Site Reputation Manual Actions: What Changes in the EEA

Google is telling sites that had a manual action under its site reputation policy that the penalty no longer affects results shown in the European Economic Area, Search Engine Roundtable reported on 4 November 2026. Everywhere else, including the US and Latin America, the manual action still applies as before.

What we know

The notices: on 4 November Search Engine Roundtable published screenshots of an email and a Search Console message. According to them, Google says it changed the policy in the EEA and that the previous manual action will no longer affect results for users there. SEO consultant Glenn Gabe, quoted by the outlet, says sites that no longer had the action, but did at some point, received it too.
The underlying change: Google announced it on 28 August 2026 on the Search Central blog, saying it followed discussions with the European Commission, while restating its concern that an overly broad application of the Digital Markets Act could stop it from tackling real threats to the integrity of its results.
Since when: 30 August 2026.
Outside the EEA: the manual action affects results for the affected part of the site, as before; the rest of the site isn't touched.
Inside the EEA: the manual action has no effect. Google adds that the affected section may be separated in its systems so that, over time, it ranks on its own, independently of the rest of the site.
What stays the same: Search Console notices when an action is applied, reconsideration requests and, for eligible sites, mediation.
Google's spam policies page reflects the change since its 28 August update.

What changes and what doesn't

What this policy is: it targets third-party content published on a reputable site mainly to borrow its ranking power (so-called parasite SEO), such as sponsored payday-loan reviews on an educational site or a casino page on a medical site, to use Google's own examples.
It changes only for people searching from EEA countries (the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway).
It doesn't change for searchers in the US, the UK, Latin America or anywhere else outside the EEA: an active manual action still costs you rankings there.
It isn't an amnesty: the message doesn't lift the action. It says where it has an effect.

How to tell if you're affected

Check your manual actions: in Search Console, go to «Security & Manual Actions» → «Manual actions». If no action is listed, none of this affects you today.
If you got the message and the action is still active, remember it still counts outside the EEA. The fix is to remove or separate the third-party content that triggered it and file a reconsideration request from that same report.
If you sell in Europe, don't assume you get everything back there: Google says the affected section may end up ranking separately from the rest of the site, on its own signals.
If you publish sponsored or partner content, check that it's integrated into your site and useful to your readers. Google's own policies say hosting third-party content isn't a violation in itself.

Sources

Updates: if Google documents these notices or changes the policy again, it will be added here with a link.