Understanding Organic Ranking Changes in Google

A client came to us stuck at 669 monthly visitors despite having massive content volume. 9 months later: 4,195 visitors (527% increase). The problem wasn't lack of content. It was too much of the wrong content. Here's how we cleaned it up: Problem #1: Content Quality Crisis After auditing all 1,200+ URLs, we found the real issue. Thin content everywhere. Duplicate pages. Auto-generated looking stuff that screamed "scaled content abuse" to Google's filters. This wasn't just hurting rankings. It was putting the entire domain at risk. Our fix: - Removed low-value pages completely - Applied noindex to borderline content - Focused the site on true topical authority Result? We cut the fat and kept only content that served real search intent. Problem #2: Pagination Disaster Google had completely stopped indexing paginated URLs. Why? Misconfigured canonicals and a noindex rule that blocked pagination entirely. This meant: - Lost indexation across hundreds of pages - Zero equity flowing through internal links - Google couldn't discover new content We corrected the canonical logic and removed the noindex tags. Within weeks, Google started crawling properly again. Problem #3: Blocked Critical Resources The robots.txt file was blocking essential CSS and JavaScript. Google couldn't render pages correctly. This killed their ability to understand page content and user experience signals. We adjusted robots.txt to allow crawling of critical resources. Page rendering improved. Rankings started climbing. Once the technical foundation was solid, we shifted to content expansion. Built 24 long-form pillar articles targeting primary keyword clusters in their niche. Each article: - Used AI for outlines (speed) - Required editorial review (quality) - Positioned as authoritative resources (E-E-A-T) These weren't thin AI posts. They were comprehensive guides the audience actually wanted. The results? January 2025: 669 organic sessions September 2025: 4,195 organic sessions 527% traffic increase. Engaged sessions jumped from 295 to 2,109 (614% increase). Engagement rate climbed from 44.1% to 50.27%. Most agencies focus on publishing more content. We focused on three things: - Remove content that hurts domain trust - Fix technical issues blocking Google's crawlers - Only then add strategic content that builds authority The technical fixes came first. Content expansion came second.

Last night I went through the entire Google I/O presentation and took notes. Here's everything you need to know if you care about organic search growth. Google just punched back. Hard. After months of ChatGPT and Perplexity eating into mindshare, Google’s making it clear: they’re not just defending search, they’re rebuilding it from the ground up. And if you’re still clinging to traditional SEO tactics? This isn’t good news. Here’s what’s changing, and what it actually means: ✅ 1. AI Overviews will now be everywhere (search gets Gemini native) Google’s AI Overviews are no longer a side experiment. They’re the default for a growing number of queries, especially high-intent, high-competition ones. ➜ Instead of 10 blue links, users now get instant answers. ➜ Fewer clicks. Fewer impressions. Lower attribution. If your strategy depends on getting users to scroll and click, rethink it. We're in the era of zero-click, summary-first search. ✅ 2. Search becomes a chat interface (similar to ChatGPT, Perplexity, etc.) Google’s doubling down on conversational follow-ups. ➜ Ask a question. ➜ Refine it. ➜ Go deeper, without ever leaving the SERP. It’s Google turning into an LLM-native product, not just a portal to websites. Implication? Your content has to be extractable, structurable, and context-rich. If it’s not feeding the model, it’s invisible. ✅ 3. Multimodal Search: “Search Live” is here You can now point your camera at a product, ask complex questions, and get real-time answers. ➜ It’s not just keywords anymore. ➜ It’s vision, context, and intent, all rolled into one. Not entirely sure how it really impacts our strategies, but its clear that SEOs need to start thinking beyond pages and metadata. Start thinking of product feeds, real-world context, visual discovery. Not just blog posts. ✅ 4. Project Astra: AI, everywhere (even inside your G-drive) Astra is Google’s answer to ChatGPT’s assistant layer. And it remembers, contextualizes, and adapts across your apps. The takeaway? Brand visibility isn’t just about SERPs. It’s about being present in the tools your audience lives in. Think Gmail, Docs, Android, etc. How do you do that? Build a product/brand people love talking about. So what now? Most SEO strategies were built for a search engine that looked like a list. But Google is clearly designing for a future where… → Queries aren’t typed → Links aren’t clicked → And answers don’t require websites If you’re still optimizing for Page 1 rankings and thinking “content = traffic,” you’re playing last year’s game. The next wave of organic growth isn’t about chasing rankings. It’s about earning presence across channels, surfaces, and formats. That’s the new SEO. Whether we like it or not. #seo #saas #contentstrategy #b2b #b2bmarketing #digitalmarketing #seostrategy

