Callum Scott talks with Jason Barnard about understanding and recovering from Google traffic drops. Callum Scott specializes in conducting data-driven and qualitative SEO analysis, focusing primarily on traffic drop analysis, technical SEO and content quality. Callum is expert on Google’s Knowledge Graph and Google’s use of Entity Understanding for information retrieval and the entire search ecosystem. With over 5 years of experience in complex SEO environments, Callum has conducted nearly 100 technical and content-focused SEO audits, helped many websites achieve consistent growth and integrated well with an organisation’s existing team and framework. Imagine you're navigating through a busy city and suddenly your GPS goes off. That's the same kind of confusion and vexation you feel when Google traffic drops affect your website. It's unsettling, irritating, and can definitely impact your profits. But once you understand why it happens and how to recover from it, you'll be back on track in no time. This essential knowledge not only protects your website's performance, but also gives you the ability to navigate the ever-changing world of search engine optimization. In this incredibly awesome episode, Callum (Callie) Scott reveals great nuggets and some real-life examples about traffic drops, their causes and how a website can recover from them. There are also three categories of traffic drops due to core updates - Broad Site Quality Reassessments, Searcher Intent Shift and Relevance, which Callum insightfully explains and suggests alternative strategies to help websites with ranking issues. Callum also highlights how to deal with Google's changing understanding of intent and the shift in SERPs. As always, the show ends with passing the baton… Callum passes the virtual baton to next week’s super groovy guest, Alex Sanfilippo. What you’ll learn from Callum Scott 00:00 Callum Scott and Jason Barnard 01:08 Callum Scott’s Generative AI Result on Google 01:30 Kalicube Support Group 01:38 Blue Orchid Digital Ltd Brand SERP 03:22 When Did Google Start Relying More on Quality Signals Than on Pagerank or Word Count? 04:51 How Has AI Affected Google's Categorization of Website Quality? 05:53 What Significant Algorithm Changes Did Google Make in 2017? 06:26 How Did the Shift Towards Machine Learning Unfold Within the Google Search Team Between 2014 and 2017? 07:34 Understanding the Role of Features in Machine Learning for E-E-A-T 08:25 How Does Google's Confidence in Displaying a Knowledge Panel Affect Users' Trust in Their Search Results? 09:51 What are Some Examples of Traffic Drops, Causes and Recoveries? 10:55 Three Categories of Traffic Drops Due to Core Updates 11:04 First Category: Broad Site Quality Reassessments 12:16 How Does the Persistence of Low-quality Content Affect Google's Focus and Resource Allocation for a Website? 12:48 Second Category: Searcher Intent Shift 14:29 How Feasible is it for a Single Website to be Ranked for Both Informational and Transactional Intents? 16:01 How to Deal with the Change in Google's Understanding of Intent and the Shift in SERPs 18:12 Third Category: Relevance 19:30 What is the Best Alternative Strategy for Websites with Ranking Issues? 21:25 What are the Challenges of Convincing Clients to Address Traffic Drops by Individually Prioritizing Pages and Queries? 23:18 Traffic Drop Following a Core Update: Wait or Act Immediately 24:28 How to Convince Clients Not to Panic When Traffic Drops? 27:36 How Can Branded Search Help to Mitigate a Traffic Drop 29:35 Padding the Baton: Callum (Callie) Scott to Alex Sanfilippo This episode was recorded live on video August 29th 2023