The European Commission has fined Google 890 million euros for violating the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and has given it 60 days to redesign how Google Search results are displayed and how Google Play operates.
How We Recovered 93% of the Traffic We Lost After a Google Core Update: A Real-Life Step-by-Step Case Study
A 93% drop in organic traffic—with no visible manual penalty in Search Console—is one of the most baffling scenarios in SEO: there’s no clear warning, just a graph that plummets. This is exactly what happened in one of our own projects, and this article documents the actual process of diagnosis and recovery, including the specific technical decisions we made—not a theoretical guide on“what to do if you lose rankings,” but the real-life case, complete with its numbers and a reproducible process. The problem: a 93% drop for no apparent reason The initial symptom was a drastic and sustained drop in organic traffic, with no notification of a manual penalty in Google Search Console. The instinctive reaction to this is usually to look for recent content changes or broken links—but in this case, the real cause was structural and had been quietly building up over time. The Diagnosis: How We Find the Real Cause The diagnostic process combined three data sources: The finding was clear: a massive deindexation caused by duplicate content generated by WPML’s multilingual configuration, combined with the improper indexing of tag page URLs that did not provide unique content value. Upon encountering a huge volume of very low-quality or duplicate pages, Google had drastically reduced its trust in and crawl frequency for the entire domain—thereby also affecting pages with legitimate content. The structural flaws that caused it By breaking down the root cause, we identified three specific structural problems: The Recovery Plan, Step by Step The recovery was carried out in several simultaneous, non-sequential phases to minimize the total exposure time: 1. Mass removal of low-value duplicate content A structural cleanup was performed at the database level: 9,894 metadata records and 502 posts corresponding to the language version with refined content were deleted in a controlled manner, rather than leaving them indexed with incomplete content. Additionally, a second set of 2,452 WPML elements in another language version was identified as pending the same cleanup, as the next phase of the process. 2. 410 Gone Rules for Deleted URLs Instead of letting those URLs return a generic 404 (which Google continues to try to crawl for months), rules were implemented at .htaccess with a 410 Gone response, explicitly and unequivocally indicating that the content has been permanently removed and will not return. This significantly speeds up the process of Google removing those URLs from its index. 3. Infrastructure migration to improve server latency Server latency was identified as a key factor affecting both the user experience and the efficiency of Google’s crawling. A migration of the DNS and hosting infrastructure was carried out, resulting in a measurable reduction in server response times. 4. Replacing the sitemap plugin The existing sitemap plugin (Yoast) was replaced with Google XML Sitemaps, resulting in a cleaner sitemap structure that better reflects the site’s current content following the cleanup. Results and Lessons Learned from the Process The combination of these actions—structural content cleanup, explicit indication of permanent removal, infrastructure improvements, and an updated sitemap—made it possible to gradually reverse Google’s loss of trust in the domain. The main lesson from this case is that a drastic drop in traffic without a visible manual penalty almost always points to an issue with the overall content quality at the domain level, not to a specific problem with a single page or keyword. In addition, it was determined that the work does not end with the first phase: cleaning up the second block of content in another language remains a pending and necessary task to fully consolidate the recovery. Checklist: How to Tell If You’re Going Through the Same Thing If you answer “yes” to the first question and “no” to several of the following, it is very likely that you are facing a structural problem similar to the one described in this case. Frequently Asked Questions Conclusion This case demonstrates that a drastic drop in organic traffic rarely has a single, isolated cause: it is the result of a combination of duplicate content, conflicting technical signals (outdated sitemap, low-value indexed pages), and, at times, infrastructure that hinders efficient crawling. Recovery is not a one-time fix, but rather a process of structural cleanup that, in our case, still has one phase remaining to be implemented before it is fully consolidated. Has your organic traffic dropped for no apparent reason? At Inprofit, we conduct a free technical SEO audit to determine whether your situation follows a similar pattern. Miriam AgullóEspecialista en SEO y Paid Media | Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads & Search Console en vena Optimizo visibilidad orgánica + escalo adquisición pagada con ROAS obsesivo y estrategias data-driven. Especialista en Performance Digital, Core Web Vitals, E-E-A-T, algoritmos de subasta, attribution multi-touch y maximizar LTV/CAC.
