Removal-based demotion systems are confirmed Google ranking systems that use high volumes of valid removals against a site as a signal to demote its other content. They cover legal removals, such as copyright, defamation, counterfeit goods and court orders, and personal information removals from sites with exploitative removal practices. Google began using copyright notices as a ranking signal in August 2012 and extended protections against exploitative sites in June 2021. For a site, a pattern of valid removals can pull down pages that were never the subject of a complaint.
What are removal-based demotion systems?
Removal-based demotion systems are Google ranking systems that treat a significant volume of valid removals involving a site as a signal to demote other content on that site. Google lists them in its ranking systems guide with two branches: legal removals and personal information removals.
The effect is site level. Pages removed after a valid request disappear from results, and the site's remaining pages can also rank lower.
When we receive a significant volume of valid copyright removal requests involving a given site, we are able to use that to demote other content from the site in our results.
Google, A guide to Google Search ranking systems, Google Search Central
How do legal and personal information demotions work?
Legal removals. Copyright is the original case. Google applies similar demotion signals to complaints involving defamation, counterfeit goods and court ordered removals, and for CSAM it always removes the content and demotes all content from sites with a significant proportion of it (ranking systems guide).
Personal information removals. If Google processes a significant volume of removals from a site with exploitative removal practices, meaning sites that demand payment to take content down (Google Search Help), it demotes other content from that site and looks for the same pattern on other sites. Google says it may apply similar demotions for sites with many removals of doxxing content, explicit personal imagery shared without consent, or explicit non-consensual fake content (ranking systems guide).
- Copyright: valid removal notices lower the site's other pages.
- Defamation, counterfeit goods, court orders: similar demotion signals.
- CSAM: removal plus site wide demotion where the proportion is significant.
- Exploitative removal sites, doxxing and non-consensual imagery: demotion and pattern matching across sites.
If we process a significant volume of personal information removals involving a site with exploitative removal practices, we demote other content from the site in our results.
Google, A guide to Google Search ranking systems, Google Search Central
What evidence is there that Google uses removal-based demotions?
This page is labelled Confirmed. On 10 August 2012 Amit Singhal announced that Google would start using the number of valid copyright removal notices for a site as a ranking signal (Inside Search blog). On 10 June 2021 Pandu Nayak wrote that Google had used exploitative site removals as a demotion signal and, under a policy in place since 2018, would now apply ranking protections for known victims automatically (Google blog).
Starting next week, we will begin taking into account a new signal in our rankings: the number of valid copyright removal notices we receive for any given site. Sites with high numbers of removal notices may appear lower in our results.
Amit Singhal, Google, An update to our search algorithms, Inside Search (Google)
What does removal-based demotion mean for your site?
The risk is not limited to piracy sites. Publishers that republish images, articles or video without licence, marketplaces with counterfeit listings, and review or people search sites that post personal information and charge for removal can all accumulate valid removals.
Check your exposure before it compounds. Google's Transparency Report lets you look up copyright removal requests by domain. Audit your content sources and licences, act on notices promptly, and never charge people to remove content about them.
Beyond removing these pages from appearing in Google Search, we also used these removals as a demotion signal in Search, so that sites that have these exploitative practices rank lower in results.
Pandu Nayak, Google, Improving Search to better protect people from harassment, Google blog
Which Laurelin audit checks test for removal-based demotion?
The new check Domain has a record of copyright removal requests in Google's Transparency Report measures the documented input to the system directly for copyright; for other removal types there is no public per site count, so the check measures proxies.
Related checks: External duplicate content finds copied material that attracts notices. Content rewritten or spun finds lightly disguised copies. Factual inaccuracies relates to defamation exposure. No contact information and No editorial or sourcing policy show whether complaints can be raised and handled before they become removals.
What are the key dates for removal-based demotion?
Frequently asked questions about removal-based demotion
Can copyright notices lower rankings for pages that were not reported?
Yes. Google says that a significant volume of valid copyright removal requests lets it demote other content from the same site.
What is an exploitative removal practice?
Google uses it for sites that require payment to remove content about a person. Removals from such sites are used as a demotion signal, and since June 2021 protections for known victims apply automatically.
How can I see copyright requests against my domain?
Search your domain in the copyright section of Google's Transparency Report, which lists removal requests Google has received.