, because you cannot earn clean links on top of a dirty profile.
Can you guarantee recovery?
No, and be wary of anyone who does. If the penalty came from links you bought or a network you used, removing the cause is within our control but Google's reassessment is not, and some of the lost ranking may reflect that the site was never earning it honestly. What we guarantee is a correct diagnosis, an honest account of how much of the drop is recoverable versus real, and the work done properly.
If we look at your site and conclude the drop is a core update reflecting genuinely thin or outdated content rather than a penalty, we will tell you that too, because no disavow file fixes it.
We think a competitor built spammy links to hurt us. Is that a thing?
Negative SEO exists but it is rarer and less effective than people fear, because Google is reasonably good at ignoring obvious junk links rather than penalising you for them. Usually the links that hurt are ones the site or a past supplier built, not an attacker. We find out which by looking at when the links appeared, what they look like, and whether they line up with the drop. If it genuinely is an attack, the disavow file is still the answer, we just point it at a different set of links.
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Tell us when the traffic dropped.
The date it fell, whether Search Console shows a manual action, and the URL. We will tell you whether it is a penalty, a technical fault or a core update, and how much of it is genuinely recoverable, before you spend anything.