post-core-update-recovery

name	post-core-update-recovery
description	Use when a website experienced a sudden visibility/ranking drop that correlates with a published Google Core Update — symptoms include broad ranking loss across many keywords in a short window (1–6 weeks), Sistrix VI dropping 30 %+ from peak, sales/leads falling despite no technical changes, the owner saying "we used to rank, now we don't" but pages still load and index normally. Distinguishes Core-Update damage from CWV/technical drops and produces a phased 6–12 month recovery plan focused on Authority and EEAT.
user-invokable	true
argument-hint	[domain]
allowed-tools	["Read","Grep","Glob"]
license	MIT
metadata	{"author":"Max Schottke","version":"0.4.1","category":"marketing"}

Post-Core-Update Recovery

Overview

A specific recovery framework for domains that lost visibility after a Google Core Update. Core insight from real March/April 2026 recovery cases: Authority items > technical hygiene. Recovery 6–12 months, not 6–8 weeks.

When to use

• VI drop correlates timely with a published Core Update (see Google Search Status Dashboard)
• Drop is broad (many keywords simultaneously, not pinpoint)
• Pages keep indexing normally, no technical break
• GSC shows no manual action
• Pattern: 1–6 weeks of decline, then bottoming out

Don't use for:

• Point keyword losses → usually on-page issue, not core update
• Drop coincides with migration / theme change / robots change → that's technical, not core
• Drop is <20 % from peak → can be normal market noise

Diagnosis decision tree

digraph diag {
    "Visibility dropped?" [shape=diamond];
    "Correlates with Core Update date?" [shape=diamond];
    "Brand keywords also dropped?" [shape=diamond];
    "Manual action in GSC?" [shape=diamond];
    "CWV suddenly red?" [shape=diamond];
    "Apply Recovery (this skill)" [shape=box,style=filled,fillcolor=lightblue];
    "Technical problem first" [shape=box,style=filled,fillcolor=lightyellow];
    "Penalty workflow, not here" [shape=box,style=filled,fillcolor=lightcoral];
    "Performance-first workflow" [shape=box,style=filled,fillcolor=lightyellow];
    "Market noise, observe" [shape=box];

    "Visibility dropped?" -> "Correlates with Core Update date?" [label="yes"];
    "Correlates with Core Update date?" -> "Manual action in GSC?" [label="yes"];
    "Manual action in GSC?" -> "Penalty workflow, not here" [label="yes"];
    "Manual action in GSC?" -> "Brand keywords also dropped?" [label="no"];
    "Brand keywords also dropped?" -> "Technical problem first" [label="yes"];
    "Brand keywords also dropped?" -> "CWV suddenly red?" [label="no"];
    "CWV suddenly red?" -> "Performance-first workflow" [label="yes"];
    "CWV suddenly red?" -> "Apply Recovery (this skill)" [label="no"];
    "Correlates with Core Update date?" -> "Market noise, observe" [label="no"];
}

If brand keywords are intact and CWV is stable but generic keywords are broadly lost → this is the core signature of a Core Update hit.

Required diagnostic steps (day 1)

1. Document the Core Update date — see https://status.search.google.com/products/rGHU1u87FJnkP6W2GwMi/history. Match Sistrix drop date exactly.
2. Measure the Sistrix drop diff — monthly values 12 months before vs 1–3 months after the update.
3. DataForSEO ranked-keywords diff — compare top positions pre vs post update. Specific URL clusters affected or distributed uniformly?
4. GSC click diff — which URLs lost most traffic? Pattern visible (all blog posts? all product pages? all YMYL topics?)
5. EEAT audit of lost top URLs — author visible? Sources cited? Last-updated stamp? Trust layer (About, Imprint, Reviews)?