I’ve been relatively quiet on here lately because, well, things are changing. Fast. The latest shift? A steep decline in search and direct traffic since Google’s June 30 Core Algorithm Update. We’ve spent the last year talking about how generative search and LLMs will chip away at website traffic, but until now, the impact felt theoretical. Not anymore. This latest update rolled out AI Overviews across most searches. And since then, traffic has been in free fall, for organic and the catch-all, direct. We’re seeing the biggest impact on large content publishers, but smaller sites aren’t immune. So, what does it mean? Honestly, a lot. We’re entering a kind of SEO-stagflation. For some sites, impressions will rise while clicks fall. For others, impressions stay flat, but clicks still decline. Your ranking drops, and even if you hold position, the value of a click is shrinking. The percentage of influence a website has in the sales process—especially during discovery—is declining. That doesn’t make websites irrelevant. But it does suggest a shift. Websites as conversion points, not education hubs. And asking, “What replaces websites?” misses the point. Instead, it's a rethinking of what's actually important in the marketing cycle. Reach will drop. Engagement metrics won’t tell the full story. Intent will be measured in views and impressions, not clicks. Frequency will become the gold standard. Positioning will outweigh tactics and placements because everyone will have tactics and placements. Community is no longer a buzzword. It’s becoming the new distribution strategy. Weird times ahead. Probably good for the consumer. Definitely tough for marketers explaining this to CEOs and shareholders over the next few quarters. Hold on. It’s going to be fun.

🚨 Organic search has changed. Here’s what I’m seeing. 🚨 Lately, I’ve been diving deep into how search is evolving as I think about Pavilion's marketing strategy. And I’m not the only one - this has been a hot topic in Pavilion’s community, with many of our members asking the same questions: ❓ What does the future of organic search look like? ❓ How do we adapt our strategies before it’s too late? The reality is, what used to work in search isn’t working the same way anymore. 🔹 Zero-click searches are dominating. Google is keeping more traffic on its own platform. Over 60% of searches now end without a click to another site. 🔹 AI-driven search is shifting buyer behavior. Tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI-generated answers (SGE) are changing how people find and trust information. 🔹 Buyers are turning to people, not pages. We’re seeing more product discovery happening in communities (like Pavilion), on LinkedIn, and in peer-led conversations rather than through traditional search rankings. So, what does this mean for marketing leaders? If you’re still measuring success by how high your site ranks on Google, you’re already behind. The game has changed, and the companies that adapt now will be the ones set up for long-term success. Here’s what I’m focused on (and what you should be too): ✅ Optimizing for AI-driven search: Making content more digestible for AI by structuring it with schema markup, concise summaries, and AI-friendly formats like FAQs ✅ Creating content AI can’t replicate: Proprietary research, strong opinions, case studies, and human-driven insights will be what stands out ✅ Building brand and owned audiences: If Google is keeping more traffic, you need direct relationships with your audience through email, communities, and thought leadership ✅ Reevaluating attribution: With more buying conversations happening in dark social (Slack, WhatsApp, LinkedIn DMs), relying on traditional tracking will leave you blind to what’s actually driving growth The Biggest Challenge? For the last decade, most marketers have been optimized for performance marketing, not brand. Now, trust and authority are becoming the biggest factors in discovery, not just by people, but by AI models deciding what information to surface. This is something I’m actively thinking about for Pavilion, and it’s a conversation we’re having daily in the community. How is your team adjusting to this shift? Would love to hear your perspective - drop your thoughts in the comments👇 #Marketing #SEO #kathleenhq

Google's algorithm has evolved, but most SEO agencies are still optimizing like it's 2018. The algorithm now understand topics, entities, and semantic relationships, But most service providers are still targeting individual keywords instead of building topical authority. They're creating isolated blog posts instead of comprehensive content clusters. They're thinking in terms of pages ranking instead of sites becoming authorities. Semantic SEO requires understanding how concepts connect, how entities relate, and how search engines map knowledge across your entire domain. Most agencies don't have this level of strategic thinking because they're still stuck in the tactical keyword-stuffing mindset. This knowledge gap is exactly why agency dependency is so dangerous. While the average agency is using outdated approaches, your actual competitors who understand semantic optimization are building unassailable topical authority. Our SEO Growth Accelerator teaches your team to think "big picture" from day one. You learn to build content that demonstrates comprehensive expertise across interconnected topics, not just individual keyword targets. When you understand entity relationships and semantic relevance, you can create content strategies that dominate entire topic areas instead of competing for individual keywords. The agencies stuck in keyword-centric thinking will keep delivering incremental improvements while you build systematic competitive advantages they can't even see coming. Because the future of SEO revolves around becoming the recognized authority for everything related to your expertise.

