Recovering from Google Core Updates: Real-World Tactics That Actually Work from Lily Ray (Ahrefs Evolve 2024)

Google core updates can turn a website’s traffic into a real-life ghost town overnight. But if you’re armed with the right tactics, you can claw your way back — and maybe even come out stronger.

Here’s a look at how different types of sites that Lily Ray and team worked on — from tech blogs to recipe hubs — bounced back by putting in the SEO elbow grease.

Tech News/Product Review Site: Back from the October 2023 Core Update Slump

A particular tech review site was hit hard by the October 2023 core update, sending its traffic into freefall. Here’s what the team did to reverse the damage and reclaim their audience.

Key Recovery Actions:

• Clearing the clutter: Over 3,000 low-value pages were either non-indexed, redirected, or deleted. Less is more when you’ve got deadweight holding you back.
• Optimising categories and tags: No one loves a mess, especially search engines. They cleaned up category and tag pages to make them more useful and crawlable.
• Adding personal flair: They added more personalised insights to reviews, giving the site a stronger E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) boost.
• Trimming the fat: Outdated content? Gone. Irrelevant pages? Deleted. This site now only has content that’s fresh, useful, and on-brand.
• Better structure: The website taxonomy got an overhaul, making it easier for users (and Google) to navigate.
• Strong E-E-A-T signals: Every piece of content was re-evaluated to reinforce trust and authority.
• Technical SEO fixes: No more pesky technical issues. They patched up every SEO hole they could find.

Result: After the March 2024 core update, search traffic doubled, giving them a solid recovery.

Gaming Blog: Battling Back After Multiple 2022 Core Updates

A gaming blog got slapped around by several core updates in 2022. After a year of SEO, they managed to get back in Google’s good graces.

Key Recovery Actions:

• Cutting the dead weight: They axed 1,500+ pages that weren’t pulling their SEO weight, cleaning up content that was either irrelevant or duplicated.
• Filling content gaps: They did their homework, identifying evergreen topics in gaming and beefing up content for essential topics.
• Decluttering with a purpose: Removed duplicate content, giving Google a more streamlined, authoritative site to crawl.
• Taxonomy tweaks: Simplified the site structure so users could find what they needed, fast.
• Improved crawlability: A few tweaks to robots.txt meant Google could access the most important pages with ease.
• Leveraging Google Discover: They tapped into Google Discover’s algorithm with data-driven content ideas, giving them a new traffic source.
• Revamped metadata: Upgraded <title> and <h1> tags site-wide to make the content more Google-friendly.

Result: By August 2024, traffic surged by 100%, restoring the blog’s numbers to pre-update levels.

Recipe Site: Recovering from Google’s “Helpful Content” Update

A recipe site got burned by Google’s Helpful Content Update (HCU), which took aim at low-quality content. Here’s how they cooked up a comeback.

Key Recovery Actions:

• Consolidating content: They tackled duplication across domains by consolidating and redirecting pages, making the content clearer and more valuable.
• Boosting author visibility: Structured data improvements put authors in the Knowledge Graph spotlight, adding a credibility boost.
• Better internal linking: Improved internal links to make sure users (and Google bots) could navigate seamlessly.
• Image strategy for Discover: Data-backed image optimisation improved Discover visibility, getting them in front of more users.
• Paginated comments issue solved: Fixed non-indexable paginated comment pages, improving crawl efficiency.
• Enhanced URL crawlability: Repaired crawlability on tricky URLs, ensuring Google could see every bit of the site.
• Web Stories magic: Used Web Stories for more engaging content, boosting site interaction.

Result: The recipe site clawed its way back to 100% of pre-HCU traffic levels, serving up a full recovery.

Google Discover-Focused Site: Audit Success Story

A site decided to go all-in on Google Discover. A few strategic changes gave it the boost it needed to stand out in the crowded Discover space.

Key Recovery Actions:

• Tech clean-up: Removed technical obstacles that were blocking Discover visibility, clearing the path for more traffic.
• Smart site structure: Improved taxonomy made the site easier to navigate and improved Discover performance.
• E-E-A-T all around: Strengthened trustworthiness and authority across the board, signalling credibility to Google.
• Competitive analysis: Deep dived into what worked for top Discover categories and applied those insights to their own content.
• Trending patterns: Identified top-performing topics and trends within Discover, keeping content relevant and timely.
• AI-generated ideas: Used AI to brainstorm Discover-friendly topics, staying ahead of the content curve.

Result: Traffic shot up by 100%, cementing this site as the #4 Discover publisher in the US.

So, what’s the takeaway? Google updates can wreak havoc, but there’s almost always a way back.

Whether you’re running a tech review blog, a gaming site, or a recipe collection, a well-rounded recovery strategy focused on high-quality content, strong technical SEO, and smart structural choices can help you get back on top — and stay there.