A store owner reports a puzzling analytics pattern: rising search rankings and impressions alongside stagnant or declining organic traffic. This drop coincided with a recent spam update rollout.
Potential explanation offered:
The SEO landscape is shifting due to AI-powered search
Success now requires demonstrating E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness)
Focus should shift from keyword targeting to becoming the definitive, AI-recommended source
Recommended actions:
Create comprehensive, in-depth content covering topics from multiple angles
Implement clean, structured data to help AI systems understand offerings
Prioritize being genuinely helpful over algorithmic manipulation
The issue remains unresolved with no definitive diagnosis of whether the traffic drop relates to the spam update or broader algorithmic changes. A related community discussion link was provided for additional context.
Summarized with AI on October 23.
AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
Hi, I’ve been closely monitoring our store’s performance in Search Console and Analytics. Over the last few weeks, we’ve noticed a significant increase in average position and impressions, but the organic traffic has either remained the same or dropped compared to the previous period.
This decline started right after the first week of the recent spam update rollout. Could you please advise on how we can address this and improve our organic traffic recovery and growth?
With AI shaking up the search world, SEO is more important than ever, but the game has definitely changed. It’s less about trying to please a simple algorithm and more about feeding a really smart one. Instead of just trying to rank for a bunch of keywords, the new goal is to be the single most trusted, go-to answer that an AI would confidently recommend.
So, what does that actually mean? It all comes down to proving you’re the real deal that you have experience, expertise, and are a trustworthy source (what the pros call E-E-A-T). You do that by creating genuinely helpful, in-depth content that covers a topic from every angle. And just as importantly, you need to back it up with clean, structured data. Think of it like a perfectly organized label on the back of your product that tells the AI all the important stuff in a simple format. It’s how the AI can easily understand what you’re offering.