Need Advice. Drop in Traffic

Hey everyone, I’m dealing with an issue and could really use some insights from the community.

I recently acquired an expired domain within the same niche as my main site. After setting everything up and getting the new site indexed, it performed exceptionally well—traffic started flowing in almost immediately, with the site reaching between 2k to 4k impressions per day within the first week.
However, things took a sudden turn. After that initial surge, impressions began dropping dramatically, and Google de-indexed most of the pages within a week.
When I attempt to manually request indexing for the deindexed pages, Google’s bot doesn’t respond. I even tried updating the content on a few pages and requesting the bot to revisit, but there was still no result.
For comparison, I manage sites in other GEO, and whenever I add new content and request manual indexing there, the pages get indexed within 5 minutes.
Here are a few details to address any possible questions upfront:

• Technical Setup: There are no technical errors on the site. Internal SEO has been carefully optimized.
• Content: There are about 70 content-rich pages. The rest of the non-indexed pages are auto-generated by WordPress (e.g., URLs ending in /feed/).
• Domain History: The domain had a solid history before it was deindexed a few months ago. Now, I’ve set up a new site in the same niche on this domain.
• Backlink Profile: While the backlink profile isn’t extensive, there are no toxic links. The focus is mainly on local SEO.
• Content Creation: The content is AI-generated, crafted using custom-designed prompts, and thoroughly proofread and optimized. However, there’s a possibility that I may have overused keywords, leading to keyword stuffing.

I’m trying to figure out what went wrong and how to address it.

Possible Solutions I'm Considering:

• Content Adjustment: Rewrite the content to reduce keyword density and create a more natural flow. However, I’m uncertain if this will make a difference, as Google’s bot hasn’t been responsive even when I manually request indexing.
• Focus on Backlinks: Keep the content as it is and invest in building high-quality backlinks to enhance the site’s authority.

I’m attaching screenshots from Search Console to help illustrate the situation. Any advice or ideas on why this might be happening would be greatly appreciated.

Common phenomenon these days

it sounds like your AI generated content might have triggered the red flag to Google's Algorithm, possibly due to keyword stuffing or thin content. try reducing keyword density and focus on improving the natural flow of content this might help you.

ClearheadedT said:

Content Creation: The content is AI-generated, crafted using custom-designed prompts, and thoroughly proofread and optimized. However, there’s a possibility that I may have overused keywords, leading to keyword stuffing.

Click to expand...

ClearheadedT said:

Content Adjustment: Rewrite the content to reduce keyword density and create a more natural flow. However, I’m uncertain if this will make a difference, as Google’s bot hasn’t been responsive even when I manually request indexing.

Click to expand...

regarding content... some people say that AI content ranks perfectly fine as long as it's helpful to people, others say that you need to manually edit the content so that it doesn't look like AI.

So, I don't know what to say. Personally, I in the boat with those who recommend to edit the content because - in their infinite deception - I feel like google really doesn't like AI content despite of how much they brag about AI content being OK. But that's just a feeling, I can't prove it, and even if I could, it wouldn't help you in any way.

Why I brought this up, however, is that I feel like content (AI or not) is not the issue. A domain as "clean" and good like yours doesn't have most pages deindexed if the content is the problem. With rare exceptions (really low quality and / or almost 100% duplicate content) content of decent quality doesn't get deindexed. It most likely drops in rankings and / or in traffic, but it doesn't get deindexed.

Which makes me think that something else is at fault, so don't bother updating / changing the content. You need to look somewhere, albeit I can't figure out where. If I were to guess (again lol) I would say that your domain is not as clean and safe as you think you are. I could be wrong, of course, but it's something to keep in mind...

ClearheadedT said:

Domain History: The domain had a solid history before it was deindexed a few months ago. Now, I’ve set up a new site in the same niche on this domain.

Click to expand...

well, there you go! Something's wrong with the domain then. Expired domains that are still safe with google don't get restored, re-indexed, and then immediately de-indexed. Have you checked the domain thoroughly before acquiring it?

Unfortunately, I'm not good with expired domains, so I don't know how to make complete check as there are a lot of things to look at. But this post by Nargil can help a little:
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/what-is-your-checklist-for-domains-for-pbn.1342695/#post-14514468

ClearheadedT said:

Backlink Profile: While the backlink profile isn’t extensive, there are no toxic links. The focus is mainly on local SEO.

Click to expand...

yeah, it can't be the backlinks. When backlinks are bad it's usually the pages that the bad links point to that suffer, but even those don't get deindexed. So, once again, something's probably wrong with the domain itself...

And if the domain is fine, then it's google's latest update (I still think it's the domain though)