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In this SEO case study, I’m going to show you how we recovered our clients site from the May 2020 core algorithm update:
View all our SEO case studies here
Not only that:
But we also increased ecommerce revenue by 53% year on year simultaneously-
We were also able to:
- Increase yearly organic traffic from 631,778 to 1,204,197 (+90.6%)
- Increase yearly transactions from 4,377 to 6,163 (+40.8%)
What Will I Learn?
Closer Look At The Site
The client is an ecommerce site in the adult niche competing for highly competitive commercial terms.
However, the site was hit by the Google core algorithm update on May 4th causing a loss of many of the keywords ranking on the 1st page of the SERPs.
This was especially frustrating for the client because they had seen significant growth in business due to Covid-19.
So after the core algorithm update hit, our main goal was to recover the rankings and search traffic by:
- Auditing the website
- Clarifying user intent
- Improving & developing E.A.T
- Fixing the backlink profile
But it wasn’t easy.
We had to overcome a few challenges along the way…
The Biggest Challenges We Had To Overcome
I want to remind you that our clients site is competing for some highly competitive commercial terms against major brands and retailers.
On May 4th 2020, the site was hit by the Core algorithm update causing an immediate drop off in search traffic and revenue.
We have a huge inventory of sites to look at, so immediately after the update had finished rolling out we had noticed that it was mostly affiliate sites that were hit.
This is important because most affiliate sites don’t act like a real business would and tend not to share things like registered business address and/or phone numbers.
On top of that, we also noticed our clients site had a large number of pages that were confusing user intent.
For example, they were trying to rank for terms like-
- digital cameras for beginners
- digital cameras for sale
With the same page. Even though there is a clear difference in user intent.
This was widespread across the site, which was reminiscent of the days when Google wasn’t as good at understanding meaning.
So we concluded that Google were-
- Viewing the site as an anonymous affiliate despite being a real ecommerce business
- Confused by the intent of the content often leading to cannibilization
With that in mind, we formed our plan of attack.
Creating A Plan of Attack
Google penalty recovery is always an uphill battle.
But we know that Google loved the site before, so we put a simple 4 step strategy in place so they would love us again!
Step #1 – Clarifying User Intent
As mentioned, there were a number of ways that the site’s user intent was confusing.
In essence, there were too few pages trying to target too many keywords at the same with absolutely no respect to what the user actually wanted.
But how do you figure out what is the right user intent?
Easy!
We can just search for our target keyword in Google:
And then use the power of observation to figure out what Google wants.
Remember:
Search results are an output of the algorithm – this is Google telling you what they want.
So give it to them.
In the example above, we can see that Google is expecting to see-
- An inner page to rank, not a homepage
- A list of recomennded products
- Commercially focused content
We applied that process to a handful of the previously heavy trafficked pages and started to see upticks in search visibility on those pages.
So we manually reviewed the user intent of every single page on the site and adjusted the content to make sure we were giving Google exactly what they want page by page.
Step #2 – Optimizing Content
With user intent taken care of and each page now targeting a specific keyword, we needed to optimize the content around that.
Surfer SEO reviews the current top ranking websites by analyzing over 500 different signals and then comparing them to yours which outputs a handy report like this-
That tells you everything you need to change to make sure you are giving Google precisely what they want based on the current rankings.
Typically we will-
- Fix any word count suggestions first
- Then take care of all of the phrase based True Density recommendations
Check out my SEO checklist to learn more ways to optimize your website.
Step #3 – Developing “E.A.T” Signals
For those who don’t know, E.A.T stands for:
- Expertise
- Authority
- Trust
But what actually happened is that Google started to make websites accountable for the content they publish. Google wants to know that they can send traffic to you, and you are going to provide an excellent experience.
They want to know that you are a real, dependable entity that actually exists.
So we made it a priority to build out the sites “EAT” signals in a number of different ways.
Author Verification
Despite our client having a wealth of expertise and was more than qualified to be giving advice on the subject…
..they hadn’t really built out any kind of authority as an author or voice on the topic.
But it’s important we establish expertise and trust so we started to do that by building out an “author page” for all of the published content which included-
- Photos of the author
- A write up of who she was and why she was qualified
- Linked out to other sites she had been published on
- Links to all of her social media profiles
And with the help of Rank Math (the best SEO plugin for WordPress)…
…we made sure that we were adding the correct structured data to articles-
Next:
We created a LinkedIn profile for the author which included her employment history, education history, qualifications and links to other social media accounts.
With all of that in place, we went about verifying the business.
Business Verification
Whether your an affiliate site or ecommerce store you need to let Google know that you are a real business.
The easiest way to do that is to publish your registered business name, address and phone number-
- In the footer
- On your about page
- On your content page
We also created a Google My Business listing which matched up with all of the information above.
