Don’t panic just yet! If your website’s traffic has taken a dive, there’s always a reason behind it, and you can fix it.
The good news is that you can figure out why your traffic dropped and get things back on track.
Read on if you’d like a walk you through how to diagnose a drop in your website’s traffic using some of the same methods we do at RAD SEO.
Why Did My Website Traffic Drop?
There are a number of reasons why your organic traffic might have been decreasing. Here are some of the most common ones:
- Algorithm updates
- Tracking errors
- Robots.txt rules
- Redirects
- Crawl errors
- Ranking losses
- XML sitemap changes
- Manual penalties
- De-indexing
- Cannibalization
- SERP layout changes
These basic checks can help you keep your site’s traffic steady. But if you’re still seeing a decline, it’s time to dive deeper with our website traffic diagnostic procedure. Let’s break it down.
Analyse the Traffic Drop
First, look closely at your traffic drop. Is it sudden or gradual? Did it last only a few days? Is the graph showing signs of recovery? Small fluctuations can tell you a lot.
A sudden drop might mean a Google penalty. If the drop lasted a few days and then bounced back, it could be a server issue.
Make sure to spend at least 10 minutes daily on your Google Analytics and Search Console to keep tabs on your site’s performance.
Check Your Traffic Sources
It’s important to know where your traffic is coming from because a drop might be due to one specific source not performing well.
Keep an eye on these sources in Google Analytics: direct, organic, paid, referral, and social. Once you have these numbers, you can start troubleshooting.
For example, if your social traffic dropped, maybe a social media site isn’t working like it used to. If your organic traffic tanked, it could be a new Google algorithm or a penalty. Check Google Search Console for any notifications and keep note of algorithm updates.
If direct traffic is down, it might be because your regular visitors are going elsewhere, or your competition is heating up.
Also check what pages traffic was going to previously, and make sure all those pages still live and indexing.
Know Your Audience
Next, check your New Users vs. Returning Users metric. A drop might be due to a specific section of your audience.
Who’s visiting your site? Are they new or returning visitors? This info will help you pinpoint the traffic drop reasons.
If new users are down, maybe people are searching differently, or your site isn’t showing up in the right searches. If returning users are dropping, it could be a bad website structure or a poor user experience. Check for 404 errors and site speed issues. High bounce rates can also indicate a bad user experience.
Look for Traffic Patterns
Before jumping to conclusions, compare your current traffic with the same period last year. Look for patterns and trends to understand your site’s performance better.
Check if similar drops happened in previous weeks or months. Patterns can reveal a lot about your site’s traffic behavior.
How To Handle A Drop In Traffic?
A drop in website traffic can hurt your business. Approach it systematically and use the right analytics tools to get actionable insights. Knowing Google Analytics well can help you restore your site’s performance. Don’t panic; follow the process and critically analyse the problem.
Wrapping Up
That’s it! We’ve covered all the basic steps you need to know for diagnosing a drop in your website traffic. If you’re new to website management or need help optimising your site, consider getting professional help from RAD SEO.
We hope you found this guide useful. Got questions? Then call or use our contact form to get in touch – we’d love to hear from you!
