Unnatural Links Manual Action: How to Respond Step by Step

To fix an unnatural links manual action, confirm its scope in the Manual actions report first. Then audit the manipulative links and clean them up. Disavow the ones you can’t get removed, document every step and file a reconsideration request. Just spotted the “Unnatural links to your site” notice in Search Console? The steps below take you from that message to a submitted review. One caveat up front: Google gives no review timeframe, and filing a request doesn’t guarantee the action gets lifted.

What does an unnatural links manual action mean?

A human reviewer at Google looked at links pointing to your site and decided they break its spam policies. That’s it, in plain terms. According to Google’s spam policies for Search, violations get caught by automated systems and, when needed, by human review, and it’s the human review that can end in a manual action. The usual suspects? Keyword-rich or hidden links in widgets spread across lots of sites. Forum comments with optimized links in the post or the signature. And the fallout isn’t minor: an affected site may rank lower or drop out of results completely. This is one of several manual actions under spam policies, and each one has its own trigger.

Step 1: Read the Manual actions report and confirm the scope

The Manual actions report in Search Console tells you which action applies and whether it hits the whole site or just part of it. A partial match manual action affects only certain pages or sections. A site-wide match affects the entire property. Before you touch anything, write down three things: the exact action name, the scope the report lists and the date the notice showed up. You’ll need all of them later. Trust me on that.

Look at the domain’s history too. Old domain, or one you bought from someone else? Then part of the mess may be inherited links on old domains, built long before it was yours.

Step 2: Audit your backlink profile

Export the links Search Console reports for your site. Then go through them one linking domain at a time (tedious, yes, but there’s no shortcut worth taking here). Flag anything that fits these patterns:

1. Links that were paid for, or traded in link exchanges.
2. Anchors stuffed with commercial keywords.
3. Links placed in widgets or footers across many unrelated domains.
4. Forum posts and comment signatures that carry optimized links.
5. Links from networks that exist only to pass links.

A plain spreadsheet does the job. Four columns: linking domain, anchor text, likely origin and decision (remove, disavow or keep). Real links from real sites stay put. You’re isolating the manipulative stuff, not nuking your whole profile.

Step 3: Clean up links you control or can get removed

Start with the easy wins. Links you placed yourself, plus links whose owners you can actually ask to take them down. So first, strip links from your own profiles, guest posts and directory listings, including anything a former agency built on your behalf. For everything else, send each webmaster a short, polite removal request that names the page and the link. And log it. Every attempt, the date, any reply, straight into the spreadsheet.

Meanwhile, kill any link buying, exchanges or campaigns that are still running. Sounds obvious. But if the source of the bad links stays live, new ones keep popping up and you’re back to square one with the cleanup.

Step 4: Disavow what you cannot remove

Some links will still be live after reasonable removal attempts. Those you can disavow, as a last step. I’ve covered the mechanics and the risks in a separate guide on disavowing links you cannot remove, so I’ll keep this short. Disavowing is not a substitute for outreach. Google expects to see a genuine removal effort, and the disavow file only mops up whatever’s left after that.

Step 5: Write and submit the reconsideration request

Once you’ve dealt with as many bad links as you can, request a review from the Manual actions report. The request should cover:

• the exact problem, described in plain terms,
• the steps you took to fix it,
• the documented results of that work.

Attach or link your cleanup spreadsheet and your removal request log as evidence. Be clear. Be honest. In my view, a specific account of what happened lands far better with reviewers than vague promises about doing better. Did an agency or a previous owner cause the problem? Say so, and explain what you’ve changed so it doesn’t happen again.

Then you wait. There’s no set review period, and the result shows up in Search Console. Rejected? That means more cleanup and a new request with better documentation. The order never changes: confirm the scope, audit, remove, disavow the rest, document, ask for review. Stick to that sequence and you give yourself the best shot at getting an unnatural links manual action resolved.

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