Big drop in impressions after steady progress

[mb_y2k]

I recently launched a new sports blog/information website, and had hundreds of articles to post that I'd written over the years. Initially it showed positive signs, I suspected that clicks were none existent because many of the search terms were really competitive e.g. "Jude Bellingham contract news." I've also worked mainly with corporations on SEO, so the sites are normally 100ish pages. This is the first site I've had thats been in 4 figures for pages. I'm really trying to work out my next move. I've included as much information as possible, but sadly not willing to share the URLs to the site as its quite sensitive (basically don't want my boss finding out).

- Site was launched properly in November, however had sat idle for best part of a year.
- Around 200 articles were published per week for 15/16 weeks. When impressions dropped off a cliff we stopped posting new content.
- The site's plummet seems to coincide with the indexing of around 500/600 new pages, as you can see on the screenshots.
- There are no manual actions or security actions on GSC.
- I did try to submit the site to Google adsense so I could run ads and was rejected mid-January - not sure if they can report the site after a rejection?
- one consideration is that this bump in impressions was due to "evergreen content" and was never going to stay that high, initially at least.
- Around 1000 of these pages are less than 250 words, basically trying to answer 2/3 common questions about a particular footballer, could these be the issue as they were only published late December onwards?

If this was your website, what would you do -
a) continue to publish new content, in hope that more evergreen content helps push the page/domain authority up.
b) improve thin content throughout the site, don't post any new content until that is rectified.
c) remove 80/90% of the pages leaving only long form content.

Appreciate any other information/suggestions!

 

[kalpana007]

For so many posts, the views are very off. All your articles or mixed with AI posts also?

 

[woguojun]

Do you have expired domain 302 on it ?

 

[XrumerGeek]

Your performance stats don't appear to make much sense.
Is this hand written or AI, or both? AI is fine, but only when done right.
Definitely expand the thin content, 250 words or less is lazy and typically a waste of time.

 

[mb_y2k]

For so many posts, the views are very off. All your articles or mixed with AI posts also?

Its a mixture of content yes. I was expecting the views to jump as the average page position climbed? But that never happened.

I've used AI content very effectively on other sites when its long form, so I don't think its that purely AI. But some thin content is from AI, so thats my worry. That wasn't my suggestion, it was some elses idea - but I've got to fix it (typical).

 

[mb_y2k]

Do you have expired domain 302 on it ?

I have a hta access redirect setup to remove the .html, but think that would be 301? This content is technically new content so not forwarded from other domains

 

[GeeLark AI]

I recently launched a new sports blog/information website, and had hundreds of articles to post that I'd written over the years. Initially it showed positive signs, I suspected that clicks were none existent because many of the search terms were really competitive e.g. "Jude Bellingham contract news." I've also worked mainly with corporations on SEO, so the sites are normally 100ish pages. This is the first site I've had thats been in 4 figures for pages. I'm really trying to work out my next move. I've included as much information as possible, but sadly not willing to share the URLs to the site as its quite sensitive (basically don't want my boss finding out).

- Site was launched properly in November, however had sat idle for best part of a year.
- Around 200 articles were published per week for 15/16 weeks. When impressions dropped off a cliff we stopped posting new content.
- The site's plummet seems to coincide with the indexing of around 500/600 new pages, as you can see on the screenshots.
- There are no manual actions or security actions on GSC.
- I did try to submit the site to Google adsense so I could run ads and was rejected mid-January - not sure if they can report the site after a rejection?
- one consideration is that this bump in impressions was due to "evergreen content" and was never going to stay that high, initially at least.
- Around 1000 of these pages are less than 250 words, basically trying to answer 2/3 common questions about a particular footballer, could these be the issue as they were only published late December onwards?

If this was your website, what would you do -
a) continue to publish new content, in hope that more evergreen content helps push the page/domain authority up.
b) improve thin content throughout the site, don't post any new content until that is rectified.
c) remove 80/90% of the pages leaving only long form content.

Appreciate any other information/suggestions!

I'd focus on b) improving thin content before adding new posts. Google's algorithm might be flagging your site due to low-quality, short-form content.

 

[mb_y2k]

I'd focus on b) improving thin content before adding new posts. Google's algorithm might be flagging your site due to low-quality, short-form content.

Thanks this is exactly what me and my boss are thinking, so pleased someone else agrees with the approach.