What to Do If You Lost All Your Rankings (and Traffic) After a Google Update

Most businesses in Taiwan are doing amazing things—manufacturing, e-commerce, education, tourism, you name it. Yet every time Google rolls out a major algorithm update, you might notice a sudden drop in your site’s rankings and traffic. It’s frustrating—maybe even a bit scary—especially if your online presence is a big part of how you attract customers.

If you’ve lost all your rankings recently or seen a dramatic dip in traffic, don’t panic. Below is a step-by-step guide on what you can do to bounce back and reestablish your digital footing.

1. Don’t Panic—Gather Information First

a. Check Google Search Console

The first step is to head over to your Google Search Console account. Look for messages or manual action notifications. Sometimes Google specifically tells you if they’ve penalized your site, which is a clue about what to fix.

• Performance Reports: Compare pre-update and post-update periods to see which pages or keywords took the hardest hit.
• Coverage Reports: Look for spikes in errors or warnings—these might relate to indexing issues that emerged after the update.

b. Review Analytics

Then, review your Google Analytics data. Identify:

• Traffic Sources: Did you lose traffic from organic search only, or did direct and referral traffic also drop?
• Landing Pages: Which pages saw the biggest declines?
• User Behavior: Has your bounce rate skyrocketed, or did time on page plummet?

Collecting these insights arms you with specifics. Instead of guessing, you’ll have evidence pointing you toward the potential issues.

2. Research the Update

a. Check Official and Unofficial Sources

Google often posts about major updates on their official blog or Twitter account (e.g., @googlesearchc). At the same time, SEO news sites and communities—Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Land, Reddit’s r/SEO—offer quick, real-world feedback on what’s happening globally.

• Look for Patterns: Is the update targeting low-quality content? Is it a core algorithm shift? Understanding the update’s focus can guide your next steps.
• Compare Notes: Sometimes Taiwanese websites are affected differently than sites in other regions. If you’re connected to local SEO groups, see what others are experiencing.

b. Global vs. Local Impact

Remember, an update might hit certain niches harder (like health, finance, or e-commerce) or might focus on specific aspects of site quality. If your business is primarily local—say, a café in Kaohsiung—your strategy may differ from a global e-commerce store shipping to the U.S. and Europe.

3. Diagnose Potential Quality Issues

a. On-Page Content Quality

If your site has pages with thin content, outdated info, or AI-generated fluff, that might be the root cause. Google’s increasingly emphasizing expertise, authority, and trustworthiness (E-A-T).

• Update Old Posts: Refresh outdated statistics, remove irrelevant sections, or add new insights.
• Consolidate Overlapping Pages: If you have multiple blog posts covering the same topic with minimal differences, merge them into one comprehensive resource.

b. Backlink Profile

Have you been building spammy links, or did you invest in bulk link purchases? Google’s penalty for questionable link practices can lead to abrupt ranking drops.

• Audit Your Links: Tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush can show you which inbound links might be hurting your authority.
• Disavow Toxic Links: If you spot a pattern of questionable backlinks (like random foreign-language sites or obvious link farms), consider using Google’s disavow tool—but only as a last resort.

c. Technical SEO

A sudden drop might stem from site-speed issues, indexing problems, or misconfigured site structure.

• Site Speed Test: If your site became noticeably slower, visitors (and Google) may bounce.
• Indexation Check: Sometimes, noindex tags get added accidentally, or robots.txt settings block crawlers.

4. Compare Your Site to Competitors

It’s possible that your competitors adapted faster to the new update, pushing you down in rankings—even if your site didn’t necessarily get “worse.”

• Keyword Benchmarking: See how your main competitors rank post-update. Are they outranking you on specific keywords or content types?
• Content Gaps: If competitors offer more up-to-date guides, better visuals, or deeper product info, that could be pulling in searchers and boosting their domain authority.

This isn’t about copying them; it’s about learning what’s working and identifying how you can stand out even more.

5. Create a Recovery Action Plan

a. Update Key Pages First

If 20% of your pages drive 80% of your traffic, prioritize those. Rewrite content to be more authoritative and helpful. Add relevant keywords naturally, update images, and make sure your user experience is top-notch.

b. Improve User Engagement

• Add Clear CTAs: Keep visitors on your site longer by directing them to related articles or product pages.
• Design and Layout: If your pages look cluttered or have intrusive pop-ups, visitors leave quickly—hurting your bounce rate. A cleaner layout can improve usability and, indirectly, rankings.

c. Build High-Quality Links (the Right Way)

• Guest Post on Reputable Sites: If your brand has a unique angle, share that expertise with industry blogs. Earn legitimate backlinks in the process.
• Local Partnerships: Collaborate with other Taiwanese businesses or community organizations. Goodwill often translates into mentions and links.

6. Monitor, Adjust, and Be Patient

SEO is rarely about instant fixes—especially post-update. Even after you’ve made improvements, it can take weeks (or months) for Google to re-crawl your site and update your rankings.

• Ongoing Analytics Checks: Watch your key metrics closely. If you see gradual recovery (or a smaller drop), that’s a good sign.
• Iterate: If some changes don’t move the needle, keep experimenting. Your audience might respond better to a different tone, more visuals, or bilingual content.
• Stay Informed: Another Google update might be just around the corner. Keep an eye on official announcements and local SEO communities for any heads-up.

7. When to Seek Expert Help

Sometimes you hit a wall. You’ve tweaked your content, audited your links, and still can’t climb back up. At that point, you might need outside expertise.

Our team at Taiwan SEO has spent over a decade helping businesses—from local shops in Tainan to multi-million-dollar companies in Europe, Singapore, and North America—recover from algorithm updates. We don’t outsource content to random freelancers, we don’t rely on AI-generated junk, and we don’t push vague “long-term strategies” that go nowhere. We simply analyze your site, pinpoint the real issues, and implement data-driven fixes to get you back on track.

Conclusion

Seeing your rankings and traffic plummet after a Google update can feel like a punch to the gut. But it’s not the end of the story. By gathering data, pinpointing quality or technical issues, upgrading your content, and staying patient, you can regain lost ground—and sometimes come back stronger than ever.

Think of Google updates as nudges toward better, more relevant content. If you adapt and deliver genuine value, chances are you’ll weather the storm just fine. And if you ever need a hand—well, that’s what we’re here for. Remember, most businesses in Taiwan are already doing something remarkable; the trick is making sure Google (and your customers) recognize it, too.