I see it from time to time where Googlers such as John Mueller, Gary Illyes and others might just tell someone that their rankings in Google are what is expected. The problem is, when someone is complaining that their web site has lost a ton of traffic from Google and then someone at Google tells you that this is as expected, that can hurt.
One webmaster shared this graph showing the decline in his web site's traffic:
He then asked John Mueller what is going on with Google. Why is his web site not ranking well anymore. John then responds that it is ranking where it should.
@Consellero Double-checking some of that, I don't see any negative-SEO effects in play. From our point of view, your site is ranking normally.
— John ☆.o(≧▽≦)o.☆ (@JohnMu) May 22, 2017
That is a huge zinger and it can be hard to hear the truth. Agreeing with the truth is also even harder.
Forum discussion at Twitter.