Google Won't Enforce Site Reputation Abuse Manual Actions in the European Economic Area

Google confirmed it will cease applying manual actions under its site reputation abuse policy to search results displayed to users in the European Economic Area (EEA) starting August 30, 2026, in response to an European Commission investigation into the policy's fairness. Outside the EEA, the policy will continue to work as before, directly suppressing affected portions of sites in search results. Within the EEA, affected site sections may be separated in Google's systems to rank independently over time, but manual actions won't apply. Site owners will still receive notifications of manual actions in Search Console and can submit reconsideration requests, with eligible sites able to pursue mediation. Search Engine Land notes that sites getting traffic from EEA searchers may see traffic increases after the change, though Google clarified it is not pausing spam enforcement overall in Europe—only the specific manual action mechanism for this policy.