Traffic dropped from 3 million to 250k… should we wait for the next HCU or change domains?

Analytics and Reporting Topics
21

@SEOSteveSays
Thanks! So should we transfer 100 articles first? Wouldn’t that duplicate content, or should we add new articles to the new domain and redirect the rest?

All content is human-written, over 8 years.

22

@Iker
Ideally, you’d test with a mix: move and redirect some, add new content, and perhaps copy a few. Track each to see what works best.

Also, if you decide to move, warming up the new domain beforehand can help it rank faster.

23

@SEOSteveSays
When we move content, should we delete it from the original site? And if we redirect, does the original content need to be removed too?

24

Iker said:
@SEOSteveSays
When we move content, should we delete it from the original site? And if we redirect, does the original content need to be removed too?

It won’t matter if you delete it if you’ve redirected, but you could keep drafts in case you need to revert.

25

@SEOSteveSays
Would drafting instead of deleting be okay, so we can revert to the original site if needed?

26

Iker said:
@SEOSteveSays
Would drafting instead of deleting be okay, so we can revert to the original site if needed?

Yes, you can just delete the 301 redirect if the new domain doesn’t perform well. Keeping it drafted avoids duplication issues.

27

Why not dig a little deeper into the root cause? Was it the domain itself or the content that took the hit?

One of my projects was hit in March, but I found it was due to lower-quality content. Updating it has helped, and I’m waiting for the next core update.

28

@Malik
We even hired an SEO agency, but they couldn’t figure it out. We just disappeared from search and news, losing over 90% of our rankings. We see our keywords going from top spots to page 10 in a day, with high impressions but low CTR, which makes us think we’re not ranking in Sweden anymore.

We think some of our viral articles before HCU brought tons of backlinks from non-relevant sites (mostly Japanese and English).

We’ve tried everything, 3 months of intensive SEO work, and the traffic still drops. New articles rank low or get deindexed. No penalties, low spam score, great quality… just lost here.

29

@Iker
Feel free to DM me your domain or post it here, and I’ll take a look. I’ve helped many in this group figure out these kinds of drops.

30

Zayne said:
@Iker
Feel free to DM me your domain or post it here, and I’ll take a look. I’ve helped many in this group figure out these kinds of drops.

Same story here. October 9th hit us hard… our domain is rezi.ai

31

@Bright
Your technical SEO is a bit of a mess. Some scripts aren’t loading right, and there are security issues. Client-side rendering (CSR) is also a known issue for Google rankings and has been discussed in many SEO groups.

Surprised your agency didn’t catch this—it took me a few seconds to notice. Fixing it will take time, but this is likely the root of the issue. Also, 4M backlinks from 4k domains? That’s a risky profile. Surprised the agency didn’t flag it.

32

@Zayne
Just to clarify, that’s not my site! But appreciate the help offer.

33

Iker said:
@Zayne
Just to clarify, that’s not my site! But appreciate the help offer.

Got it, sorry for the mix-up. Offer still stands if you want help with your site.

34

@Iker
Hard to say if I can help if you’re already doing everything right, but if you’re open to sharing the site, I might spot something.

A few things that can cause this:

  1. Large amounts of backlinks from unrelated sites.

  2. Keywords or phrases that could be flagged.

  3. Content quality issues, even with human-written content.

  4. Poor core web vitals.