SEARCHENGINES
Google Manual Actions Backlogged & Delayed Responses

Danny Sullivan of Google confirmed on Twitter that there is or was a backlog of manual actions issued by Google. Google has been slow and delayed in responding to those manual actions but is working through the backlog.
Danny said “we apologize for the delay in processing the reconsideration. We’ve had a backlog & now cleared the action.”
Here is that tweet:
The manual action was not a punishment for what you write about. It was solely for unnatural linking & again, had no impact on your ranking. We apologize for the delay in processing the reconsideration. We’ve had a backlog & now cleared the action. Your links pass trust again…
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) January 11, 2022
There are others with similar issues, hence the backlog:
“Delayed” is being quite kind. See date. pic.twitter.com/UKYqLvkGy2
— Rob P (@MrRobzilla) January 11, 2022
Now, this case is interesting in that this publisher was so upset about its Google rankings, it made a huge amount of noise. That noise got Google to respond saying that the manual action was not hurting the site’s rankings but it devalued the links it had on its outbound links. It obviously was caught for allegedly linking out for pay or other link schemes. Specifically the Unnatural links from your site manual action:
Google has detected a pattern of unnatural artificial, deceptive, or manipulative outbound links on your site. Buying links or participating in link schemes in order to manipulate PageRank is a violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.
Google stopped this site from passing link value externally.
That being said, here is the full response from Danny about this case:
The manual action was not due to your journalism. It was solely for unnatural links. It was issued in mid-Dec. 2020 (not in November) and, as explained to you through Search Console, had no impact on your ranking…
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) January 11, 2022
The manual action was not a punishment for what you write about. It was solely for unnatural linking & again, had no impact on your ranking. We apologize for the delay in processing the reconsideration. We’ve had a backlog & now cleared the action. Your links pass trust again…
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) January 11, 2022
We had a core update in Dec. 2020, and sometimes that can cause traffic changes, including for Discover. Our advice about core updates is here: https://t.co/nF7Ashb3Zk
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) January 11, 2022
Click through to the original tweet to see the full complaint.
So the only thing new in this story is that Google is delayed for processing manual actions. The specific manual action is not new, Google can prevent sites from passing link value (since before 2012) and before that, even before Google had manual actions. And yes, loud people sometimes can catch Google’s attention but will it matter?
Forum discussion at Twitter.
SEARCHENGINES
Most SEOs Believe Google’s November Core & Reviews Updates Will Complete In December

The Google November 2023 core update and Google November 2023 reviews update are still both rolling out, and we have no estimated time of when they will finish rolling out. Both are well past their estimated two-week rollout period. I ran a poll yesterday asking SEOs when they think it will be done, and most said in December and not in the next few days left of November.
The poll had just under 600 votes in 24-hours and 79% said the update will be completed in December and 21% said in the last days remaining in November. I posted the poll on X – here it is:
Will the Google core and reviews update finish in November or December?
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) November 27, 2023
Personally, I thought it would be done by now and I still think it will be done in the next day or so – but I am wrong a lot. 🙂
I do hope it is done today so they can roll out the Christmas holiday update (kidding…).
Forum discussion at X.
Update: I’ll have a story tomorrow but at least one of the updates is done in November:
The roll-out of the November core update is now complete.https://t.co/geIJA2Bg8g
— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) November 28, 2023
SEARCHENGINES
Google Search Console Was Down Today

Google Search Console seems to be down right now. If you try to access it, you will get a 500 server error. I suspect Search Console will be back up shortly but right now, if it is down for you, you are not alone.
Update: At 8:52 am ET Google Search Console is back, the tool was offline for about 50 minutes.
Google’s Daniel Waisberg is 100% aware of the issue. He responded to some posts about the issue, saying, “we’re working on it.” John Mueller from Google is also reposting Daniel’s posts on X.
Here is what it looked like when you tried to access it while it was down:
Search Console went down at about 8 am ET and returned at 8:52 am ET.
Here are the posts on X from Daniel Waisberg of Google on this issue:
I was looking for a plug to charge my phone, so I had to unplug the server 🤷♂️
— Daniel Waisberg (@danielwaisberg) November 27, 2023
Joking aside, we’re working on it! 👨💻
— Daniel Waisberg (@danielwaisberg) November 27, 2023
Who knows, maybe we will have a new Search Console feature when it returns?
Here are some of the complaints:
Search Console its down atm.
— Juanan Carapapa (@Carapapeando) November 27, 2023
@rustybrick search console is down pic.twitter.com/Nm6P84WJld
— Daramel (@Daramel29) November 27, 2023
Is Google Search Console currently experiencing issues? It’s not functioning on my device.
Cc:- @JohnMu @searchliaison @googlesearchc @rustybrick pic.twitter.com/YHjXfSVn30
— Vijay Chauhan 📈 – SEO for Enterprise Businesses (@VijayChauhanSEO) November 27, 2023
In Spain too pic.twitter.com/d1Yiwef72k
— Rafa Martin 👽🖖 (@rafainatica) November 27, 2023
Someone kick the server in the corner @googlesearchc @JohnMu @danielwaisberg https://t.co/79IFVVFdTM
— Pedro Dias (@pedrodias) November 27, 2023
Anyone facing google search console 500 error 🤨🤨#DigitalMarketing #google #searchconsoleerror #500error #trend #news # pic.twitter.com/jWDscWcz1f
— Pankaj besarwal (@Iampankaj10) November 27, 2023
GSC this morning… talk about a case of the Mondays pic.twitter.com/6H3KUG2sd4
— Lily Ray 😏 (@lilyraynyc) November 27, 2023
Update: At 8:52 am ET Google Search Console is back, the tool was offline for about 50 minutes.
Should be all good now.
— Daniel Waisberg (@danielwaisberg) November 27, 2023
SEARCHENGINES
Google Testing New Flight Prices Rich Result?

Google may be testing a new type of rich result for flight prices. This test shows a section under the flight search snippet that contains the dates, trip details and price.
This was spotted by Antoine Eripret who was able to trigger this numerous times, over numerous days, while in Spain. Here is his screenshot he posted on X:
He also posted this video of this in action for me:
Recently Google told us not to put flight prices in titles because those prices change too quickly. Maybe Google is testing updating those prices in more real time through the use of structured data and is thus more confident to show them as rich results and not title elements?
I don’t think Google officially supports flight schema but maybe they will soon?
Forum discussion at X.
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