---
title: 'Website Owner Says Google Gaslit Him After Losing 85% Traffic'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=K8OGNNNOdGU'
video_id: 'K8OGNNNOdGU'
date: 2026-07-17
---

# Website Owner Says Google Gaslit Him After Losing 85% Traffic

> Source: [Website Owner Says Google Gaslit Him After Losing 85% Traffic](https://youtube.com/watch?v=K8OGNNNOdGU)

## Summary

A website owner recounts losing 85% of his traffic after a Google algorithm update, being invited to Google headquarters to discuss concerns, and ultimately feeling gaslit as traffic continued to decline despite promises of improvement.

### Key Points

- **Traffic Loss After Update** [00:00] — The website dropped from about 200,000 visitors per month to around 200,000 per month, down 85% after a Google update.
- **Invitation to Google** [00:07] — Google invited the website owner to their headquarters to discuss the state of search and his concerns.
- **No Improvement After Meeting** [00:15] — Despite the meeting, traffic has gotten significantly worse since then, and the owner feels misled.
- **Accusation of Gaslighting** [00:22] — The owner accuses Google of gaslighting by promising improvement that never materialized.
- **Google's Guidelines Not Followed** [00:30] — The owner claims Google does not follow its own guidelines and does not reward sites that do.

### Conclusion

The website owner feels betrayed by Google, as the promised recovery never occurred and traffic continues to plummet, highlighting a disconnect between Google's stated guidelines and actual outcomes.

## Transcript

Google invited this man to their headquarters after they took his website traffic away. He couldn't believe what came next. >> And then the update happened. We are around about 200,000 visitors a month now. We're still down about 85% traffic. Google decided to invite me in to talk about the state of search. We sat down and spoke about my concerns. As we've seen, you know, nothing's came from that and traffic has gotten a lot worse since that meeting. >> So, do you feel like you were gaslit by Google? >> A little bit, yeah. It's almost like they're saying, "Hey, it's going to get better. Follow this donut on a stick. It's going to get better." But actually, it hasn't got better. >> So, do you think that Google's guidelines are just a bunch of lies? >> Google doesn't follow them themselves and they don't reward the websites that follow them.