Help: my website traffic is dropping

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If you’re dealing with a sudden drop in website traffic, it can be stressful, but there are systematic steps you can take to diagnose and recover. Let’s dive into each step with detailed, actionable insights to help you get your website back on track.

Step 1: Identifying a Traffic Drop

The first step is to identify that there is indeed a drop and assess the extent of the issue.

Assessing the Traffic Drop Using Google Analytics

    • Access Google Analytics: Log in to your Google Analytics account. In the “Audience > Overview” section, look at your sessions over a longer timeframe, such as 6 months to a year.
    • Compare Time Periods: Go to the date selector and compare traffic data over different time periods.
        • Compare last month to the previous month.
      • Compare year-over-year data to account for seasonal trends.
    • Look for Specific Traffic Source Declines: In “Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels,” identify which channels have dropped.
        • Organic Traffic: A drop in organic search can suggest SEO issues, such as a rankings drop or penalties.
        • Direct Traffic: This may indicate brand recognition or tracking issues.
        • Referral and Social Traffic: Drops here may indicate external links or campaigns that are no longer effective.

Identifying Sudden vs. Gradual Drops

    • Sudden Drops: Typically suggest something significant has happened—such as a technical issue, penalty, or website change.
    • Gradual Decline: May indicate changes in market behavior, outdated content, or loss of relevance.

Confirm Using Google Search Console

    • Performance Report: Go to “Search Results” and check the impressions, clicks, and average positions over the past few months.
    • Look for Indexing Errors: Check the “Coverage” section to see if any pages are not indexed or have errors.
    • Manual Actions: If Google has penalised your website, a manual action notification will be listed in the “Manual Actions” section.

Step 2: Analysing Why the Traffic is Dropping

Let’s look at potential reasons behind a traffic drop, along with detailed methods to diagnose the issue.

Algorithm Updates

Google makes updates to its algorithm several times a year, and some of them can significantly impact rankings.

Actionable Steps:

    • Identify Correlation: Compare the timeline of your traffic drop with known algorithm updates. If they coincide, focus on understanding the nature of the update (e.g., core update, helpful content update).

Detailed Analysis:

    • If the drop correlates with an update, analyse your content using Google’s Quality Guidelines. Make sure your content provides value, depth, and answers to user intent effectively.
    • Perform a competitive analysis to see if competitor pages improved their rankings. Use tools like Ahrefs or SEMRush to compare changes in keyword positions.

Technical Issues

A technical problem can prevent search engines from properly crawling and indexing your website.

Actionable Steps:

    • Run a Crawl Audit: Use tools like Screaming Frog SEO Spider (paid) or Ahrefs Site Audit (free) to identify any issues such as:
        • Broken Links: Look for 404 errors or broken internal/external links.
        • Redirect Errors: Incorrect redirects (e.g., redirect loops) could be hindering SEO.
    • Indexing Issues: Go to Google Search Console > “Coverage” to identify excluded or error pages.
        • Fix URLs Not Being Indexed: Submit URL requests for missing pages and resolve underlying issues (e.g., duplicate tags, noindex directives).
    • Page Speed: Use Google PageSpeed Insights to test your site speed.
        • Fix Speed Issues: Optimise images, reduce server response time, implement lazy loading, and consider using a CDN.

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Detailed Analysis:

    • Mobile Usability: Test your website using Google Lighthouse to ensure it functions correctly on mobile devices.
    • Core Web Vitals: Check Core Web Vitals in Google Search Console. Address any issues related to LCP (Largest Contentful Paint), FID (First Input Delay), and CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift).

Content Issues

Content is king, and any issues related to it can have a significant impact on traffic.

Actionable Steps:

    • Conduct a Content Audit: Identify pages that aren’t performing using tools like Ahrefs or SEMRush.
    • Outdated Content: Refresh outdated statistics, update product details, or adjust content to meet current trends.
    • Improve Thin Content: Expand pages with insufficient content to at least 1,000 words, making sure to add depth and comprehensive answers to user queries.
    • Identify Keyword Cannibalisation: Use tools like Ahrefs to find instances where multiple pages compete for the same keyword.
    • Resolve Cannibalisation: Merge competing pages into one strong page, or refocus each page on a distinct keyword or topic cluster.
    • Intent Matching: Perform a manual SERP analysis to see if your content matches the current search intent. If SERP features have changed, adjust your content accordingly (e.g., people also ask, featured snippets).
    • Structured Data: Add structured data (e.g., FAQ, HowTo schema) to make your content more appealing on SERPs.

Backlink Issues

Your backlink profile can directly influence your ranking potential.

Actionable Steps:

    • Check Backlink Losses: Use Ahrefs or Moz Link Explorer to identify if important backlinks have been lost.
        • Reclaim Lost Links: Reach out to webmasters of sites that have removed your links and request reinstatement, especially if the link was earned naturally.
    • Identify Toxic Links: Check for a sudden influx of spammy backlinks.
        • Disavow Bad Links: Use the disavow tool in Google Search Console if you’ve identified harmful backlinks affecting your site’s authority.

Detailed Analysis:

    • Link Building Opportunities: Conduct competitor backlink analysis. Identify links your competitors have gained recently and explore similar outreach opportunities.

Competitor Actions

Sometimes competitors make changes that boost their rankings, affecting your site’s position.

Actionable Steps:

    • Monitor Competitors: Use SEMRush or Ahrefs to track your competitors’ keyword movements and content updates.
    • Content Quality Comparison: Compare the top-ranking competitor content with yours.
        • Outdo Competitor Content: Make sure your content is more in-depth, includes visuals (infographics, videos), and answers all related questions comprehensively.

Detailed Analysis:

    • SERP Features: Observe whether competitors are ranking for featured snippets, videos, or other SERP features and optimise your content accordingly.

Seasonality and Trends

Understand whether external factors like seasonality are at play.

Actionable Steps:

    • Analyse Year-Over-Year Data: In Google Analytics, compare the current period to the same period last year to identify any seasonal drops.
    • Use Google Trends: Use Google Trends to determine whether your niche experiences seasonal shifts in interest.

Step 3: Fixing Traffic Drops

Once the reasons have been identified, follow these steps to recover traffic.

Content Improvements and Optimisation

      • Update Content Regularly: Aim to refresh and update content at least once every 6 months. Add new statistics, update headlines, and ensure all information is up-to-date.
      • Add Value with Multimedia: Include videos, infographics, or interactive elements to improve user engagement.

    Technical SEO Fixes

      • Ensure Mobile-Friendliness: Use responsive design to make sure your website is accessible on all devices.
      • Optimise Site Architecture: Ensure your site’s structure allows search engines to crawl and index it efficiently—use breadcrumb navigation, internal linking, and XML sitemaps.

    Rebuild and Strengthen Backlinks

      • Link Reclamation: Reclaim lost backlinks by reaching out to referring domains.
      • Guest Posting: Reach out to niche-related websites for guest posting opportunities to build high-quality backlinks.

    Competitor Benchmarking and Content Overhaul

      • Content Upgrade: Identify your competitors’ content gaps and create content that fills those gaps. Improve upon their articles by adding more depth, better visuals, and new data.

    Conclusion

    When your website experiences a traffic drop, staying calm and following a systematic approach is key to diagnosing and fixing the issue. Regularly auditing your content, monitoring technical SEO, and keeping up with algorithm updates will help keep your website traffic healthy and growing.

    Remember, SEO is about adapting. Addressing each identified issue with practical fixes will set your website back on a positive trajectory. If you need professional help, we offer comprehensive SEO services to ensure your website stays ahead of the competition, including SEO audits from just £250.

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