Finally, we added a Trustpilot link into the footer:
This not only showed our client was a trusted source of information, but the store itself had a great reputation for providing quality products with great service.
Remember: Whatever your website is about, you must have high levels of EAT in your pages or they won’t rank. This is even more important for website owners with YMYL content.
Step #4 – Fixing The Backlink Profile
Because our client is in the adult niche, it was likely there were a large number of undesirable links pointing to the site (Download our link building checklist here)
So we did a complete backlink analysis to make sure we remove any toxic links:
What we found was that a lot of links had been obtained from outdated linking practices.
For example, there is a right way, and a wrong way to go about guest posting.
The wrong way is to publish a bunch of guests posts that are clearly labelled as such and placed on sites with “write for us” pages advertising link sales:
And if there’s one thing we know for sure…
…it’s that Google doesn’t like this kind of behaviour:
So after carrying out a complete backlink audit, we created a disavow file to pinpoint these links for removal.
Whilst Google was processing that, we continued to build new links that-
- Were on relevant authorativie sites
- Did not have “write for us” pages
- Had at least 500 organic visitors per month
You can also use these 6x ecommerce link building tips!
Need more tips to remove your penalty? Follow my Google penalty recovery guide!
The Results Are In
As you can see the core algorithm update was absolutely devestating for our client:
But within 3 months of taking the hit, we were able to turn that frown upside down and put them back on a positive trajectory.
That led to:
- Organic traffic increasing from 631,778 to 1,204,197 (+90.6%)
- Transactions increasing from 4,377 to 6,163 (+40.8%)
- Revenue increasing from $238,914 to $366,098 (+53.2%)
And now the site is running on a solid foundation…
…that growth is going to continue throughout the coming year.
Wrapping It Up
So there you have it.
That is how we helped our client’s site to recover rankings and search traffic after being hit by a Google algorithm update.
Need help growing your ecommerce revenue? Take a look at the resources we put together to help you:
- Ecommerce SEO tips
- Ecommerce SEO services
- Shopify SEO best practices
- Shopify speed optimization tips
- Shopify SEO expert
- Shopify SEO Services
or get in touch with my team now.
Otherwise please feel free to check out some of our other SEO case studies-
107 Responses
I really liked your SEO case study and learned a lot.
Glad to hear that. Cheers!
Thanks a lot for sharing with us the SEO study.
No problem
Thanks for updating information about SEO case study, and core recovery…
No problem!
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Great article. Thanks.
I have the same problem on my site since May 2020, I am still trying to return positions and so far without success. We will try to do what is described in your article
Let me know how it goes- Good luck!
One of the best posts, I have ever come across. Not only did I learn a lot of hidden things but also some technical stuff. Keep uploading and encouraging us.
Glad you enjoyed the case study- Cheers :)
Thanks for Sharing Article on Seo- Core Update Recovery Article this help me Alot to Know More About SEO.
No problem- Glad it was helpful!
A good and very useful blog. Keep posting such blogs.
Thanks
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One of the best posts, I have ever come across. Not only did I learn a lot of hidden things but also some technical stuff. Keep uploading and encouraging us.
Great post sir. Thank you so much.
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A core update, like Penguin 4.0, can have a huge impact on an established ranking site. Search engine optimization needs to be proactive as well as reactive in the face of these types of changes and you should prepare for them accordingly. The aftermath will leave either destruction or advantage behind it, but it’s not all bad news and every cloud has a silver lining–a time to start fresh.
Couldn’t agree more!
thank you so much dude :)
No problem! Glad it was helpful!
Super
Thank you!
Thanks for such an amazing blog and the given information is really useful. Keep Posting such an interesting blog, will surely share it with my group.
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a long article, but useful content
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thanks for sharing
No problem! Always happy to help!
Thanks for such an amazing blog and the given information is really useful. Keep Posting such an interesting blog, will surely share with my group.
No worries!
Many sites have suffered due to lack of content. Sometimes, a simple addition of ingredients changes everything.
Couldn’t agree more! Having fresh and unique content is so important.
you always have a way of appealing to me wow this a nice post. I am certainly trying out these tips. and I know there will be an improvement. keep up the good work and thanks for sharing.
Let me know how it goes for you!
Hi,
This is an amazing article and you explained it very well I loved it.
Thank you for sharing this great post.
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it’s very good suggestion so,thank you for help.
No worries- Always happy to help!
Adorable case study, Actually i want to rank my website which is medical related website like genital warts clinic so this case study help me to rank my website and further penalties to hit by google hopefully i will fix it after this case study otherwise i will talk through comments :
Thanks
Alexa Robert
Glad it was helpful!
Great case study. Congrats Matthew!
Thanks, Gabriele!
A very informative post. Thanks for sharing. this blog very informative for me. keep sharing with us.
No problem, Jagdish!
Great article.
Same problem happened to my site.
