--- title: "Google Emails Sites: Reputation Abuse Penalties Lifted in the EEA" description: "Google is emailing sites with past site reputation abuse manual actions that those penalties no longer affect results in the EEA. Here's what changes." url: https://publishmyblog.com/seo/google-lifts-reputation-penalties-eea/ section: "SEO" author: "Saeed Shahriar" published: 2026-11-05T13:04:00.000Z updated: 2026-11-05T13:04:00.000Z --- # Google Emails Sites: Reputation Abuse Penalties Lifted in the EEA The policy changed on August 30 after talks with the European Commission. The notices only started landing this week. Google started emailing sites on Wednesday: their site reputation abuse manual actions no longer count in the European Economic Area (EEA). Was your site ever hit by one? Then the way your pages rank for people in Europe may already look different from the way they rank for everyone else, and you might not have noticed yet. Glenn Gabe posted the email on X, and [Search Engine Roundtable reported it](https://www.seroundtable.com/google-email-site-reputation-policy-eea-42462.html). A related message also shows in Search Console's manual actions viewer. ## What the email says Google says it has changed its site reputation policy within the EEA. For pages that had a manual action under it, the old penalty "will no longer impact search results" for EEA users. Who got it? Gabe noted two things about where the email landed: - It went to sites hit by site reputation abuse manual actions in the past - It seems to include sites that no longer have one So if you got one, it's a late notice. The change took effect on August 30. You didn't miss anything new. ## What changed in August Google explained the shift in [an August 28 post on the Search Central Blog](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2026/08/update-site-reputation-policy). It says it revised how it enforces the policy in the EEA after talks with the European Commission, and that it clarified the criteria it weighs when it applies the policy. Google still worries that an overbroad application of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) could stop it fighting real threats to its results. Then it set out two outcomes: - Outside the EEA, a manual action still hits the affected part of your site, and the rest of the site stays as it was. - Inside the EEA, the manual action has no effect. Google may separate that section in its systems so that, over time, it ranks on its own. You'll still get Search Console notices when an action is applied, and you can still send a reconsideration request, after which eligible sites can take a dispute to mediation. [Search Engine Roundtable's August report](https://www.seroundtable.com/google-site-reputation-policy-eea-41968.html) reads that last line as the automated part. In its view, **Google's algorithms can still treat the section as a site of its own**. ## Why it matters You probably know site reputation abuse as parasite SEO: a third party publishing on a trusted site to borrow its ranking power. Google brought the policy in with the March 2024 core update. It began enforcing it in Europe in January 2025. Run a partner section on a big publisher's site? This is about you. Of course, nothing changes for your searchers in the US, India or anywhere else outside the EEA. A penalised section is still penalised there. And a section that ranks on its own isn't the same as one that ranks like the host site did. That gap is the whole point. My read: this isn't a green light for you. Before you change anything, I'd check two things: - Your Search Console messages, including "View related messages" in the manual actions viewer - Your traffic from EEA countries next to your traffic from everywhere else Plan nothing until you have numbers. Still unsure what Google counts as spam on your site? Our roundup of [Google's late October Search Central docs changes](https://publishmyblog.com/seo/google-search-central-docs-october-updates/) covers the latest wording. But Brussels is now shaping how Google ranks. I doubt it stops here. ## Common Questions **Does Google's site reputation abuse policy still apply in Europe after the August 2026 change?** Partly. Since August 30, 2026, site reputation abuse manual actions no longer affect search results shown to users in the European Economic Area, though Google says the affected section may be ranked separately from the rest of the site. **Why did Google send emails about site reputation manual actions in November 2026?** Google began notifying sites with past site reputation abuse manual actions on November 4, 2026, about two months after the EEA change took effect. Search Console's manual actions viewer shows the same message. **Do site reputation abuse penalties still work outside the EEA?** Yes. Google says that for users outside the European Economic Area, a site reputation abuse manual action still affects the part of the site it covers, while the rest of the site is unaffected. ## Sources - [Google Emails: Site Reputation Policy Manual Actions No Longer Impact EEA](https://www.seroundtable.com/google-email-site-reputation-policy-eea-42462.html), Search Engine Roundtable - [Update to the Site Reputation Policy](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2026/08/update-site-reputation-policy), Google Search Central Blog - [Google Won't Enforce Its Site Reputation Policy Manual Actions In Europe](https://www.seroundtable.com/google-site-reputation-policy-eea-41968.html), Search Engine Roundtable