Best of SearchBot: Create a recovery strategy for a site hit by a Google core update

Best of the SearchBot showcases Search Engine Land’s SearchBot’s responses to prompts submitted by readers. The language model is based on content from Search Engine Land layered on top of ChatGPT. The editors of Search Engine Land selected this response for its usefulness and have supplemented it with additional relevant content.

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Prompt:

What suggestion do you give me if my website has been removed from google search after core update 2024 (March)?

Answer:

If your website has been removed from Google search after a core update, there are several steps you can take to improve your site’s visibility:

1. Assess the impact: Determine the extent of the decline in your website’s visibility and rankings. Identify the specific keywords and pages that have been affected.

2. Review Google’s guidelines: Familiarize yourself with Google’s Webmaster Guidelines to ensure your website meets their quality standards. Pay particular attention to the sections on content quality, user experience, and technical aspects.

3. Evaluate your content: Review your website’s content to ensure it provides original, valuable, and comprehensive information. Make sure it is well-written, free from factual errors, and offers insights beyond what is readily available elsewhere. Consider updating and enhancing your content to make it more valuable to users.

4. Improve user experience: Enhance the overall user experience of your website. Ensure it is mobile-friendly, loads quickly, and is easy to navigate. Optimize your website’s design, layout, and functionality to provide a seamless and engaging user experience.

5. Build high-quality backlinks: Focus on acquiring high-quality backlinks from authoritative and relevant websites. Implement a strategic link-building campaign that emphasizes quality over quantity. Seek opportunities for guest posting, influencer collaborations, and partnerships with reputable websites in your industry.

6. Monitor and analyze: Continuously monitor your website’s performance using analytics tools. Track changes in rankings, organic traffic, and user engagement metrics. Analyze the data to identify patterns and make data-driven optimizations to your SEO strategy.

7. Be patient and persistent: Recovering from a decline in rankings may take time. Stay committed to improving your website’s quality, relevance, and user experience. Continue to create valuable content, build high-quality backlinks, and adhere to best SEO practices.

Remember, core updates can impact websites differently, and there is no guaranteed fix. However, by following these suggestions and maintaining a strong focus on providing value to users, you can increase your chances of recovering and improving your website’s visibility in Google search.

How this prompt could be improved:

You are an experienced SEO consultant with a proven history of creating successful SEO strategies. You have helped many businesses boost their rankings within Google SERPs by following best practice guidelines and staying on top of the latest developments in Search.

Following Google’s March 2024 core update, one of the websites you oversee the SEO for has disappeared from Google SERPs. The client who owns the website has no understanding of what has happened. They want you to investigate why Google has penalized their website, what rules have changed, whether their website recover, and if so, how.

Create a plan to help your client’s website recover from the Google March 2024 core update. Explain what tools and resources you would use to investigate what has happened and what impact it has had on your client’s website performance. Explain to your client how much this could cost them in monetary value.

After you identify the cause of the problem, put together a strategy to help your client’s website start to recover from this update, stating how soon you should start work on the recovery and prioritize each task in a list. Detail what resources you will need, what tools may help, how much budget is necessary and what access to staff will be required. Set expectations by explaining how long it could take to recover from this core update.

Detail how you will monitor the website’s recovery progress, what metrics you will measure and what tools you will use to do this. Mention how many Google core updates are rolled out every year, when the next one is likely to happen and how you can avoid being penalized in the future.

Your client does not have a strong understanding of SEO, so explain the plan in an easy-to-follow format using headers and bullet points where necessary. Explain any terms they may not be familiar with. Provide recommendations to links and additional resources that may help them better understand why their site was affected so significantly by the core update.

(Context)

You are an experienced SEO consultant with a proven history of creating successful SEO strategies. You have helped many businesses boost their rankings within Google SERPs by following best practice guidelines and staying on top of the latest developments in Search.

Following Google’s March 2024 core update, one of the websites you oversee the SEO for has disappeared from Google SERPs. The client who owns the website has no understanding of what has happened. They want you to investigate why Google has penalized their website, what rules have changed, whether their website recover, and if so, how.

