I think Auerbach laid out some cogent reasons why this should be questioned. A gradual decrease over time? Sure, expected. A sudden drop? That's an algorithmic

I think Auerbach laid out some cogent reasons why this should be questioned. A gradual decrease over time? Sure, expected. A sudden drop? That's an algorithmic hit, and when a site with good content (that is ranked well by other search engines) is hit negatively by the algorithm, it should be questioned. And, unfortunately, the only way to get Google to consider such a question is if enough people start echoing it.