Google web filtering and their types

The most used search engine has hundreds of Google web filtering that filter out low-quality and irrelevant sites from the results. If the resources began to occupy low positions or even disappeared from the search, the number of visitors dropped sharply, most likely, the site fell under sanctions.

In this article, we will consider what Google punishes for manipulations with the site, and how to independently remove the resource from the main filters of this search engine.

You will find a table at the end of the article. The table lists the symptoms of a website falling under the filters and the solution to the problem.

Penguin

“Penguin” seeks to clear the issue of sites that use link spam for promotion.

What is punished for:

• buying SEO links;
• a sharp increase in the reference mass;
• excessive use of keywords in anchors;
• hidden links.

Diagnostics: In some cases, you can learn about sanctions from an alert in Search Console. If there are no messages about the filter being applied, but the site dipped sharply or disappeared from the search results, analyze the digital traffic sources in Google Analytics. If the drop in positions coincided with the Penguin update, it is most likely the reason.

if the site is subject to manual sanctions, submit a re-review request in Search Console and describe what corrective action was taken.

Panda

Pandas filter list contains out low-quality sites from the search results.

What is punished for:

• duplicate content;
• stolen content;
• a low value of information for users;
• functionality problems;
• excessive number of keywords;
• SEO links;
• poor behavioral performance;
• a large number of advertising, especially if it does not correspond to the theme of the site.

Diagnostics: carried out according to the same principle as the diagnostics of the Penguin filter.

Sandbox Google web filtering

The “Sandbox” filter is aimed at ensuring that trustworthy and authoritative sites that have passed the test of time get into the results. The blocking of the site is due to the small age (up to six months) of the domain and site.

Diagnostics: analyze the position of the site in the search results. If a newly created resource is not in the TOP-100 for high-frequency and medium-frequency queries, or does not rank very high for low-frequency queries, it is likely that the site fell under this filter.

If you’re building a new site, one way to avoid this filter is to buy an old domain that suits your theme. Check his history first.

-30 Google filtering

The -30 filters google is applied to sites that use black hat SEO methods for promotion.

What is punished for:

• cloaking;
• doorways;
• cross linking SEO;
• hidden redirects.

Diagnosis: The surest sign of the imposition of this filter is that the site lost 30 positions for no apparent reason.

In some cases, it is not possible to get out from under this filter. In addition, if violations are not corrected in time, the resource may be banned after a while.

Page load times

This filter is aimed at combating slow sites. The blocking of the site is due to long loading pages.

Diagnostics: Check your site’s loading speed and get recommendations for optimization using free tools like Google’s PageSpeed ​​Insights.

Co-Citation Linking Filter

Sites are at risk of getting under “Co-citation” if they are referred to by non-thematic resources.

What is punished for:

• a large number of links from sites that are far from your subject;
• links from untrustworthy and spammy resources.

Diagnosis: if the site ranked high and sank sharply in the search results, analyze the backlinks. If there are a lot of links from non-thematic resources (30-40%), most likely, the resource fell under this filter.

If you suspect competitors of buying spammy links to your resource, write about it to Google support.

Google algorithm Hummingbird

SEO for Google’s Hummingbird is about more than just including a few key phrases in the text on a page. The algorithm recognizes long user queries, revealing their main meaning, and generates personalized results based on region, behavioral factors, user search history, and a number of other criteria. Its task is to understand what the user wanted to receive by request and find the most relevant answer.

The Google algorithm Hummingbird opens up new prospects for the development of personalized search. It takes into account geo-targeting, i.e. the geo-referencing of the request, the number of recommendations in social networks for the site, and the user’s interests, which are evaluated by previous clicks. All this should help in finding the right answer to any request.

Fill the site with human content. Exact occurrences of queries play an ever-smaller role in ranking since word forms and the presence of words of the same thematic group are taken into account. Use different types of content. These are not only texts but also video files, audio recordings, presentations, and much more.

Work on behavioral factors and strive to increase conversions. The resource must be made as useful and convenient as possible. The search engine will certainly appreciate the efforts, which will be reflected in the growth of attendance.

Results supplements

The “Additional results” filter is aimed at ensuring that similar or useless documents do not appear in the search results.

What is punished for:

• poor content quality control;
• insufficient page weight;
• technical errors;
• lack of backlinks to the document.

Diagnostics: You can use the following method to calculate the number of pages included in the “More results”. We check the number of pages allowed for indexing (site:your-site.ru) and the number of pages in the main index (site:your-site.ru/&). Subtract the second from the first. We get the number of pages in the “Additional results».

Pirate (Google Pirate)

The “Pirate” filter recognizes sites with pirated content. The blocking of the site is due to copyright infringement found through the DMCA.

