Google DMCA Penalty

Because of the algorithm change called “DMCA Penalty”, which Google announced on 08/10/2012 and implemented a week thereafter, websites for which Google repeatedly received DMCA takedown requests are now punished, which puts them in the back of the search results.

As a signal for a possible penalty, Google looks at the number of so called “valid copyright removal notices”.

In other words: Google punishes websites that have many “DMCA takedown requests” and thus are suspected to go against copyright law.

What is a DMCA takedown request?

The abbreviation “DMCA” means “Digital Millennium Copyright Act”. This law from the United States of America extends the rights of copyright owners.

A so called “DMCA takedown request” is a request from the copyright owners or governments towards Google to remove a page from the search results or the index, based on the DMCA.

If a website was removed with regards to a US Digital Millennium Copyright Act complaint, a hint will appear on the specific search result page:

https://www.sistrix.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/dmca-takedown-notice.jpg

Which websites are affected?

Google releases the number of requests received from copyright owners and governments on a website specifically created for this purpose and provides a list with domains to be removed (see link below). This way you can get an idea of what “kind” of pages are affected.