GSC knowledge base
GSC security and links tutorials and troubleshooting guide
Handle security and manual actions based on clear notifications, and understand links and removal reports carefully. Choose a tutorial by specific issue, and check operations, limitations, and verification results item by item.
Identify the notification before taking action
What to prepare
Keep the exact Google notice, affected URLs and the time first observed. Security issues, manual actions and link reports need different responses.
| Your situation | First action | Read next |
|---|---|---|
| Google reports a security issue | Contain the incident, remove malicious content and investigate the entry point before requesting review. | Security issues: control the incident first, then restore search |
| A manual action is listed | Read its scope, correct the underlying violation and prepare evidence for reconsideration. | Manual actions: first fix the issues in the notification |
| Sensitive content must disappear from search | Remove or restrict the original content; temporary removal is only an additional short-term measure. | Removals tool: temporary hiding and permanent deletion are separate |
| An unfamiliar backlink appears | Inspect the source and the report limits. An unfamiliar link alone is not evidence of a penalty. | Link report: see discoveries and associations, not a full-web backlink database |
When to stop and verify
Record the site repair and Google review separately. Only a confirmed Google outcome closes a review; sending the request is not approval.
Choose another Search Console problem · Check the official requirements
Security and links
Handle security and manual actions according to clear notifications, and understand links and removal reports cautiously.
Manual actions: first fix the issues in the notification
Use the native Manual Actions notice to define the actual issue and scope. Repair the reported violations across the affected pages, verify them, then submit an honest reconsideration record. A traffic decline without a notice does not establish a manual action, and acceptance of a review request does not establish removal.
Steps · error branches · checklistSecurity issues: control the incident first, then restore search
Treat a confirmed security issue as an incident affecting users and systems. Preserve evidence, contain harmful delivery and repair the entry point before seeking a search review. Deleting Google's example URLs or restoring the homepage alone does not establish that the whole site is clean.
Steps · error branches · checklistRemovals tool: temporary hiding and permanent deletion are separate
A temporary removal hides a result from Google Search; it does not delete website content or make a permanent exclusion. Correct the source first, select the narrow intended URL scope, and verify the durable method separately. Sensitive material needs actual removal or access control, not only a search request.
Steps · error branches · checklistLink report: see discoveries and associations, not a full-web backlink database
Use the Links report to investigate entry points and source context, not as a complete live backlink database or an automatic quality score. Check important internal routes and sample external sources. Unfamiliar links alone do not justify a blanket disavow action.
Steps · error branches · checklistCheck guide coverage and product capabilities separately
SEO operations adds bounded technical checks, saved index-version reads, laboratory records and human content review. Native Google security, Discover, News and enhancement reports still require their own tools. A guide explains a method; it does not establish every report is connected.
View real product capabilities