Reconsideration request
What is a reconsideration request?
A reconsideration request is a request, sent through Google Search Console, asking Google to review a site after you have fixed the problems that caused a manual action. If a reviewer agrees the site now complies with Google’s spam policies, the manual action is revoked.
You send it from the Manual actions report with the Request Review button. Security issues, such as hacked content, have their own review request in the Security issues report. Google emails you when the request is received and again when the review is done. Requests apply only to manual actions; there is nothing to request for an algorithmic penalty.
Why reconsideration request matters for SEO
It is the only way to lift a manual action on purpose. A good request gets the action lifted on the first try. A vague one, or one sent before every page is fixed, gets rejected and costs weeks.
Google says a good request explains the exact quality issue, describes the steps you took to fix it and documents the outcome. For link actions, that means showing which links you removed, which you could not remove and how you disavowed the rest.
How to write a reconsideration request
- Fix the issue on every affected page first, and check Google can crawl those pages.
- Open Search Console, go to Manual actions and click Request Review on the action.
- Name the problem plainly, for example “we bought links through an agency in 2024–2025”, without blaming Google or making excuses.
- List what you did: pages removed or rewritten, links removed, outreach sent, the disavow file uploaded, the security hole closed.
- Link to evidence, such as a shared spreadsheet of removal requests and responses.
- Say how you will stop it happening again, for example new rules for agencies or a review of user-generated content.
- Submit once and wait. Most reviews take several days or weeks, link reviews longer. Do not resubmit while a request is pending.
- If it is rejected, read the response, fix what remains and submit again.
Reconsideration request example
Issue: Unnatural links to our site, from paid guest posts bought by a previous agency between 2023 and 2025.
What we did: audited all 1,240 referring domains; contacted 310 site owners (log linked); 142 links removed; the remaining 168 domains disavowed (file uploaded on 3 October).
Prevention: we no longer buy links, and any sponsored content now uses rel="sponsored".
Reconsideration request FAQ
How long does a reconsideration request take?
Google says most take several days or weeks, and link-related requests can take longer. You get an email when it is done.
What if my reconsideration request is rejected?
The response explains that issues remain. Fix more thoroughly, add evidence and submit a new request.
Related SEO terms
Manual action (Google penalty)
A manual action is a penalty a Google reviewer applies when a site breaks its spam policies, demoting or removing pages until the issue is fixed.
Google penalty recovery is the process of finding and fixing spam policy breaches so a site regains rankings after a manual action or demotion.
The disavow tool lets you ask Google to ignore specific links to your site. Google says most sites never need it and it can harm if misused.
Google Search Console is Google’s free tool that shows how your site performs in Google Search and flags indexing, security and spam problems.
Toxic backlinks are low-quality or manipulative links to your site. Google ignores most of them; only links from schemes you built tend to need action.