Manual action or algorithm? Don't guess — diagnose

Manual action or algorithm? Don't guess — diagnose
Framing: a traffic drop has two very different causes, and the tools to confirm each are different. People waste weeks treating an algorithmic dip as a penalty.

🔗 [Search Console — Manual Actions] — the only authoritative source; empty here means it's algorithmic, full stop.
🔗 [Search Console — Security & Manual Actions panel] — also catches hacked-content flags people mistake for ranking loss.
🔗 [Update timeline trackers (Search Engine Roundtable / status dashboard)] — align your drop date against confirmed rollouts before blaming yourself.

The tradeoff: penalty-checker tools that scan backlinks infer a manual action; GSC states it. Inference tools are useful for prep, useless for diagnosis. Date-match first, panel-check second, audit third.

One to bookmark: the Manual Actions report — thirty seconds rules out the scariest explanation.