SEARCHENGINES
Google Says Rich Results Manual Actions Can Lead To Removal Of Rich Results & Broader Spam Penalties

Google’s Danny Sullivan said that not only can a rich result manual action result in the removal of your rich results from displaying in Google Search but also it can lead to a wider “broader spam manual action that involves ranking.”
Just for some history, in 2015 John Mueller of Google said a rich results manual action would only lead to a site’s rich results being illegible (removed) from displaying in Google Search. He said it would not result in a site having a ranking decline because of a rich result manual action.
So this is a bit of a change in what the messaging is around this, or is it?
In 2015 John said “Rich snippet themselves don’t give you ranking boosts. So it would’t kind of make sense to demote a site in rankings if they are doing something wrong with rich snippets. So essentially we just turn off the rich snippets until we are sure that we can trust them.”
And here is what Danny Sullivan said a few days ago on Twitter, “It’s possible that a manual action involving structured data might simply remove eligibility to have that appear. But it is possible it could be seen as a broader spam manual action that involves ranking.”
It’s possible that a manual action involving structured data might simply remove eligibility to have that appear. But it is possible it could be seen as a broader spam manual action that involves ranking.
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) November 16, 2022
Danny then added “In general, it’s probably useful to have a reset here. We don’t say that structured data is a ranking factor, because it’s designed primarily for rich snippets — really a display thing, if content is deemed eligible for it to be supported. In contrast, we have a variety of *policies and* that can potentially involve ranking if violated. The help page is talking about those *policies* in the discussion about ranking.”
In contrast, we have a variety of *policies and* that can potentially involve ranking if violated. The help page is talking about those *policies* in the discussion about ranking.
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) November 16, 2022
So maybe it is not the rich results manual action causing the ranking decline but since the site did get a rich results manual action, then maybe it also got flagged for other policy violations resulting in a ranking decline?
Here is more of the context around this conversion:
They just clarified this https://t.co/tiBuhLSRfQ
— Lily Ray 😏 (@lilyraynyc) November 15, 2022
I read it as – if your site violates their general content guidelines, your rankings may go down *and/or your ability to get rich results*
— Lily Ray 😏 (@lilyraynyc) November 15, 2022
Content that violates our content policies — which includes things like spam — might not rank as well. Those policies (as linked to on that page) is here:https://t.co/kZ5G908N4W
If you violate structured data guidelines, typically you’re not eligible for rich results…
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) November 15, 2022
If structured data is considered to be spammy on a page (not the content that’s visible to users, just the structured data), will that impact the rankings for that page?
— Brodie Clark (@brodieseo) November 16, 2022
It’s possible that a manual action involving structured data might simply remove eligibility to have that appear. But it is possible it could be seen as a broader spam manual action that involves ranking.
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) November 16, 2022
In contrast, we have a variety of *policies and* that can potentially involve ranking if violated. The help page is talking about those *policies* in the discussion about ranking.
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) November 16, 2022
Forum discussion at Twitter.
Update: More from Danny Sullivan of Google on this that pretty much validates what I thought above:
But if you’ve been spammy there, maybe you’ve been spammy elsewhere which could produce — as our docs explain — automatically ranking issues or manual action.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) November 18, 2022
I mean it’s “More on why Google structured data manual actions that lead to a loss of eligibility for rich results could mean you’re separately doing things against its spam policies that might produce ranking changes.”
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) November 18, 2022
Source: www.seroundtable.com
SEARCHENGINES
Bing Chat / Microsoft Copilot Balanced Mode Used 70% Of The Time With Creative & Precise Mode At 15% Each

Mikhail Parakhin from Microsoft shared how often the different modes in Microsoft Copilot, formerly known as Bing Chat, are used. There is Balanced mode, creative mode and precise mode. Balanced mode gets 60-70% of the usages, whereas the other two modes get about 15% each.
Mikhail wrote on X, “Balanced is the most popular, maybe 60-70% of the people (it is the fastest and the default). Creative and Precise are 15%-ish each.”
Here are those posts:
I thought creative mode would get more usage than precise mode because of the image generation aspect but I guess I was wrong.
To learn more about these chat modes, read this story.
Forum discussion at X.
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
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