Has there been a substantial decline in traffic and ranks on your website after Google made a huge change? When Google issues a core update, many site owners feel like they are being punished, even though Google maintains these changes are meant to make search better for everyone. There are a few times a year when Google upgrades its core ranking algorithms, such as the March 2024 Core Update and the September 2023 Core Update. The goal is to improve pages that weren’t getting enough credit earlier so that they are more useful.
Google argues otherwise, yet it can seem like a direct hit. The “Medic Update” from August 2018, for example, had a huge effect on “Your Money or Your Life” (YMYL) sites, which are webpages concerning health and money. It put a lot of weight on E-E-A-T (expertise, experience, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness). Along with these huge core updats, Google also sends out spam updates on a regular basis. These updates, like Link Spam Updates or Scaled Content Abuse updates, are all about particular dishonest ways of doing things, and the system usually punishes them very harshly. If your site’s traffic reduces unexpectedly and you don’t know why, it’s likely because your site doesn’t fulfill Google’s shifting quality requirements. You should verify all of your SEO elements if this happens.
We need to do everything we can to get back on track if we don’t know why traffic has dropped.
I know how to find out what went wrong with the Google Core Update penalty and how to solve it. I’ve been performing SEO for over 15 years and have done more than 999 recovery jobs. I offer full core update penalty recovery services that can help your website get its authority and exposure back.
My Comprehensive Approach to Core Update Penalty Recovery
It can be hard to tell right away what prompted a core update penalty. I employ a thorough, data-driven approach that looks at every area of your site to figure out why traffic has gone down. This is how I can help you get rid of the penalty you got from Google’s core update:
1. Holistic Site Analysis & Performance Mapping
The first thing I do is look attentively at all the data on how well your site is doing. I thoroughly check through your site and all of its subpages to find vital information. This whole scan has:
- The design of the website, how easy it is to use, and how it feels in general.
- Technical SEO includes things like crawlability, indexability, site performance (Core Web Vitals), and mobile-friendliness.
- On-page components include the page title, the meta description, the way the headings are set up, and the way the content is organized.
- How links between pages on your site and other sites work.
- Comprehensive historical ranking data for specific sites and content categories.
2. Forensic Timeline Analysis & Impact Assessment
I look at extensive information from Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and more complex SEO tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, Majestic, and SEO SpyGlass. I want to know exactly when the punishment for the core update will start. After that, I carefully look at your organic traffic and ranking data from before and after the dip. I pay great attention to the sites or types of content that lost the most. This detailed analysis helps me grasp exactly how the algorithmic effect works and how big it is.
3. Comprehensive SEO Pillar Audits (On-Page, Technical, Off-Page)
A Google Core Update affects so many things that I undertake a comprehensive assessment of all the important SEO pillars:
- On-Page SEO (Material & Keywords): I look at your material to see if it’s good, relevant, stuffed with keywords, has E-E-A-T signals, is original, and satisfies user purpose (like an analysis of a helpful content update). This involves looking for stuff that is “thin,” “unhelpful,” or created by a computer without any help from a person.
- Technical SEO: I search for any technological problems that could be making it hard for Google to crawl, index, or understand your site. Some of these problems could be broken links, redirect chains, problems with how the site works on mobile devices, or a poor site speed.
- Off-Page SEO (Backlinks): I look at your backlink profile extremely closely to detect any links that are false or aimed to fool you (like a Penguin penalty study). This involves looking at the overall quality of your link profile, how poisonous your links are, and how well your anchor text is spread out. This also means looking for spammy updates.
4. Competitor Benchmarking & SERP Landscape Analysis
I look closely at the top 10 to 20 competitors in Google’s search results for keywords that your site used to do well with. This comparison is particularly important because it shows that the other website is better optimized for that search term, which is in line with Google’s new quality signals. I use Ahrefs, Semrush, and Majestic to learn more about their content, how they set up their technical systems, and how they gain links. This study helps me figure out what Google is currently rewarding in your niche, which is very significant for getting rid of the penalty for your core update.
5. Strategic Remediation Plan & Detailed Reporting
After looking at all the material very thoroughly, I present a detailed, step-by-step strategy that explains exactly what has to be done to get rid of this penalty from the algorithm. There are a lot of ideas in this strategy for how to improve content, repair technological difficulties, and change how backlinks function. You will also get a detailed PDF report with all the facts and analysis that went into formulating my action plan.
6. Ongoing Strategy Guidance & Performance Monitoring
I also give you personalized, helpful recommendations for your long-term SEO plan, in addition to the speedy recuperation. These tips originate from technologies like Google Search Console, Ahrefs, and Semrush that always keep an eye on performance, as well as from continuing competitor monitoring. My recommendations will assist your site not only in getting back on track but also in staying in line with Google’s evolving ranking variables. This will keep you from getting in trouble with Google core changes in the future.
It can be hard to deal with a rapid drop after a Google Core Update, but it usually signifies that you need to improve the quality of your work to match Google’s new requirements. I’m here to help you make sense of these hard adjustments and show you how to get through them.
Are you ready to find out what truly caused your traffic to decline and cope with the challenges that come with a Google Core Update? Please get in touch with me so I can provide you the entire site audit and a plan on how to get back on track.