May Update destroyed my website. In March, we reached 12 million visitors. April 10 million. May 6 million. And now, totally gone. Maybe we can reach 1 million in June. How could it be possible? It's not just a case that normal traffic drop, but devastation.
My Google News registration is still alive and well. My indexing speed is still fast, in just 2 minutes, Google is indexing my fresh articles on Search and News. But there's a massive traffic drop from Discover section and search.
There were two important dates. On May 5, my traffic dropped %50. On May 27, almost totally gone. For the last 8 months, we always reached 8+ million page views every month, now it's gone. And the most tragic part of the incident that there's no one to contact to learn what we did wrong.
I feel broken. It's not fair. I don't know what to say.
May Update destroyed my website. In March, we reached 12 million visitors. April 10 million. May 6 million. And now, totally gone. Maybe we can reach 1 million in June. How could it be possible? It's not just a case that normal traffic drop, but devastation.
My Google News registration is still alive and well. My indexing speed is still fast, in just 2 minutes, Google is indexing my fresh articles on Search and News. But there's a massive traffic drop from Discover section and search.
There were two important dates. On May 5, my traffic dropped %50. On May 27, almost totally gone. For the last 8 months, we always reached 8+ million page views every month, now it's gone. And the most tragic part of the incident that there's no one to contact to learn what we did wrong.
I feel broken. It's not fair. I don't know what to say.
I'm sorry to hear about your loss.
I too suffered around a 75% drop in organic traffic from this fucking update.
But it has taught me a very important lesson and that is to always have control over your visitors.
Since then it has forced me to learn more about email marketing and developing an email list and now I'm focusing on my email list and creating digital products to sell to them.
I've learned a tonne of new skills since this may 4th update.
Once I get out of this stump and recover, I believe my website will be stronger than ever before.
Thanks for your support and messages.
I don't know if there's a chance to get back my traffic. The May Update hit me badly, on the other hand, I'm considering that it would be a manual penalty; if so, there's no hope for me. But, Google is indexing my fresh content fastly and showing my content on Search's Top Stories section. What is your opinion? Is there any possibility of a manual penalty?
Now, a new feeling inside me is growing and saying that 'move on and start a new project.' So, I guess, that's what I'm gonna do. The current situation is like losing your little baby. I did it once, I will do it once again. I have no doubt about it. But, it's not fair Google. It's just not fair.
PS: Sorry for my poor English. It's not my first language.
For manual penalties, they would be found in Google Search Console. For algorithmic penalties, or filters they can't be found in GSC. And it's a guessing game to figure out if you got one or not. If you obviously bought links, etc then it might be the case.
wait for some new update and continue working as usual
wait for Google who messed it up, fix it again!
May Update destroyed my website. In March, we reached 12 million visitors. April 10 million. May 6 million. And now, totally gone. Maybe we can reach 1 million in June. How could it be possible? It's not just a case that normal traffic drop, but devastation.
My Google News registration is still alive and well. My indexing speed is still fast, in just 2 minutes, Google is indexing my fresh articles on Search and News. But there's a massive traffic drop from Discover section and search.
There were two important dates. On May 5, my traffic dropped %50. On May 27, almost totally gone. For the last 8 months, we always reached 8+ million page views every month, now it's gone. And the most tragic part of the incident that there's no one to contact to learn what we did wrong.
I feel broken. It's not fair. I don't know what to say.
Unfortunately this is the SEO game.
I am on the same boat, ALL my sites have been destroyed.
If you want to play with google keep in mind that sooner or later your (our) sites will be destroyed.
No one is immune and this can happen ANYTIME.
You wake up one morning and puff.... All your work is done.
Don't exist any similar scenario in any other business.
Trying to live and make money with google is for masochists.
I am seriously thinking of abandoning this game to massacre.
My mental health is at stake.
out of curiosity, what is the correlation of your income per each 1 million visit? assuming we are talking about monthly visits? please confirm.May Update destroyed my website. In March, we reached 12 million visitors. April 10 million. May 6 million. And now, totally gone. Maybe we can reach 1 million in June. How could it be possible? It's not just a case that normal traffic drop, but devastation.
My Google News registration is still alive and well. My indexing speed is still fast, in just 2 minutes, Google is indexing my fresh articles on Search and News. But there's a massive traffic drop from Discover section and search.
There were two important dates. On May 5, my traffic dropped %50. On May 27, almost totally gone. For the last 8 months, we always reached 8+ million page views every month, now it's gone. And the most tragic part of the incident that there's no one to contact to learn what we did wrong.
I feel broken. It's not fair. I don't know what to say.
What I don't understand is the inconsistency of it all.
I run several website, all with the exact same theme, layout, writers, and despite being in different niches, the content is put together in the same way using the same sort of keyword research. No active linkbuilding is performed.
2 websites have seen a decline, 1 has remain unchanged another 2 have seen a growth in traffic.
There's barely anything different about the sites apart from the niche.