Similar to Google’s Penguin algorithm, the Minusinsk algorithm is Yandex’s frontline algorithm in combatting low-quality sites that attempt manipulate rankings through unnatural linking.
Introduced to 2015, the Minusinsk filter works to penalize, or demote the ranking visibility, of websites for specific queries (or altogether) for sites who have broken Yandex’s terms of service in regards to links.
Identifying A Minusinsk Penalty/Demotion
The most obvious symptom of a Minusinsk penalty is a short, sharp decline in both traffic and ranking positions.
The sanction will also be displayed within your Yandex Webmaster tools dashboard.
These symptoms however can also result from an algorithm update in which your site has previous ranked for high-traffic driving keywords, but through changes in other ranking and user variables, the site has no longer been deemed suitable.
Removing A Minusinsk Penalty
Getting out of a Minusinsk penalty, anecdotally, is harder than lifting a Penguin link penalty on Google.
You need to remove the offending links pointing to your website, and once actioned – you can request that Yandex re-checks.
It can take between two to six months, sometimes longer, to lift a Minusinsk penalty as it’s dependent on the volume of offending links, combined with the time it takes to remove them and for the data (your site and the link origin sites) to be reprocessed).
It is also important to remember, and understand, that lifting the penalty will most likely not result in an immediate return to prominence. The value and performance you were getting from the offending links has now been diminished, so you will need to rebuild your authority (and link profile) in the right way to see traffic and rankings return.
