Possible reasons why site traffic dropped
22 possible reasons why search rankings and traffic have dropped:-
Websites exist to be visited, but visits can mean different things to different sites.
For media sites, for example, traffic can be a source of advertising revenue. For e-commerce retailers, traffic translates into direct sales.
Whether it is a digital marketer, SEO professional, webmaster, or other stakeholders, it might be their responsibility to investigate the issue and figure out how to fix it. things on track.
Here are 22 places to start looking if traffic has gone down and a solution is needed.
1. Monitoring of bad rankings:
If the site has been online for many years, the keywords may not be relevant today.
Think about the own search behavior and compare it to the keywords that appear in Search Console data.
Use industry or niche terminology that might not match what potential customers are.
Many people will look for different variations of the same question and still be unable to find an answer or solution to their problem.
Google engineers have greatly improved their ability to understand natural language.
People can type in more natural language to find results. It's easier to categorize these things if one also keeps the content in plain language.
Search engines have also picked up on this phenomenon in recent years.
Rather than relying on a few keywords, they rank websites based on full sentences and other elements of more natural language.
Look at the keywords and keyword phrases.
If one is using old or generic keywords, follow the bad rankings and need to update the strategy.
2. Lost links:
Rankings and search traffic may have dropped because one of them lost links.
Check the site for links lost in the past 90 days using a tool.
If one lost a lot of links, this could be the reason for the drop in rankings.
Inbound links are broken or lost, it will be necessary to determine exactly where these links come from and why they are broken.
we can then delete, replace or keep them.
Each link should be checked individually to determine the following steps:
If the links were deleted intentionally, it could indicate that they were not natural links and that they could, if they were not already, be flagged and sanctioned by Google.
Links break or change during a site update.
If the internal links have been replaced by new links to another source, it is also possible to create a link to the news source.
Remember that one can always replace old links with new ones that work.
To prevent lost links from affecting rankings in the future, it is worth investing in link monitoring software or programs to actively track lost links.
This way one can be proactive and take corrective action before losing the ranking.
3. Interrupted redirects:
If one is launching a new website, migrating to a new server, or changing the structure of the site, the rankings are likely to drop unless one has an appropriate 301 redirect plan in place.
Broken redirects are every SEO professional's worst nightmare.
When using a 301 redirect, one should make sure that the XML sitemaps, canonical tags, and links are also updated.
A 301 redirect is like a change of address notice for the web, which tells search engines that a page, multiple pages, or the entire website have been moved.
4. Manual actions:
Manual actions are applied manually rather than following algorithmic updates.
If the site continues to rank on other search engines like Yahoo or Bing, it is almost a sure sign that one is suffering from a Google penalty.
The best way to start is to check the notifications from the Google Search Console account.
5. Algorithm changes:
Google is always looking for ways to improve strategies and results by changing algorithms.
Many sites were affected by these changes and suffered from lower rankings.
To avoid getting crippled by updates from Google, use an effective cross-channel marketing and traffic strategy that includes social media and other marketing channels.
6. Natural changes in research:
There are times when one may notice a drop in search engine ranking that is not the result of anything directly related to the website.
Google has often changed the type of results based on user behavior.
If the content falls into the second category, we will see a loss in the ranking.
7. UX changes in Google:
Google changes the UX of search pages to remove clicks.
Maybe a code snippet appeared on a key search result, directing the traffic that way.
The search test affected the click-through rate.
8. Geolocation deviations:
The ranking will be different depending on where the search was performed.
If one is checking rankings in one geographic area, one will need to check them in several other areas to gain a more accurate and precise understanding of rankings.
9. Competitor improvements:
Keep tabs on competitors by analyzing and monitoring their social media activity, link building strategies, and content marketing. one can use tools like Wayback Machine or Versionista to see changes made by competitors.
One can also use backlinks tools to see if they have had an influx of new backlinks; they could run their own SEO campaign.
Once one figures out what the competition has done to outperform, make some of the same changes - just do them better.
10. Page speed:
The speed at which the content of the pages loads will not only affect the rankings but also the user experience of website visitors.
When pages take longer to load, bounce rates are higher because people don't want to wait to see the content.
To check page speed, try using Google's new and improved PageSpeed tool.
The tool has been redesigned to integrate real user data.
Pages rank quickly, slowly, and average based on how fast they load.
11. Server issues:
If the site is having server issues, it could be the result of an interrupted caching function or empty markup provided to Googlebot.
It is essential to resolve server problems quickly.
Check the server logs for errors and use the Google Render and Recovery Tool to test the rendering or crawling of a URL on the site.
