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Site-wide traffic drop after December core update – niche tech blog (smart home / homelab)
Posted by on January 24, 2026 at 9:24 pmHi everyone,
I’m running a German niche tech blog (https://prokrastinerd.de) focused on:
- Smart Home (Shelly, Zigbee, local setups, Home Assistant)
- Homelab / Proxmox
- some general nerd / tech history topics
After the December core update, my site had a strong site-wide drop in impressions and clicks.
Details:
- Type: informational blog + some affiliate links
- Drop timing: directly after the December core update
- Scope: affects almost all pages, not just a few URLs
- GSC metrics (3 months view):
- impressions dropped ~90%
- clicks dropped accordingly
- Average position didn’t collapse completely, but visibility did
- No manual actions, no security issues
What I already tried (4 weeks ago):
- clarified topical focus (more smart home + homelab, less mixed topics)
- improved internal linking using cornerstone / hub pages
- updated important articles
- reduced thin/experimental content
- improved category structure
So far: no recovery yet.
Questions:
- Does this look like a typical “topical authority / site classification” issue after core updates?
- Can mixing topics like AI + smart home + homelab still hurt even if everything is tech-related?
- From your experience: how long did recovery take (if at all) after the December update?
- Any patterns you’re seeing for tech blogs in particular?
I’m not looking for shortcuts or backlink tricks – just trying to understand what Google likely reassessed here.
Thanks for any insights
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1 Reply
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Sounds like a HCU strike potentially or a thin content with Affiliate links
Hey u/MissionKaleidoscope8 welcome to the sub. Going to try help you debug here
# Manual Action Penalty
Very few penalties are manual action – usually just the fist one of a case or new class of penalities. Doesn’t mean you dont have one basically
# Debugging Guide
I’m sorry that people convinced you of the “EAT” / Google Content Myth
>clarified topical focus (more smart home + homelab, less mixed topics)
>improved internal linking using cornerstone / hub pages
>updated important articles
>improved category structure
Absolutely none of these are things Google can look at. Happy to step through and debug
# Content Quality Remediation Issue
You’re free to communicate to people how you want/why you want. If people read your content and didnt wholescale go looking for a replacement – your site would’ve dropped months ago, right? Can’t be this
Your structure, tone, style, length, depth – that is your perogative
# Content Linking/Improved category structure
Interlinking is up to you – again, if this was broken, it would be unlkely your site ranked in the first place (as in if it was something that you did wrong)
And if your “category’ structure was bad- you just wont be ranking for those terms
# Thin Content – with Affiliate links
Thin content is only penalizable with affiliate links -but usually its super thin. Thin content doesnt mean 100-300 words. It means like 10 words that are provided by the affiliate parent
Thin content isn’t a problem in Google, just like duplicate content. Its usually a myth made up by people who sell words by the $ (handy business model that!)
Quick Questions – from Shaun Andersons EEAT guide for YMYL monetized sites
1. Do you have an About us
2. Do you list your contact details
3. Do you have an author/owner mentioned
4. any business registration details?
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