the challenge
A general contractor’s website, AZ Neighbor experienced a significant decline in organic traffic and keyword rankings following a WordPress hack. The client attempted to recover from the hack by publishing numerous low-quality, AI-generated “Point of Interest” pages (over 100 pages) that were unrelated to their core business. This counterproductive approach led to a penalty and further diluted the website’s topical authority.
“Point of Interest” pages are a type of SEO content that focuses on specific locations or attractions within a service area. For example, a business in Phoenix might create pages for numerous Phoenix attractions, with each page linking back to the main service page. The idea behind this strategy, which is often misguided, is that by creating a large volume of location-specific pages, a website can improve its rankings for local search terms. However, search engines often view these pages as low-value content, especially when they are AI-generated and lack unique, helpful information. This can lead to penalties and a decline in overall site performance, as seen in this case.
The Core Problems
- A WordPress hack that introduced thousands of spammy URLs.
- Publication of over 100 low-quality, AI-generated pages in an attempt to recover from the hack.
- A significant decline in organic traffic and keyword rankings.
- Mixed-up permalinks, unclear canonicals, page duplicates, and accidental removal of certain pages due to the hack.
the starting point
The website was previously thriving in terms of rankings and traffic. However, after the hack and the attempt to recover, the site experienced a major drop. Specific data points are unavailable, but the site went from a healthy state to one with significantly reduced visibility.
The key actions taken included
Technical SEO Audit and Fixes
A thorough technical SEO audit was conducted to identify and resolve the issues caused by the hack. This included:
- Fixing broken internal links.
- Eliminating duplicate pages.
- Recovering accidentally removed pages.
- Resolving Elementor page design issues.
- Correcting accidentally no-indexed pages.
- Rectifying mixed-up permalinks and canonicalization issues.
Penalty Recovery
To address the penalty resulting from the AI-generated spam pages, a strategic content approach was taken:
- Most of the low-quality, AI-generated “Point of Interest” pages were removed.
- A select few local service pages, showcasing the client’s expertise and past projects, were retained.
- This focused approach aimed to restore the website’s topical authority and signal quality to Google.
The Results
The implemented strategy successfully restored the website’s organic performance. After Google reevaluated the website’s quality and content, the following results were achieved:
- Rankings returned to pre-issue levels.
- Organic traffic regained its former levels.
Key Achievements
This case study demonstrates the effectiveness of a comprehensive SEO strategy in recovering from a website hack and an AI content penalty. Key achievements include:
- Successful recovery from a WordPress hack, including the resolution of complex technical issues.
- Penalty removal by addressing the root cause of the AI-generated spam pages and focusing on high-quality, relevant content.
- Restoration of organic traffic and keyword rankings to their previous levels, proving the effectiveness of the implemented solutions.
- Improved overall website health through a thorough technical SEO audit and remediation.
Note: The site owners asked not to reveal their GSC data, so I can only include a Semrush screenshot after the hack.
Don’t let a website hack or content penalty derail your business—I can provide the expert SEO help you need to get your site back on track and recover lost rankings.