12. Other Web Vitals:
Google has stated that other UX and Web Vitals signals, such as “Cumulative Layout Shift,” can affect the site's ranking.
13. Internal navigation:
Website navigation tells visitors what and where they will find information on the site.
Internal linking strategies are not only part of good search optimization, but also an integral part of other customer retention strategies.
Making internal linking and navigation simple and logical improves customer retention and strengthens other ranking metrics like time on site.
Using keyword-rich internal links will help search engines quickly determine the topic of the site and whether the content is relevant to the queries.
14. Poor quality link penalties:
If one uses risky, spammy, or outdated link-building strategies, Google will penalize the site.
Google makes it very clear what it considers a shoddy link in the first paragraph of their search console's help section called Link Schemes.
Take the time to develop a high-quality link-building strategy to avoid getting penalized by Google and increase the organic search traffic.
the construction links are:
Fix broken links by creating new and valuable ones.
Use public relations to be quoted in online content or a news article.
15. Recent website changes and redesign:
If one decides to redesign the website, the last thing to do is lose the traffic and the rankings worked so hard to build.
The steps that can be taken not to hurt but even to help the ranking are:
Make sure all 301 redirects are mapped correctly.
Check the link structure of inbound links to make sure they work properly on the new site.
Before launching the new website, get reports of basic metrics like rank tracking, site audit, traffic, and page URL mapping.
With careful planning and attention to the essential components of the redesign project, one will avoid negatively impacting SEO and ranking and may even make improvements.
16. Simple technical problems:
Technical SEO is the measure of the health of the website's technical base, which refers to SEO work that affects the way search engines crawl and index content.
Being aware of technical SEO issues helps to take better care of the website and maintain rankings.
Technical SEO issues are among the basic issues that can prevent a person from ranking.
17. Server overload:
If the server is not configured or prepared for sudden spikes in traffic, it can overload and crash.
Those on a shared server are more likely to go down because someone else on the same server could see a sudden surge in traffic.
Many hosting packages will drop the site if the bandwidth limits are exceeded.
This can happen if the site manages to be featured on a popular site.
If the site experiences too much downtime, it will negatively affect search rankings.
18. Meta-information:
Meta information, or meta tags, are used to tell search engines what information the site provides.
One of the most important types of metadata that will help improve SEO rankings is the title tag.
Headers and meta descriptions are other types of meta information that can help rank websites.
Avoid being inconsistent when providing meta information.
For example, if one change the date of an article on the site, be sure to change it in the meta description as well.
Avoid duplicating meta-information or using trivial and generic titles such as "Home".
Use more specific title tags that include the target keyword.
If one uses the same title for multiple pages, not only will one confuse users, one ends up competing with oneself in the SERPs.
19. Source of traffic:
Website traffic includes not only the number of visits to the site but also the number of pages clicked and the time spent on each page.
Traffic can come from a number of sources, including:
Email advertising
References
Direct traffic
Organic Research
Paid search
Social media
The source produces the most engagement, the lowest bounce rate, and the most conversions.
Traffic can decrease from sources outside of organic search.
For example, if a change has been made to the way links are handled on Twitter or Facebook.
Direct traffic occurs when someone types the URL into an address bar.
It may not be crucial for rankings, but it is important because:
Visitors choose to come back to the site because they already know one and want what it offers.
Track direct traffic statistics in the Google Analytics dashboard.
Continuously providing value and expert advice to website visitors and showing them that one is an industry expert.
20. Time spent on site:
User engagement can impact search rankings.
Bounce rate and average time spent on web pages are two metrics that can be easily measured in Google Analytics.
21. Duplicate content:
Google defines duplicate content as substantial blocks of content that appear in or in areas that are substantially similar or completely match other content.
When the content is obviously deliberately duplicated to manipulate rankings and increase traffic, the site will be penalized i.e. the content competes for the same queries, and when Google thinks that a query should have more diversity, it can penalize one of these pages.
The ranking will suffer and in the worst case, the site may be completely removed from Google's index.
22. Use of old Clickbait techniques:
Ways to bring users to the site - like lists - still work, but users may get tired of this type of technique and avoid clicking on links.
Try out the A / B test meta descriptions and titles to see if there are any fixes that might attract more people.
Protect valuable search rankings and traffic.
There are no shortcuts to increasing website traffic.
If one wants to get more visibility on search engines, it takes a lot of time and effort.
Don't try to take a shortcut through piecemeal strategies, or one could suffer the negative consequences of poor search rankings and loss of traffic.
Stay informed of the latest updates and best practices to increase online visibility and grow the business.
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