This case study documents a nine-month engagement with a Singapore supplier of corporate gifts and custom merchandise. Its buyers are HR, admin and marketing teams who search for things like "corporate gifts singapore", "customised tumblers" and "door gifts for events", then request a quote. Organic search had been its main source of new business, bringing in around 5,860 visitors a month.
A previous agency had promised fast rankings and bought links in bulk: paid posts on sites that sell links, links from networks of look-alike blogs, and hundreds of links using the exact words the company wanted to rank for. For a while, rankings rose. Then traffic fell by 79% within two weeks, to 1,240 visitors a month, and page 1 keywords dropped from 96 to 14. The company assumed it had been hit by an algorithm update. When we opened Search Console, the Manual actions report showed a site-wide penalty for unnatural links pointing to the site.
We checked the Manual actions report in Search Console, which named the problem: unnatural links to the site, applied site-wide. We matched the date of the drop to the date of the notice and checked that no core update had rolled out at the same time. We also asked the company for the previous agency's invoices and reports, which listed many of the sites where links had been bought.
The fix depends on the cause. An algorithm drop has no notice in Search Console and no reconsideration request, so it is fixed by improving the site. A manual action is a decision by a Google reviewer, and it is only lifted when the problem is cleaned up and a reconsideration request is accepted.
We exported every link from Search Console and combined it with data from two other link indexes, giving 2,310 linking domains. Each domain was reviewed by hand, not by an automatic score. We marked 412 domains as unnatural: paid posts on link-selling sites, blogs in the same network sharing templates and owners, site-wide footer links, spammy directories and pages full of exact-match anchor text. The rest, including links from suppliers, event partners and real press coverage, were left alone.
Google says it ignores most spammy links on its own, so a normal site rarely needs to disavow anything. A manual action is different: Google has decided the site took part in a link scheme and wants to see that scheme cleaned up. A manual review avoided disavowing good links that were helping the site.
We contacted the owner of every unnatural domain we could reach, up to three times each, asking for the links to be removed. Every attempt was logged with the date, the contact used and the response. 143 domains removed their links. Some site owners asked for payment to take a link down, which we refused. Those domains, along with sites that never replied or had no contact details, went into the disavow file.
Google expects to see a real effort to remove bad links, not just a disavow file. The outreach log became the evidence that the company had done the work, which mattered when the first request was rejected.
We submitted a disavow file listing 269 domains at domain level, then sent a reconsideration request on day 31. It was rejected on day 52. The sample links in Google's reply showed part of the blog network we had missed, hidden on subdomains and redirected domains. We widened the audit to catch them, contacted those owners, updated the disavow file and sent a second request on day 61. It explained who bought the links, what had been removed or disavowed, and how the company would vet any future SEO provider. The manual action was revoked on day 74.
A reconsideration request is read by a person. It succeeds when it shows the full problem has been found, explains how it happened and shows it will not happen again. The second request did all three.
Once the penalty was lifted, we rebuilt the site's authority the slow, safe way. We published buying guides for HR teams, such as planning gifts for a company anniversary and choosing sustainable door gifts, and pitched them to HR and business publications. We secured listings with the company's suppliers and industry associations, and case pages for corporate orders earned links from clients' own event pages. Thirty-eight new domains linked to the site, all editorial or earned.
Revoking the penalty only removes the block. The site had also lost the boost the bought links had once given it, so it needed real links to grow past its old level. Earned links carry no risk of another manual action.
The first request was rejected on day 52. These are the reasons, and what the second request did differently.
The link network hid some of its sites on subdomains and redirected domains. Google's sample links pointed straight at them. We widened the audit to follow every redirect and subdomain before trying again.
Google wants to see effort to remove links, not only a disavow file. The second request included a full outreach log showing every contact attempt, so the reviewer could see the work behind the numbers.
The first request listed what had been done but not why it happened. The second explained who bought the links, when, and how the company would vet SEO providers in future.
A wider audit, an updated disavow file, the outreach log and a clear account of the cause. It was accepted 13 days after it was sent.
Check the Manual actions report in Search Console before deciding how to fix a traffic drop. A manual action needs a clean-up and a reconsideration request. An algorithm drop needs a better site.
Only disavow when there is a real reason, such as a manual action or links you know were bought. Google ignores most spammy links on its own, and disavowing good links can do more harm than the spam.
Be wary of any provider promising fast rankings through links. Bought links can work for a while, but the clean-up costs far more than the gains, and recovery takes months.
Open the Manual actions report in Google Search Console. If Google has applied a manual action, it is listed there with the reason, such as unnatural links. An algorithm drop never appears in that report, so if it is empty, the fall in traffic has another cause.
Usually not. Google says it ignores most spammy links on its own. A disavow file is meant for a manual action for unnatural links, or when you know links were bought or built as part of a scheme. Disavowing links that are helping you can lower your rankings.
Google usually replies within a few days to a few weeks. On this project, the first request was rejected after 21 days and the second was accepted 13 days after it was sent, revoking the manual action on day 74 of the engagement.
Some traffic returns quickly once the block is lifted, but rankings that relied on bought links will not fully come back on their own. On this project, earning 38 new editorial links took traffic from a low of 1,240 to 7,410 visitors a month, 26% above the pre-penalty level.
Start with a free SEO audit. We check Search Console for manual actions, review your backlink profile by hand and tell you whether a clean-up and disavow are needed, or whether the drop has another cause, before you commit to anything.
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