When a website loses rankings or traffic, the word “penalty” gets used loosely. The first job of an SEO company is to determine what actually happened, because the fix for one type of problem does nothing for the other. There are two distinct situations. A manual action is applied by a human reviewer at Google after they decide the site violates Google’s spam policies. An algorithmic suppression is a ranking drop that happens automatically when Google’s systems reassess the site’s quality, often after a broad core update. They look similar from the outside, but they are handled in completely different ways.
Step one: identify which problem you have
This step is quick and decisive. A manual action always appears in the Manual Actions report inside Google Search Console, and Google sends an email notification when one is issued. If that report says “No issues detected,” there is no manual action, and the drop is algorithmic or technical instead. An SEO company starts here because guessing wrong wastes weeks. For algorithmic drops, there is no report and no notification, so the agency works from evidence instead: comparing the date of the traffic loss against the dates of known Google updates, and checking which pages and keywords lost ground in analytics and Search Console performance data.
Diagnosing the cause
For a manual action, the Search Console report names the issue, such as unnatural links, thin content, or pure spam, and may mark it as affecting the whole site or specific pages. The SEO company then audits the site to find every instance of that violation. For an unnatural links action, this means reviewing the backlink profile and listing the links that look manipulative. For a content issue, it means finding the pages that triggered it.
For an algorithmic drop, there is no label, so diagnosis is investigative. The agency reviews content quality, helpfulness, duplication, site structure, page experience, and the backlink profile, then compares the affected pages against competitors that held or gained rankings. The goal is an honest assessment of what Google’s systems now value less.
Cleaning it up
The cleanup is the real work, and it has to be genuine rather than cosmetic. For manipulative links, the SEO company tries to get the worst links removed by contacting the sites, and uses Google’s disavow tool for links that cannot be removed. For thin or low-quality content, it rewrites, consolidates, or removes the pages so the remaining content is substantive and useful. For technical or structural problems, it corrects the underlying issue. Whatever the cause, the standard is the same: the violation should no longer exist on the site.
Filing a reconsideration request (manual actions only)
A reconsideration request applies only to manual actions. After the cleanup is complete, the SEO company submits a written request through the Manual Actions report in Search Console. A strong request states which manual action was received, explains what caused it, describes exactly what was fixed, and shows the evidence of that work. It takes ownership of the problem rather than blaming a previous agency, because reviewers respond to honesty and to proof that the issue is resolved. Google reviews these requests and replies by email, often within a few weeks. If the request is rejected, the response usually indicates what still needs work, and the agency addresses those points before submitting again.
An algorithmic drop does not use a reconsideration request, because no human applied it. There is nothing to appeal. Recovery comes from fixing the underlying quality or technical problems and waiting for Google to recrawl and reassess the site, which can take weeks or longer and is confirmed only when rankings recover.
What to expect from a competent agency
A good SEO company will tell you honestly which situation you are in, show you the specific cause, and explain that recovery is not instant. It will not promise a guaranteed timeline, because Google controls the review and the recrawl. The dependable part is the process: correct diagnosis, thorough cleanup, and, for manual actions, a clear and honest reconsideration request.