Hello Jessica... I found out that particular Google update affected for the most a health niche and some others as well. I talked to many people on forums around the globe. Some of them lost 70-100% of traffic and sales..
Most of my sites are in a health niche. So, I got the whole blast and am still working on recovering from it.

I keep updating my old post, pages, changing titles, writing new fresh content, working on optimizing all my pictures, mob site speed, chache, etc..

One of the strange things and the most frustrated seeing some simple half empty new sites with content stolen from my sites and ranking higher. Many people told me about the same situation in their cases. Nobody understands why Google changed so much that real good websites with unique content, many customers and readers feedback were dropped and replaced by some simple not really helpful for readers sites.. Big puzzle...

At the moment, I don't see much bounce back yet. Hopefully I will see some results of my effort shortly. What the choice we have? Just plug in and keep working.

I just checked your profile and see that you are in the same health niche "boat". Well.. You are not alone there for sure.

What are you experiencing with your traffic and sales?

Tanya

Hi Tanya,

Ironically, my content was just stolen recently. I did a post about it here yesterday. Someone took my entire post and copied it onto their site. They used the same title and kept all my headings. They just removed my affiliate links and replaced them with their own! They took off my name at the end of the post but kept my affiliate disclosure with my website name in it!! How brazen!

That person is ranked #1 on Yahoo and Bing for the same search term that has me ranked #2. So they are outranking me with my own content that they stole.

I am so sorry to hear you had the same problem.

My traffic has been down and my sales are down. I am not sure exactly what percentage yet. I just had the longest stretch without any sales that I have had in a long time.

The website I am referring to is my cat health and behavior site. I wonder if cat health is close enough to human health to be affected by this update?

My nutrition site is new and I had not started getting much traffic yet anyway so hard to say if this is affecting it.

I have been reading the forums on the update as well and it sounds very discouraging. If they truly are favoring Ads and commercial sites over small sites (big pharma vs. smaller natural health sites) I don't know how hard it will be to overcome this downturn. It is really a shame since the internet was a great equalizer that allowed regular people to get the information they needed and this is taking that freedom away if big companies get highlighted.

I truly share your frustration Jessica as I have had experience that some "smart and creative" affiliate fellows created their websites and got most of my ideas and research, rewrote it and presented as their own on their sites. We keep copying almost any steps I make it now..Well.. This is an ongoing process and I just keep trying something so unique that it is difficult to steal..

If your content was completely stolen, you should report it to Google. My copy cats are smarter, They rewrite it and use different pictures and titles.

Regarding the recent update, you are right that for us small sites are pretty tough to compete with big pharma sites.

I am planning to keep writing many new posts using a very low hanging fruits keywords. I cannot give up and let Google to ruin years of my hard work.

I also noticed that this time Google ranked much higher many YouTube videos. So, if you are not on YouTube, this is time to do it. It helps me a lot now not to loose all my traffic.

At the same time, I am thinking to start digging in a new niche,not in a health niche even though this one is the closest to my expertise and experience.

I will let you know if I see any positive changes on my ranking and traffic.

Have a great evening.

Tanya

I reported it right away to Google and Bing yesterday. It was blatant stealing. They did not bother to change anything at all, just remove my links and my name at the end!

Thanks for the suggestions. I have heard many times that You Tube is great for getting traffic now. I guess I have to be brave and dive in and try it. I have never even used the camera on my laptop once and I have had the laptop for years! I just don't do online Skype type stuff much.

Do you think my cat site could fall under the "health" category for the purpose of the Google update? This is very bad news for my new site I just started this winter. That is my true passion but squarely in the health niche! Ugggggg.

Maybe it is time to move onto the third idea I have which is a WA promotion type site but that just isn't as interesting to me.

Thanks!
Jessica

I think that your cat site is in a health niche. But I would not give it up especially if you already got some sales and ranked on the 1st page. Your site is pretty young, less than a year.

I would keep it up, creating new posts, reviews, videos.

But at the same time, you might look around as well or if cats are you passion dig into that one dipper maybe more how to train them compare to dogs, make videos about your cats with your comments and recommendations, etc..

If you have enough time, you might look at other niches which are close to your passion like cooking, sport, etc..

I don't do WA promotion myself as even I have been on the market for 4 years, I don't consider myself as a super expert. Maybe when I will retire, this will be my niche..lol..

Keep in touch. I followed you here..

Have a great night.

Tanya

My cat site is over 2 years old. It is my nutrition site that is new. I am not planning to quit my cat site, I just wondered if I should focus on other things rather than getting my nutrition site up and running now. I guess I will see how it goes. That is my true passion and there seems to be a ton of interest in the few posts I have done there already so I don't want to give it up.

Thanks, you too.

Thank you Eddy for your reply. This is exactly I have been doing for last 3 years. I have had consistent traffic, a bit slow growing though as I am working on several projects at the same time and this worked pretty well.
And suddenly I noticed big changes in ranking and traffic. I see new competitors stepped in, took my ideas, rewritten my content and started ranking above me. This is what is the most frustrating.
Unfortunately Google takes it as a new "unique" content for some reason.

Only one thing I see that Google pays more attention to the post titles. I am going to check it and update some of my old ones.

Thank you very much again for your recommendations. I hope to sort everything out soon and come back to normal routine as this recent Google update really affected my sales as well.

Have a great day.

Tanya

No worries. Titles are very important and you should definitely apply what WA teaches about them to all your articles. I've gone back and updated old articles and that can have a huge impact. So it's worth doing. At the end of the day your site is older than the new competition and that usually works out in the long run. As long as you're writing new content that is providing value google will adjust. If I kept paying attention to when the competition mimiced my content I'd drive myself crazy. I just keep plugging away. But I can totally understand why you would freak out. SEO is like a damn roller coaster ride. But focus on the long term and not fluctuations that can happen day to day or even month to month. It usually evens out if you're doing the right things. Sometimes I just avoid looking at some of those numbers on a given week of month because I freak out. But then when I look later it's all good again. Lol

Thank you very much Eddy for your support and recommendations. I am going to concentrate on my titles and new posts. Luck of sleep ( 3-4 hours a night) for last 9 days did not help me to keep my emotions straight as well. We got a little 8 weeks puppy which needs constant watching and potty training. A little puppy is like a newborn baby but without diapers..lol..

Thank you again and have a great week.

Tanya

Oh i totally feel your pain. Having a new pup or baby equals very little sleep. lol