Sites with Generatepress penalized by Google?

Alf85 · Dec 8, 2023

Since the core update in September, I have been looking for patterns of why my sites with authority and organic traffic lost almost 80% of the traffic. The sites have authors, date, author box, breadcrumbs, categories, authority, retention, etc. Almost all the traffic was from Google.

The only thing that I think may have been responsible is:

Generatepress
Ezoic

Reviewing many similar sites that use Generatepress I saw that they lost traffic, but other sites with other templates did not lose or maintain.

Does anyone use Generatepress and saw the same thing?

Ezoic is another topic because it's complete crap and I'll go away but for now it's better than nothing.

IM Dude · Dec 8, 2023

Alf85 said:
Ezoic is another topic because it's complete crap and I'll go away but for now it's better than nothing.

I have seen many places ezoic is been pointed out as causing the sept algo penalty. Logic goes like this, google wants to see helpful content and ezoic is giving wrong signals to google.
BTW I have one site on ezoic i didn't see significant change in traffic or income.

MKSKS · Dec 8, 2023

Alf85 said:
Generatepress

This is something I have on 95% of my niche websites and all of those are performing well.

I don't think the theme is the culprit here.

nakamura · Dec 8, 2023

Same here. Many of my GeneratePress sites got hit. Very weird.

Rollfic · Dec 8, 2023

How can a theme cause penalty? LOL

Alf85 · Dec 8, 2023

IM Dude said:
I have seen many places ezoic is been pointed out as causing the sept algo penalty. Logic goes like this, google wants to see helpful content and ezoic is giving wrong signals to google.
BTW I have one site on ezoic i didn't see significant change in traffic or income.

I also saw sites with Mediavine lose all traffic.

MKSKS said:
This is something I have on 95% of my niche websites and all of those are performing well.

I don't think the theme is the culprit here.

Which network do you use for advertisements or just affiliations?

nakamura said:
Same here. Many of my GeneratePress sites got hit. Very weird.

We will see if there are more people who share the same opinion or have the same doubts.

Alf85 · Dec 8, 2023

Rollfic said:
How can a theme cause penalty? LOL

That Google thinks that theme is used by niche sites or something similar.

MKSKS · Dec 8, 2023

Alf85 said:
Which network do you use for advertisements or just affiliations?

Adsense and affiliate offers.
Some are purely for lead generation.

Rollfic · Dec 8, 2023

Alf85 said:
That Google thinks that theme is used by niche sites or something similar.

And google does not like niche sites?

NeedMyLink · Dec 9, 2023

GeneratePress itself is usually solid for SEO, very lightweight and bloat-free. It's unlikely the theme alone would cause a penalty unless there's something specific about your implementation. But, if you're running Ezoic, consider the impact of ads on user experience. Slow load times, CLS issues, that kind of thing. If others using GP aren't hit, it's more likely how the theme's used, the ads setup, or another common factor.

Alf85 · Dec 9, 2023

maxmayer said:
GeneratePress itself is usually solid for SEO, very lightweight and bloat-free. It's unlikely the theme alone would cause a penalty unless there's something specific about your implementation. But, if you're running Ezoic, consider the impact of ads on user experience. Slow load times, CLS issues, that kind of thing. If others using GP aren't hit, it's more likely how the theme's used, the ads setup, or another common factor.

Ezoic destroys the sites but I realized it too late :S

Project Limitless · Dec 9, 2023

It's easier to blame the theme because a lot of blogs use generatepress but that is highly unlikely. Ezoic I can still believe because they suck ass

Alf85 · Dec 9, 2023

Project Limitless said:
It's easier to blame the theme because a lot of blogs use generatepress but that is highly unlikely. Ezoic I can still believe because they suck ass

I don't blame the theme, I just asked what other website creators thought of it. I think Generatepress is great and I still use it. Ezoic sucks and I keep using it because I don't get enough visitors for Mediavine.

Sulphur · Dec 9, 2023

I always use Kadence but still my traffic dropped maybe ezoic could be the reason, But still it depends on variety of factors.

HustleTong · Dec 9, 2023

I don't think the theme has anything to do with the drop
Ezoic is notorious in terms of slowing down the site

Alf85 · Dec 9, 2023

I was at 45000 hits and was almost there for Mediavine but the Update happened. Ezoic I no longer recommend it to anyone, who can stay away do so.

blackbeans · Dec 9, 2023

I use generatepress and there's no network wide drop. Some sites have dropped. Others gained traffic.

KHer0 · Dec 9, 2023

Of course its not the theme, this is not how algorithm works.

Algorithm calculate factors which affect user experience. This is all they care about.

However, you are right sept updare targetted niche site. Check those who replaced you .. are they linkedin, reddit and authourity news website.

From my own observations, google didn't push niche sites down.. instead they pushed wide authourity websites up, which of course made niche specific websites to go down.

DozeX · Dec 9, 2023

lmao, This was a funny thread, btw not depends on the theme

blackbeans · Dec 10, 2023

Maybe the effect is PSYCHOLOGICAL? Ie., some people who use generatepress tend to be more relaxed when it comes to editorial standards than when they're using a fancier niche theme?

Sites with Generatepress penalized by Google?

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