How to Build an SEO Strategy That Doesn’t Rely on Guessing Google’s Next Core Update
A Google core update is a broad recalibration of how the algorithm evaluates content quality across its entire index—it is not a penalty targeting a specific website, but rather a global adjustment to the ranking formula. Since 2025, Google has been rolling out these updates every 3–4 months. The question any business with an online presence should be asking is no longer “How do I recover from the latest update?” but rather “What changes should I make to my website so that the next update—whenever it happens—affects me as little as possible?” Why “Recovery” Is the Wrong Question When a website loses traffic after a core update, the first instinct is to look for the specific cause and “fix” it—as if it were a one-time technical error. And sometimes it is: a slow server, a misconfigured sitemap, or an “ noindex ” directive added by mistake. But when the drop is accompanied by a fundamental reassessment of quality, fixing the symptom isn’t enough. Google explicitly states this in its own documentation: after a core update, there are no specific actions guaranteed to “fix” a page, and full recovery often doesn’t occur until the next core update—that is, it can take between 3 and 6 months, with no guarantee. Designing a strategy around “reacting quickly and effectively” to each update is, by definition, always one step behind. The alternative is to build a website that consistently maintains a high level of content quality, so that each algorithm update leaves it largely unaffected—regardless of whether it gains or loses specific rankings. The pace that must be maintained on an ongoing basis Between March 2025 and May 2026, Google publicly confirmed at least six significant updates: three broad core updates (March 2025, June 2025, December 2025), a specific Discover update (February 2026), a spam update (March 2026), and a new core update (March–April 2026), followed by another in May 2026. The March 2026 update caused 79.5% of the results in the top 3 of the analyzed searches to change positions, according to data from SE Ranking—one of the most volatile updates recorded to date. This pace of one major update every 6–10 weeks—rather than the “traditional” 3–4 months—is the new norm. It’s not just an anomaly this year; it’s the standard from now on. The Pillars of a Resilient SEO Strategy 1. Ongoing technical compliance, not one-time audits. Server errors, slow response times, incorrectly configured hreflang tags, or large-scale duplicate content are exactly the types of signals that a core update reevaluates. A technical audit isn’t a one-time project—it’s an ongoing process (monthly or quarterly, depending on the size of the site). 2. Depth of content over volume. Google increasingly prioritizes content that demonstrates real expertise and provides in-depth answers, rather than content that merely touches on a keyword in a superficial way. Publishing fewer pieces—but ones that include original data, specific case studies, and a perspective not found in the top ten search results—carries more weight than quantity. 3. Verifiable E-E-A-T, not stated. It’s not enough to simply write “we’re experts in X.” E-E-A-T is demonstrated through identifiable authorship (name, title, link to professional profile), a visible update date, original, citable data, and, when applicable, real-world case studies with measurable results. 4. Diversification Beyond Google. With AI Overviews reducing the CTR of the top organic result and the rise of ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini as discovery platforms, relying exclusively on Google search traffic is, today, a concentration of risk. Applying GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) principles to the same content that’s already optimized for SEO isn’t a separate project—it’s the same foundation of quality, extended to one more channel. 5. Active monitoring of the update schedule. While there’s no need to react impulsively to every rumor, it’s important to stay informed about when Google confirms that a rollout is underway—so you can distinguish between a specific dip and a general industry-wide adjustment—and avoid making drastic decisions based on a misinterpretation of the cause. What to do, specifically, when traffic drops How to Tell If the Strategy Is Working You don’t have to wait for the next update to check this. Useful interim indicators: stable indexing coverage in Search Console, server response times within Core Web Vitals thresholds, no large-scale duplicate content, and—increasingly relevant—whether the content is starting to appear cited in responses from ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google AI Overviews, a sign that the underlying quality is also paying off beyond traditional rankings. Frequently Asked Questions At Inprofit, we’ve experienced a real recovery after a severe drop in organic traffic, and we apply that firsthand experience to every SEO/GEO audit we conduct for our clients. If you want to know if your website is ready for the next core update, request a technical audit from our team. Miriam AgullóEspecialista en SEO y Paid Media | Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads & Search Console en vena Optimizo visibilidad orgánica + escalo adquisición pagada con ROAS obsesivo y estrategias data-driven. Especialista en Performance Digital, Core Web Vitals, E-E-A-T, algoritmos de subasta, attribution multi-touch y maximizar LTV/CAC.
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