How to check if your site has a Google penalty

Open the property that covers the affected pages

Look at the address of a page that lost traffic and check that the property you are viewing covers that hostname and protocol. A URL-prefix property for the www version of a site can leave you looking in the wrong place if your shop runs on a separate subdomain. Ask the verified owner for access if you cannot see the right property.

Read the notice and record its scope

Under Security & Manual Actions, open Manual actions, expand each entry and copy the issue name, the affected URL pattern and any examples into your notes. A pattern such as /offers/* gives your team a directory to investigate, while a site-wide notice calls for a wider sample. Keep the original wording alongside your interpretation so a developer can check both.

Check the other report when warnings are involved

If customers have seen a browser warning or discovered pages you never published, open Security issues as well. Capture the type of warning and the URLs Google lists there, since repairing a compromised site and requesting a security review involves a different investigation from cleaning up thin pages.

If the report is clear, locate the losses

Open Performance, compare the affected period with an equivalent earlier period and sort the Pages tab by lost clicks. If the decline sits in one directory, inspect a few representative URLs, check their index status and ask what was released there around the first day of the drop. A public domain check cannot read your private Search Console notice.

Prepare a useful enquiry

Share the property name, the notice if there is one, several example pages and the date things changed. If you have already requested a review, include Google’s reply and a summary of the fixes you made before submitting it, so the next person can pick up the investigation without repeating your work.