Fix and Recover Google Rankings Dropped Overnight Guide

If your website ranking dropped overnight from and you are seeing your website is not ranking for keywords that were used to rank on top and all of sudden this happened and your ranking still going down week by week or day by day then you have been hit by Google core algorithm update and to check with the dates or with which google algorithm you website got hit then check the list of core algorithm update log here.

First thing, you need to sit back and relax and grab a cup of coffee and start analyzing your website and you will need to access search console data and google analytics to identify the traffic drop and check with Manual Action section in Search console. So, let’s see in detail here and check google spam policy closely.

Fix Google Rankings Dropped Overnight

Google Rolls Algorithms for every 3 months or 6 months or sometimes continuous updates as well to improve search results in google, they also say that there is nothing wrong with your website and if other qualifying website are pushed up in search results then you will see change and sometimes these changes are noticeable and sometimes these changes are not noticeable as well.

If you are seeing sharp decline in Search Console performance report or in Google Analytics then you are hit by Google core algorithm update and mini algorithm as well (not confirmed – just an seo talk)

Google does provide information regarding the core update and what change they are making as well, like if they are rolling spam updates they will provide a guide for websites to recover as well.

If it’s a helpful content update then they will suggest website owners to provide helpful content and delete unwanted content or improve website content.

If it’s with page speed they will suggest website owners to load the website faster and fix website loading issues etc.

Identify Website Traffic Drop Pattern

You need to login to the search console and check by comparing site performance to previous days and look closely and identify the search traffic drop and once you identify search traffic drop then try to make changes and make improvements to the pages providing more rich information and optimize the page.

The best way to start is by reading from basics here at seo starter guide closely.

Too Many Affiliate Links

If you are seeing website ranking drop for pages which containing too many affiliate links articles which you are having on your website like amazon links (buy now) etc then you need to provide rel tags and tell google that these links and tell google via rel tag and tell more regarding links on your website.

If you are having same item, description with no added value from other website then this falls in thin affiliate pages and you need to provide a unique description and title.

Author Authority Matters

Google does check with the author and the amount of author expertise and google will check with author experience and bio as well and avoid keeping article written by admin etc, provide original author information and Bio.

Copied Content

If you have taken content from another website and changed one or two paragraphs using synonyms and all techniques, then google may rank your page at some point but with google core update – Google will slash hard.

Feed Ads or Too Many Ads on Page

If your website page is outranking with ads like displaying too many ads which can outrank your website and this may lead to users for accidental clicks and redirect websites to ads clicking page and this will affect website quality as well.

Expertise of Author 

If you are providing information regarding medical topics or YMYL (Your Money Your Life) pages then google needs to know that the article is written by an expert or the content is just drawn from other sources and rewritten and do provide detail author expertise in his or her niche with a substantial amount of author expertise bio information with a degree in expertise.

Slow Loading pages

Loading speed and core web vitals are ranking factors and this is one of the ranking factors from many google algorithms and you need to make your website load faster with less ads with helpful information on the page.

Wait for Next Update

If you are good with all Google Search Spam Policies (Guidelines)  and there is nothing there for you to fix and no technical issues and all then you need to wait for google next update and this is not guaranteed there may be a reversal for released core update sometimes which few website owners say in SEO community and check with what happens with core update guide.

Follow these above mentioned sections and optimize your website and recovery guide will help you get your website back on track.

How do you Analyse website traffic drops?

Login to the search console and click on performance and start comparing search console performance from previous periods and analyze search traffic by looking closely with the ranking drop pages and see any similarity in traffic drop pages.

Why Has My Website Dropped in Rankings

You got hit with one of the core updates released by Google and this is pretty common and ranking fluctuation happens with every core update release and if you are not violating any guidelines of google then you don’t need to worry.

What to Do if Website Got Hit with Google Core Update

Review spam polices and core update guide and check every corner of your website, specially with authority of author and website and links on your website and make sure you are providing helpful content on your website and don’t write for search engines and write for users.

FAQ