Recovery plan (3 phases × 6–12 months)

Phase A — Authority foundation (months 1–2)

What Google especially scrutinizes in Core Updates:

• Author authority — Person behind the content, qualifications visible
• Topical authority — Site covers the topic in depth AND breadth, not just isolated pages
• Trust signals — About, Imprint, Reviews, Sources, Date stamps
• Original insight — Own data, own perspective rather than "I read elsewhere"

Concrete steps:

1. Rebuild every author page: photo, bio with qualifications, list of articles, social profiles (LinkedIn/X), Person schema
2. Edit each affected top URL: author visible (+schema), dateModified, sources with outbound links, update notes
3. Strengthen About/Imprint pages: team intro, company history, location, contact — mandatory trust signals
4. Sitewide: reviews/testimonials visible above the fold (manage on original platforms, NOT mirror sites)

Phase B — Topical authority hubs (months 2–4)

Goal: transform a collection of scattered pages into coherent topic hubs.

1. Identify main topics (3–7 for e-commerce, 5–15 for news/publishers)
2. Per topic: 1 pillar page (1500–3000 words, comprehensive) + 5–15 sub-pages (600–1500 words each, specific)
3. Internal linking: sub-pages link to pillar, pillar links to all subs ("hub-and-spoke")
4. If available: use claude-seo:seo-cluster for data-driven topic identification

Phase C — Off-page authority (months 4–8)

Backlinks deliberately, not at scale:

1. Manufacturer/supplier partnerships for links
2. Industry communities (e-commerce: camper forums, boating blogs; news: investigations, exclusive stories)
3. Local press (regional anchor, PR opportunities)
4. Original studies/data — generates organic links better than anything else

What NOT to do:

• Link-building services with "100 links for €500" → leads to spam score, recovery even harder
• Reciprocal links at scale
• PBN backlinks
• Forum spam

Phase D — Technical hygiene (in parallel, lowest priority)

Only after A–C are running:

• PSI optimization (LCP, INP, CLS)
• Schema markup completeness
• Image alt texts, sitemap hygiene

These are NOT the recovery lever — Core Updates don't penalize tech, they penalize trust/authority. But technical hygiene supports the other levers.

Realistic expectations

• Visible movement typically starts only after 3–4 months in the recovery case we observed and in the public Core-Update-recovery cases referenced in LESSONS.md. Google needs time to re-evaluate authority signals.
• Full recovery usually takes 9–18 months in the cases referenced. We are not aware of significantly faster recoveries published; if you find one, please contribute the observation back to LESSONS.md.
• Recovery outcome in observed cases is in the 50–80 % range of pre-drop visibility. Full recovery to 100 % seems to require structural changes (new content lines, new authority sources), not just optimization of what existed before. These percentages are observations from a small case-base, not population statistics — treat them as input hypotheses, not predictions.
• Pattern: recovery comes in jumps, often timed with the next Core Update rather than gradually.

Owner communication

Don't say:

• "It'll be back to normal in 6 weeks"
• "We know the trick to fix this"
• "Sistrix score will double in 4 weeks"

Do say:

• "We measure monthly. First positive movement expected in 3–4 months."
• "This is an authority problem, not a technical problem. Fixing it takes time."
• "We're building the substance Google looks for — not the trick."

Common rationalization traps

Statement	Reality
"Let's buy 200 backlinks"	Raises spam score, makes recovery harder
"Let's do a relaunch"	More risk than upside — substance first, then form
"Better PSI will bring us back"	PSI is hygiene, not the core update lever
"More pages = more traffic"	False — thin content weakens authority further
"We did everything right"	In a Core Update Google changes the scoring. Being "right" doesn't help.

Related skills

• claude-seo:seo-audit — for the technical hygiene layer in Phase D
• claude-seo:seo-cluster — for topical-authority-hub identification
• seo-outreach-report — when the owner needs a printable status report

Real data points (anonymized 2026 cases)

• March/April 2026 update: mid-size DE shop lost 50 % VI in 4 weeks
• Diagnosis pattern confirmed: brand keywords stable, generic keywords broadly lost, CWV unchanged
• Recovery plan: 6–12 months, Authority-First. Tech (PSI/Schema) in parallel but not the primary lever.
• Lesson (Sistrix wording on March update): "Authority beats interchangeability"

A second real case (DE news site) showed the same pattern in April/May 2026: −60 % VI in 6 weeks, brand stability intact — news/YMYL variant of the same algo recalibration.