Google's site reputation abuse manual action will no longer impact search results in the European Economic Area starting Aug. 30, 2026. It's a response to the European Commission's investigation over the site reputation abuse policy, requiring Google to adjust its systems so the policy isn't enforced within the EEA.
From Aug. 30, manual actions applied under Google's site reputation policy will have different effects for searchers inside the EEA than outside it. Per Google:
So site reputation abuse manual actions won't specifically apply within the EEA, but the systems that treat a portion of a site hosting third-party content as a "parasite SEO" strategy — ranking it as its own site rather than part of the existing one — still appear to operate there.
Google treating sections of a site as their own site isn't new to its site reputation abuse spam prevention, and that still seems to be happening in EEA regions. The manual actions are what won't apply.
A Google spokesperson said: "Our European users are no less frustrated by parasite SEO and other deceptive, pay-to-play tactics that degrade search results, and we stand by our Site Reputation Policy. While we remain concerned about efforts to weaken our spam policies, we've agreed to make changes to our enforcement approach for users in Europe and clarify our policies to address the European Commission's concerns."
In March 2024, Google released the March 2024 core update along with several spam policies including the new site reputation abuse policy. Google's anti-spam policies are essential to how it fights deceptive pay-for-play tactics, aka parasite SEO, that degrade search results.
The adjustment applies specifically to how Google handles manual actions under the Site Reputation Policy for results displayed to users inside the EEA. Google is not pausing or weakening its core spam enforcement in Europe.
Manual action notifications will still be sent to sites based in the EEA, but those penalties won't affect the site's placement in results for searchers within the EEA. They will affect what searchers see outside it.
Google wrote: "Site owners will continue to be notified within Search Console when a manual action is applied. If you believe an action was taken in error, you can submit a reconsideration request. Eligible sites will, following the reconsideration request, also have the opportunity to bring disputes to mediation. Because many pages are viewed by people globally, it's possible that any given page might have a manual action taken on it, but that change will only affect search results shown to users outside the EEA."
If your site or a client's site has a site reputation abuse manual action and receives Google search traffic from EEA searchers, you may notice more traffic after this rolls out.
It's still recommended that if you want to rank well outside the EEA, you don't violate the site reputation abuse policy.
Google changing how it handles a spam policy based on the searcher's region is itself unusual. Regulation settling into conduct rules rather than structural change echoes Google keeping AdX under behavioral remedies.
Aug. 30, 2026. After that, site reputation policy manual actions won't affect results shown to searchers inside the EEA, while still applying for searchers outside it.
Yes. Sites in the EEA still receive Search Console notifications, can file reconsideration requests, and eligible sites can bring disputes to mediation.
No. Manual actions still apply to searchers outside the EEA, so if you want global search visibility, not violating the site reputation abuse policy remains the recommendation.
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