Hope you’ll be able to fix them! Good luck.
Many sites have suffered because of the lack of content. Sometimes, just a simple addition of content changes everything.
Lack of optimized and updated content* ;)
thanks a lot for sharing with us! very useful article
No worries!
Nice write-up (per usual)! I will definitely be putting this to practice for some of my sites.
You said not to guest post on sites that have “Write For Us”…
So what what do you recommend for finding sites that allow guest posts then?
Well, just pitch websites that are not advertising for guest posts and see what happens!
Don’t worry, most websites accept guest posts anyways.
Hi Matthew! Thank you very much for this article that makes us think about details that we do not take into account. My question is regarding Google My Business.
If my site has its target audience in Europe, but I live in Asia, should I create my company profile on Google My Business? Wouldn’t it affect my SEO and the traffic the site receives?
All the best!
Google my business is really important for local SEO (in order to improve local ranking).
However, it also adds credibility and visibility to your business so I suggest you create an account anyways.
But if you don’t, don’t worry it should not affect you too much.
ADOREI O CONTEÚDO ESPETACULAR MUITO ESCLARECEDOR. SHOW DE BOLA. VALEU MATTHEW. UM GRANDE ABRAÇO. NAMASTÊ.
Obrigado!
So, I understood right that you made a fake author page, with a fake name, photo, etc.? Because usually, webmasters make many different websites in different niches where he not an expert and usually never worked offline in these niches companies.
Are you sure that Google can’t check it in manually review and find that this is fake information? And as a result, it can hurt for the website even more.
Yes, Google can check that. This is why we don’t recommend to anyone to run sites under “fake identity” or “fake name”.
If you do so, you’re putting your site at risk. It’s a fact.
In our case, the writer is a real/accountable person so we create a real author page with authentic pictures and information.
Nothing fake.
thanks for the nice article about SEO Case Study – A Core Update Recovery.
I really enjoy your article and SEO tips in very easy language.
No problem! Thank you for reading!
Hi Matthew,
This is a great article and very helpful! In a way I’m echoing what the poster above mentioned regarding pseudonyms. Not so much for the site itself, but more for a blog run as part of the site with the intention of increasing organic traffic? If you are running an e-commerce site with a blog page as part of it written by a blogger using a “pen name”, is google likely to penalise you for this? The purpose of the blog would be to write articles in a generally similar niche to the site, writing product reviews and such and linking to them on the main e-commerce site? Could it be better to have the e-commerce site running ‘standalone’ and set up a completely separate blog with a completely separate URL/hosting to do this?
Hey Tom,
To be honest, I would not suggest you run an ecommerce site under a pseudonym or ‘pen name’.
Google wants to know that the person behind the store is real and accountable. By using a ‘pen name’ or pseudonym, you’re doing the contrary of what Google wants. So it’s quite risky.
And, even if you ‘only’ use the ‘fake name’ only on the blog… How do you make this person real to Google’s eyes? This is the question you should be asking yourself.
And to answer your last question: No, I don’t think it’s better to have the ecommerce store separated from the blog.
The blog is supposed to give practical information about your products or services. It’s a bridge between the products you’re selling and the information they need.
If you separate the blog from the ecommerce store, you lose all this.
Long time reader and I follow your youtube channel too. Question: What can I do if I don’t want to put my house on a google my business account. What did you do in the case study? Thanks
Put your registred business address.
Nice an amazing content
Thanks- Cheers!
Fantastic case study, Matthew! It reminds me of when I got hit by Google Penguin in 2013 with an e-commerce site, and disavow links were not enough to bring rankings back. What do you think was the most crucial factor in recovering from that penalty, or was all of them combined?
Thank you, Marcello- I’ll say all of them combined!
Hi Mathew
Thanks for another great case study to get our teeth into!
Just one question though: in some case studies you have made links through PBN’s. Now if you have made the pbn’s specifically for the site you are working on then won’t they normally have 0 traffic to begin with? Does this matter when linking to them? As you mentioned in this and other studies that when trying to find a site to link out from through guest posts etc try to find sites with at least 500 visitors per month?
Thanks
A site having traffic is not a known ranking signal, take a look at Ahrefs post on this https://ahrefs.com/blog/links-with-traffic-study/
But it is a long term quality signal
What would you suggest when a website is ran under a pseudonym? Would you create profiles under the pseudonym name?
Hmm, that’s a tricky question.
If you run a site under a pseudonym, then you need to think: ‘how am I going to make that person real?’
Because Google wants to see real & accountable person behind websites not anonymous spammers.
So be careful…
Matthew, How are you? You did a nice job. How much did you charge to this client?
Hey Mahbub! Thank you but, sorry, I can’t give you this information-
Great read. I’m interested in seeing your take on a case study from the November core update especially in the affiliate space.
Yes, I second that, that would be great.