(Task)

Create a plan to help your client’s website recover from the Google March 2024 core update. Explain what tools and resources you would use to investigate what has happened and what impact it has had on your client’s website performance. Explain to your client how much this could cost them in monetary value.

After you identify the cause of the problem, put together a strategy to help your client’s website start to recover from this update, stating how soon you should start work on the recovery and prioritize each task in a list. Detail what resources you will need, what tools may help, how much budget is necessary and what access to staff will be required. Set expectations by explaining how long it could take to recover from this core update.

Detail how you will monitor the website’s recovery progress, what metrics you will measure and what tools you will use to do this. Mention how many Google core updates are rolled out every year, when the next one is likely to happen and how you can avoid being penalized in the future.

(Format)

Your client does not have a strong understanding of SEO, so explain the plan in an easy-to-follow format using headers and bullet points where necessary.

(Tone)

Explain any terms they may not be familiar with. Provide recommendations to links and additional resources that may help them better understand why their site was affected so significantly by the core update.

Answer:

Recovering from the Google March 2024 Core Update:

1. Investigating the Issue:

• Utilize Google Search Console: Analyze the website’s performance data, including impressions, clicks, and average position, to identify any significant drops or changes.
• Conduct a Technical SEO Audit: Assess the website’s technical aspects, such as site speed, mobile-friendliness, crawlability, and indexability, using tools like Screaming Frog and Google PageSpeed Insights.
• Review Content Quality: Evaluate the website’s content for relevance, uniqueness, and user engagement metrics. Tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs can provide insights into keyword rankings and content performance.

2. Identify the cause:

• Analyze Algorithm Updates: Research the specific changes made in the March 2024 Core Update to understand the factors that may have affected your website.
• Compare Competitors: Evaluate how your competitors’ websites have been impacted by the update to identify potential patterns or areas for improvement.

3. Developing a Recovery Strategy:

• Prioritize Technical SEO Fixes: Address any technical issues identified during the audit, such as improving site speed, fixing broken links, and optimizing meta tags.
• Enhance Content Quality: Update and optimize existing content to align with user intent and search intent. Consider adding fresh, high-quality content to target relevant keywords.
• Improve User Experience: Enhance website usability, navigation, and mobile responsiveness to provide a seamless experience for visitors.
• Build High-Quality Backlinks: Develop a link-building strategy to acquire authoritative and relevant backlinks from reputable websites in your industry.

4. Timeline and Resource Allocation:

• Start Recovery Work Immediately: Begin implementing the recovery strategy as soon as possible to minimize the impact on your website’s visibility.
• Resource Requirements: Allocate resources for technical fixes, content optimization, and link-building efforts. Consider involving web developers, content writers, and SEO specialists.
• Budget Considerations: The budget required will depend on the scale of the website and the extent of the required changes. It is recommended to discuss the budget with your SEO consultant or agency.

5. Recovery Timeframe:

• Recovery Duration: The time required to recover from a core update can vary significantly. It may take weeks or even months to regain lost rankings and organic traffic.
• Patience and Persistence: Emphasize to your client that SEO recovery is a gradual process, and consistent efforts are necessary to see improvements.

6. Monitoring Progress:

• Track Key Metrics: Monitor organic traffic, keyword rankings, and conversion rates to gauge the effectiveness of the recovery strategy.
• Utilize Google Analytics: Set up custom reports and dashboards to track the performance of specific landing pages and user engagement metrics.
• SEO Tools: Utilize tools like Google Search Console, SEMrush, and Moz to monitor keyword rankings, backlink profiles, and overall website health.

7. Future Prevention:

• Stay Informed: Keep up-to-date with industry news and Google’s official announcements to anticipate future algorithm updates.
• Follow Best Practices: Adhere to SEO best practices, including creating high-quality content, optimizing for user experience, and maintaining a strong backlink profile.
• Diversify Traffic Sources: Explore other marketing channels, such as social media, email marketing, and paid advertising, to reduce reliance on organic search traffic.

8. Additional Resources:

• Google Search Console Help Center: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7451184
• Moz Beginner’s Guide to SEO: https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo
• Search Engine Land: https://searchengineland.com/