Reconsideration requests are indirectly related to search rankings, as they are an essential step in the process of recovering from Google’s manual penalties.
They make the difference between a site being reinstated in search results or remaining de-indexed.
Reconsideration requests play an important role in SEO when Google manually lowers rankings, but calling it a “ranking factor” isn’t accurate.
Here’s more about the relationship between reconsideration requests and search rankings, and how they can save your site from a critical situation.
Disclaimer: Reconsideration request is a ranking factor
All site owners should be familiar with reconsideration requests.
At the same time, you wish you never had to deal directly with a person.
If you’re processing a reconsideration request, it means the site you’re using has been manually manipulated (aka google fine).
The site is now either Demote in search results Or be removed from Google’s index entirely.
You may have heard that submitting a reconsideration request can help eliminate manual penalties and regain your site’s ranking in Google.
Yes, that’s what they were designed for.
Site owners must submit a reconsideration request to recover from manual action.
However, submitting a request involves more work than it sounds, and if the necessary steps are not completed, the request will be rejected.
The next section describes what’s involved in the reconsideration request process and how to submit a Google-approved request.
Evidence: Reconsideration Requests as Ranking Factors
According to google search console help file:
“A reconsideration request is a request for Google to review your site after you resolve an issue identified in a manual action or security issue notification.”
Reconsideration requests do not apply when a site has been demoted in Google’s search rankings for reasons unrelated to manual action, such as extensive Core algorithm update.
It is only used for manual operation or security issues.
As stated in Google’s documentation, site owners will be notified when a reconsideration request needs to be submitted.
The notice will explain exactly what caused the penalty and what needs to be done to recover from it.
When all the issues listed in the Google message have been resolved, it’s time to move on to the next step.
Open the Manual Actions report google search console and click the “Request Review” button.
The request is submitted as a .txt file containing a written description of the actions taken to recover from the penalty.
According to Googlea good request will do three things:
- Explain the exact quality issue on your website.
- Describe the steps you took to resolve the problem.
- Document the results of your efforts.
Be as thorough as possible when writing your request, as it is your responsibility to demonstrate that you have done what is required to recover from the penalty.
After submitting a request, do not resubmit a new request until you have received a response from Google on the first request.
Google reviews and responds to all requests, whether or not the request is approved.
If Google approves the request, the penalty will be lifted.
If the request is denied, another request can be submitted after further efforts to resolve lingering issues.
There may be no persistence issues and the request is rejected because it doesn’t contain enough details.
This is another reason why documenting your work is important.
If you resolve an issue without telling Google in your reconsideration request, the issue will not count towards your penalty recovery.
Reconsidering requests as a ranking factor: our verdict
Reconsideration requests are loosely related to ranking, but it would be inaccurate to call it a ranking factor.
In fact, there is no guarantee that a site will regain the same rankings it once did after recovering from a penalty.
A site can and likely will rank lower after being penalized because the previous ranking was obtained by violating Google’s guidelines.
Google’s John Mueller having said so much It is also recommended that website owners adjust their expectations after recovering from manual action penalties:
“Another thing to keep in mind with manual actions in general is that if you clean up the manual actions, it basically means that your site was ranked artificially in the past.
Manual action can solve this problem. If you clean it up so that you no longer have to do it manually, your site ranks differently.
It could be very similar to before, but it could also be that your previous search location was artificially and strongly inflated due to manual manipulation of what you were looking at. “
Reconsidering a request has no inherent benefit to a site’s ranking, other than taking it out of the Google penalty box.
Featured image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Magazine
