How to Recover From a Google Algorithm Update

Confirm an update caused the drop

Google makes broad core updates several times a year and lists them, with start and end dates, on the Search Status Dashboard. Most sites never notice one. When traffic falls around the same time, work through these steps:

• •Wait until the rollout is complete, then give it about a week.
• •In the Search Console Performance report, compare a week after the update with a week before it started.
• •Sort pages and queries by lost clicks, and check web, image and video search separately.
• •Decide whether the change is small (position 2 to 4) or large (top 10 to page three). Google advises against drastic changes for small moves.

Rule out other causes

Google's guide to debugging traffic drops lists several causes besides algorithm changes. Check each before you rewrite anything:

• •Technical: server errors, robots.txt problems, a stray noindex tag or broken pages. Look at the Page indexing and Crawl stats reports.
• •Security: malware or a hacked page can trigger browser warnings. Check the Security issues report.
• •Spam: check the Manual actions report and the spam policies, especially if a past vendor bought links or published doorway city pages.
• •Seasonality: set the date range to 16 months and compare year over year. Check top queries in Google Trends to see if demand fell everywhere.
• •Site changes: a redesign or URL change without redirects can cause the same pattern. Our redesign guide covers that case.

If impressions held steady but clicks fell, the issue may be titles and snippets rather than rankings.

Assess the pages that dropped

For a large, lasting drop, Google suggests an honest review of the whole site, not just single pages, using its people-first content questions. Ask someone outside the practice to help. For each affected page, ask:

• •Does it answer what a patient searching that query actually wants to know?
• •Does it show first-hand knowledge from your team, such as how your office handles a first visit, instead of generic text found on many sites?
• •Is it clear who wrote or reviewed it, and are facts current?
• •Was it written mainly to rank, for example a set of near-identical city or service pages?

Compare your page with the results that now rank above it. The goal is not more words. It is a page that helps the searcher better.

Check technical health

Core updates are mainly about content, but a slow or broken site makes every page harder to use. Review the Core Web Vitals report in Search Console, fix pages that are not indexed for the wrong reasons and repair broken internal links. Google's Core Web Vitals page lists the targets; our Core Web Vitals guide explains them for practice websites.

Good scores alone do not guarantee rankings, so treat this as clearing obstacles rather than the main fix.

Make improvements that last

Google warns against quick fixes such as removing a page element because of an SEO rumor. Changes that tend to help patients and hold up over time:

• •Rewrite or restructure key service pages so the answer comes first and the page is easy to scan.
• •Combine overlapping thin posts into one useful page with a 301 redirect from the old URLs.
• •Add what only your practice knows: the team, the process, real photos of the office, clear next steps.
• •Link related pages together so a visitor can move from a service to its questions to booking.

Google calls deleting content a last resort, for pages that cannot be saved.

Habits that reduce update risk

• •Write for patients first and keep facts, hours and services current.
• •Avoid tactics in the spam policies: bought links, doorway pages, scaled pages with little value.
• •Be wary of anyone promising guaranteed rankings.
• •Keep Search Console connected and look at it monthly so you spot changes early.

If you want a second pair of eyes, our SEO team can review affected pages against these points.

Track recovery

Keep a dated log of every change: which pages you rewrote, combined or fixed. Recheck Search Console every few weeks against the same comparison periods. Google says some changes show within days, while confirming a site-wide improvement can take several months, and sometimes the effect appears with a later core update. Smaller unannounced updates can also lift improved pages in between.

There is no guarantee that improvements bring back earlier positions, because other sites keep improving too. Judge progress on clicks, calls and bookings, not on one ranking.

Sources

• •Google Search Central: Google Search's core updates and your website
• •Google Search Central: Debugging drops in Google Search traffic
• •Google Search Central: Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content
• •Google Search Central: Spam policies for Google web search
• •Google Search Status Dashboard
• •Google Search Central: Understanding Core Web Vitals