SEO Update! Latest Google Core Update is, well, NUTS! So I've been mulling through the data and what I am seeing is really interesting. I am seeing LOTS of sites where rankings / traffic has started to recover BUT, that's not the interesting bit. The interesting bit is the SUDDEN change in served queries, I've noticed a sharp reduction in served queries for content where the queries were typically LSV (low search volume) AND less relevant to overall page content. You see - for a long time, if you produced longer form content it was HARDER for Google to interpret the "root" context of what something was - for example: You are a cosmetic surgery/treatments business and you over-produced informational content on service pages, diluting what the page was actually about (service) over becoming a long-form article. Or casino / iGaming affiliate sites that were pumping out 10k-15k articles around best / top casinos, bonus codes etc. etc. where the content ended up losing "raw" context and where Google would serve the page for a broader range of queries. Quite often, pages would be served for hundreds, sometimes THOUSANDS of queries where a sizeable portion of them were "less relevant" and in many cases "not relevant". And this is where I think MUVERA will change things and where RankBrain etc. will continue to get better at understanding document context. What I have been seeing in the last week is a SIGNIFICANT drop off in "diluted" queries from thousands of observed URLS. Whatever this core update includes, it LOOKS to be a significant refinement to how Google is interpreting content rather than any "HCU" reversal. I am seeing pages shed less relevant queries but start to do better for queries that are properly aligned with what the page is. Anyway - I am continuing to observe and will share anything else I find interesting.

Ever wonder why organic traffic/rankings decreased or increased on your website? Here's the process I use in under two minutes to identify what content changes may have either tanked or increased traffic to a website: 1) In tools like GSC or AHREF's, compare the day after the drop to the day before. This will uncover what page dropped. 2) Enter the affected URL in Ahrefs Site Explorer 3) Click on the green dot in the graph view    This little-known feature is hidden in plain sight, but it's a goldmine for troubleshooting. 4) Review the before/after snapshots    Ahrefs shows you exactly what changed - from major content rewrites to tiny HTML tweaks that might have broken your schema markup. 5) Look for critical missing elements    Often it's what was removed that causes the damage - a deleted H1, product specs, section of content removed. 6) Fix what was broken and document it  Restore the elements that were working, then create a change management process so this doesn't happen again. Use this feature to: ✅ Diagnose causes to rankings fluctuations ✅ Audit content evolution over time ✅ Track changes from top competitors This saves scrambling to find the issue and overcompensating with changes that make the situation worse. Enjoy!

Organic traffic is dropping—and it’s not just you. It’s systemic. Aimclear just published a brutally honest breakdown of why this is happening, and frankly, it’s a must-read for anyone who’s still scratching their head over vanishing clicks. “Google isn’t just surfacing fewer organic results — it’s conditioning users to never leave the platform.” We’ve been watching this shift happen for years. But now, it’s gone from subtle to structural. - AI overviews steal visibility - Featured snippets give away the answer, not the click - Reddit, YouTube, and Google’s own content dominate top real estate - Zero-click searches are the norm This isn’t just an algorithm tweak—it’s a full pivot in business strategy. Google’s evolving from a search engine into a destination. One where keeping users on-platform is more profitable than sending them to your site. In other words: “Google is not your friend. It’s your frenemy.” You feel it in organic, but you also feel it in paid: Cost per click? Rising. Quality of traffic? Falling. Conversion paths? Longer and fuzzier. It’s a frustrating shift, especially for those who play by the rules, focus on quality content, and invest in sustainable strategies. But it’s also a wake-up call: If your strategy still revolves around ranking for head terms, you’re going to struggle. If you rely too heavily on Google as your main acquisition source, you’re vulnerable. If your funnel is built around top-of-funnel traffic that never converts, it’s time to rethink. So, what can you do? → Invest in the platforms and channels you own → Build an email list you control → Develop content that earns return visits, not just clicks → Build brand equity, not just SERP equity → Focus on value delivery, not just volume Google’s playing the long game, and it’s playing for itself.

Remember when SEO was straightforward? You targeted the right keywords, optimized your content, and watched your site climb the rankings. Things are shifting. AI-generated search summaries are becoming more prominent, pushing organic links and even paid ads further down the page. In the graph, you can see this happening! The % of search queries triggering an AI overview has increased from July to August, and to November. You’ve probably noticed it, yourself. According to WARC’s The Future of Media 2025, Google’s AI Overviews now take up prime real estate in search results, providing instant answers rather than directing users to websites. This shift is already impacting click-through rates. A study by SE Ranking found that when AI Overviews appear, CTR on search ads drops by 36%. That means lower traffic, fewer conversions, and diminishing ROI for brands that rely on traditional search strategies. Importantly, as the chart shows, your search ads are more likely to be impacted on search queries with more words. So, simply ranking #1 on Google is no longer enough—if AI provides the answer upfront, users may have little reason to click through. The future of search isn’t just about keywords anymore; it’s about optimizing for AI-generated responses. That means optimising on search intent and conversational searches. And, maybe there’s still more change in the offing, as ads are actually now becoming part of some of the AI overviews, themselves! Search is evolving, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. As ever, the brands that adapt will thrive, and those that experiment with new strategies could get a head-start on their competition.