Unnatural links manual action
An unnatural links manual action is an action that a reviewer at Google applies to a site after finding a pattern of manipulative links to or from it. Google reports it in Search Console. The record builder lists your outreach for each linking domain.
By Michael Lip. The Google help pages on this page were read on 19 October 2026.
Most link problems on this site are about crawling and indexing, for example a link that is not showing up. A manual action is different.
What a manual action is
Google's spam policies define link spam as links that point to or from a site and exist mainly to manipulate search rankings. Source: Google spam policies.
Google finds spam with automated systems and, when necessary, with human review that can lead to a manual action. The Manual Actions report shows each action and patterns of the affected pages. Not every page that matches a pattern is necessarily affected.
The Google help pages that we read do not give links a score such as "toxic".
What Google calls link spam
Google's spam policies list examples of link spam. In short, these are: buying or selling links that pass ranking value, for money, goods or services; too many link exchanges; automated programs that make links; contracts that require a link that the publisher cannot qualify; paid articles with links that pass ranking value; links with optimized anchor text in articles, guest posts or press releases on other sites; links from low-quality directory and bookmark sites; keyword-rich, hidden or low-quality links in widgets that are spread across many sites; links spread widely in the footers or templates of many sites; text ads that do not block ranking credit; forum posts or signatures with optimized links; and low-value content made mainly to manipulate links. Source: Google spam policies.
Google also says that paid links for advertising are not a violation when they have rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored". See Google's guide to qualifying outbound links.
The link velocity page is about the pace of new links.
How the reconsideration request works
Fix every affected page first. A disavow file with all backlinks and no removal attempt is not a good-faith effort.
The record builder below helps you write the documentation of your links from your own notes. Check the disavow file with the disavow file format validator before you upload it.
Send the request
Then select Request Review. A good request explains the issue, describes your fixes and documents the result. Most reviews need several days or weeks, and link-related reviews can take longer. Wait for a decision before you send a new request. Source: Manual Actions report help page.