Recover traffic after a core update
If a core update took your traffic, I look for the cause by page type and tell you what to improve, what to consolidate and what to remove.
Book a 30-min call →At Softonic, a core update cost us a little over 20% of traffic on a site with millions of visits a day. We found the cause in the quality of the translations, split the languages into ccTLDs, and with the next core update the main domain went past its previous level.
What I do
The cause is usually which content counts toward the site's score
After a core update almost everyone looks for a technical error or a toxic link. Sometimes there is one, but the usual cause is something else: Google assesses quality at the site level, and weak page types, scaled without data or produced without review, drag down the good ones.
A typical case: translations that are not up to the standard of the original, inside the main domain. The fix is not always to delete. Sometimes it is enough for that content to stop counting toward the site's score: move it to another domain, improve it or deindex it.
I cover it with all the data, including the recovery times Google shared, in the post on Google quality.
- 01 Drop dates against rollouts Whether the drop starts inside a core update or spam update rollout, or coincides with a change on your side. Each cause calls for different work.
- 02 What falls and what holds Page types, queries and countries. The whole site almost never falls evenly, and what holds up hints at what Google still values.
- 03 Who owns your queries now Which pages moved ahead of yours and what they have that you do not.
- 04 Quality by page type Effort, originality, authorship and accuracy of each page type, with the commodity test.
- 05 Site signals that stretch Topics far from your focus, page types scaled without data, unreviewed AI content or invented authors.
- 06 Indexing and sitemaps With poor quality, Google can take months to index, ignore the sitemap and withhold rich results. I check it before touching content.
I've done it before
Worth reading first: Google Quality: what it is, how it measures it and how long a site takes to recover · Google Quality Audit: the skill that audits a site with Google's criteria
How we work
From the first call to results
- Day 1
Call and access
When the drop started and what changed before it. You give me access to Search Console, analytics and logs.
- Weeks 1–2
Diagnosis of the drop
Drop dates against Google's rollouts, which page types fall and which hold, and who now owns your queries.
- Weeks 2–3
Quality and plan
Quality review by page type and an improve, consolidate or remove plan, ordered by impact.
- Every week
Weekly sprints
Your team applies the changes and every week we review what is deployed, crawled and indexed.
- Next core update
Results
Traffic is watched every day and recovery is judged against the key results, with the next core update as the horizon.
The first 3 steps happen once, at the start. From "Weekly sprints" onwards, the work becomes a steady flow that repeats.
It is the same methodology in every project: a business goal, a diagnosis by page type, absolute key results and a weekly review. I explain it in full in this post
Deliverables
What you take away
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Diagnosis of the drop
What dropped, since when and in which page types, queries and countries. And whether it coincides with a core update, a spam update or a change on your side.
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Quality review by page type
Each page type against the criteria Google uses to measure quality: effort, originality, who signs it and whether it is correct.
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Improve, consolidate or remove plan
Which pages to improve, which to merge and which to delete or deindex, in order of impact.
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Monitoring until the next core update
Indexing, traffic and signals by page type while the changes are applied, so we know whether we are on track before the next one arrives.
How you can hire me
Diagnosis + plan
A fixed project of about two or three weeks: the cause of the drop and a prioritized plan.
Monitoring until the next core update
Monthly support while the changes are applied.
In ongoing work, you choose how involved I get
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Guided consulting
Regular sessions with your team. I set the priorities, review what has been done and measure the results. Your team executes.
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Hands-on support
On top of that, I review changes before they ship and I am in your Slack or Teams for day-to-day questions.
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Inside your team
Almost like an implant: I join your tools, write and prioritize the tickets myself, take part in planning and do the SEO QA of what ships.
We adjust it to the project and it can change along the way: some projects start guided and end with me inside the team, and the other way round.
The diagnosis has a fixed price based on the size of the site; monitoring is priced by month. I send you the proposal in writing after the first call.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Can't find your question? Email me at [email protected] and I'll reply within 24 hours.
How long does it take to recover traffic?
At Search Central Live Barcelona 2026, Google shared its internal timelines. After a core update, 3 to 6 months is typical, and in the worst case you have to wait for the next core update, 6 months to a year. Be wary of anyone who promises recovery in weeks.
Is a core update a penalty?
No. A manual action is a penalty, and it shows up in Search Console. A core update recalculates how Google values the quality of pages and of the site; if you drop, either other pages now look better to it than yours, or one part of your site has lowered the assessment of the rest.
What if I haven't changed anything on my site?
It can drop anyway. The index keeps growing, and a page can fall without getting worse because better ones appear. That is why the diagnosis compares your site with what ranks today for your queries.
Does deleting content help?
Sometimes. If weak page types are dragging down the good ones, consolidating or removing them can help. But deleting without a diagnosis can take good traffic with it. The decision is made page type by page type.
When shouldn't you hire me?
If you have a manual action for links or spam. That is different work, although I can point you in the right direction. If you need to recover traffic in two weeks. Google does not work at that pace.
How much does it cost?
The diagnosis is a fixed project with a fixed price based on the size of the site. The follow-up monitoring, if you want it, is priced by month. I detail it in writing after the first call.