Diagnosis: Check notifications in Search Console.

Please note that if there are a lot of DMCA complaints and they are confirmed, it is almost impossible to get out of sanctions even with a domain change.

Broken and bad links

The filter is applied to sites with broken links. This filter punishes sites that have a so-called “link explosion”

What is punished for:

• a large number of links giving a 404 error;
• excessive number of external links placed in a short period of time;
• the presence of anchors in links.

Diagnostics: you can detect the presence of broken links using special services, for example, panels in Yandex.Webmaster or Google Search Console. Check alerts in Search Console. Analyze the growth of inbound links and compare it with the site’s subsidence date in the SERP. If they match, you are penalized for “reference explosion».

Here you can read how to find a bad URL and check the health of your links in broken websites.

Duplicate Content

Google content filters are applied to sites that steal content. The blocking of the site is due to non-unique content.

Diagnostics: analyze the site for stolen content using special tools and plugins. If it is found on pages that have sagged in the SERP, you have fallen under the filter.

This filter may be erroneously applied if the site has a low Page Rank. To avoid this, it is recommended to add copy protection using scripts.

Google bombing

The Bombing Google filtering is applied for external links with the same text. The blocking of the site is due to ф massive increase in links with the same anchor.

Diagnosis: analyze the keywords that link to you. If there are many direct occurrences of the anchor in a short period of time when positions fall, this filter worked.

Website not mobile friendly

This filter is responsible for downgrading sites that do not have a mobile version or adaptive layout.

What is punished for:

• lack of adaptation of content for mobile devices;
• slow mobile page loading speed.

Diagnostics: if positions in Google desktop search are higher than in mobile results, the site is under the filter.

If you suspect that your site has been penalized by Google, or you have questions regarding search engine filters, leave a request and get a free consultation from our experts.

Google web filtering: symptoms and problem solution

Filters	Symptoms	Problem solution
Penguin	loss of site positions in the search results even for low-frequency queries; a sharp decrease in traffic; new pages are not indexed; lack of a site in the issue, including for vital requests.	removal of spam links; if links can’t be removed, use the disavow tool in Search Console; refusal to buy links, especially on exchanges; working on content to get natural links;
Panda	decrease in positions in the issuance of individual pages or the entire site; drop in search traffic; new pages are not indexed for a long time.	creating unique useful content; adding videos, photos, and pictures to long texts; elimination of technical errors and problems with functionality; removal of irrelevant ads; adding product descriptions on the pages of online stores; removal of SEO links.
Sandbox	slow indexing of site pages; absence in the TOP for high-frequency and mid-frequency queries; domain search shows correct results.	regular content updates; site development; obtaining links from authoritative resources; website promotion in social networks; work on improving behavioral factors; promotion in the search for low-frequency queries.
-30	an unexpected drop in the search below the TOP 30.	elimination of doorways and redirects; alteration of the pages of the site, taking into account the interests of users.
Page load times	website pages drop in search results; lack or decrease in positions in mobile search; indexing problems.	page size reduction; removal of effects that slow down the speed of loading the site; solving hosting problems.
Co-Citation Linking Filter.	loss of positions; traffic drop.	removal of links from resources far from your subject; resetting the weight of links that can’t be removed using the disavow tool in Search Console; increase in the percentage of thematic links.
Нummingbird	decrease in traffic and positions.	fill the site with human content; use different types of content; fill the text with synonyms, and usefulness, not forgetting readability.
Results supplements.	drop in traffic to individual pages; displaying the document not in the main, but in addition results for some requests.	creating high-quality, unique content; getting incoming links from trusted resources to problematic pages; use of Sitemaps; elimination of technical errors.
Broken links	loss of positions in the search; traffic reduction.	removing broken links; too Many Links at Once.
Duplicate content	drop in traffic from search; decrease in positions in the issuance of individual pages or the entire site; the absence of pages with repetitive content in the issuance.	removal of duplicate content; adding links to the source of information; creation of unique useful materials; closing from indexing duplicate product pages.
Google Pirate	loss from the index of most pages; a sharp drop in traffic.	providing licensed content to users; removal of pirated content; appealing complaints from copyright holders in case of erroneous hits under the filter.
Google bombing	lowering the weight of links; loss of positions for keywords from 10 points to several hundred; in some cases, the site may be banned.	removal of some problematic links; adding links with new anchors; submitting a request to re-check the site in the Search Console.
Mobile Friendly	decrease in positions in mobile search for no apparent reason.	checking page optimization for mobile devices in Search Console; structuring content in such a way that it is displayed correctly on mobile devices.