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Trying to diagnose a sudden site-wide SEO decline after adding Google AdSense Ads
Posted by on January 10, 2026 at 8:49 amHello dear SEO Pros,
I’m trying to understand what might be causing a sudden issue with my website’s SEO.
A few days ago, I enabled Google AdSense auto ads, specifically ads fixed to the bottom of mobile pages only. Shortly after that, I started seeing a sharp drop in search rankings across the entire website.
This doesn’t look like a normal fluctuation:
- it’s not limited to a single page or keyword group
- rankings dropped site-wide
- positions have continued to decline day by day
- organic traffic is already noticeably down
Apart from enabling ads, I haven’t:
- changed or updated content
- pushed any major technical or code updates
Ads were essentially the only change made around that time.
I’m trying to figure out whether this could be related to..
For those with experience in similar situations:
- would you roll back ads immediately or wait for more data?
- what signals or reports would you check first in Search Console?
- have you seen mobile-only changes lead to site-wide ranking drops?
The site took a lot of time and effort to build, so watching rankings fall this fast is honestly pretty concerning.
Any real-world experience or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks! -
1 Reply
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Ads are destroying the user experience, which negatively affects search engine rankings.
It’s also possible that Google scraped your website and used your content for AI Overviews. Nowadays, it’s common for traffic to drop because of AI Overviews.
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there were algo updates in December 25 and I think an adjustment around Jan 6th not sure if that has impacted you not sure if it is AdSense that would be counter productive for Google
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Core web vitals issue specifically CLS
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Another good old Google Update. Welcome to the party. Google has your data now, so you are no longer needed….
Best thing you can do is not stress about it because it is very difficult to get it back to where you want it to be.
Try and create a business that doesn’t rely on Google instead. You are wasting time by relying on them. It’s just not worth it.
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I had 300k / mo traffic and usually ads are not destroying anything since Google ads are limited and have “best user experience” (compared to other ad exchanges)
My best bet is that you were hit with Google algo update.
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Roll back and observe what happens.
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Are you sure it is because of the Ads? Have you tried looking up the keywords that are hit? Could it be the AI overview?
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I would roll back ads on the basis that Google doesn’t deserve business with you, above any other reasons.
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This could be tricky to explain, as it’s unclear what caused the decline. I haven’t seen such a ranking or performance drop after adding or enabling AdSense. In general, the December core update rolled out recently, and many websites were negatively impacted by it. At the same time, Core Web Vitals (CWV) could also be a factor, although they carry less weight.
Check whether any CWV issues are reflected in Google Search Console (GSC). Also, review the keywords where your performance declined and analyze which websites have replaced you in the rankings. What is your website’s authority? Creating high-quality backlinks will also help and may support recovery if your site was hit by the core update.
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