Any website owner’s nightmare is a sudden drop in traffic. Customers stop coming through search engines. The first reaction of a layperson is quite emotional. It seems that a thriving business has suddenly come to an end. Everything, a dead end. In fact, this problem can be solved. The main thing is to understand why suddenly there was a fall in traffic. And having found the reason, it is much easier to come to a reasonable and effective solution to the issue.
The main reasons for changes in site traffic
Before you start to panic, you should take a breath and remember the possible reasons for the sudden fall in traffic. The name alone can indicate the correct direction of movement towards the restoration of traffic from search engines.
1.seasonal nature;
2.hostility from competitors;
3.loss of main links;
4.changes made, planned or accidental, in search engine algorithms;
5.crashes in the tracking code;
6.website optimisation;
7.cyber-attack;
8.viruses;
9. E-A-T content.
As you can see, the reasons for the fall in traffic are quite varied, but these are solvable issues. The main thing is not to lose heart, but to carry out a series of restoration work, in accordance with the highlighted problem. Or entrust your web brainchild to the hands of professional SEO specialists.
1. Seasonal fluctuations, analysis and exit tactics
There are a number of goods, services, and even a selection of topics, the demand for which can change dramatically depending on the time of the year. This factor of influence on website traffic is called seasonal fluctuations. There are three ways to analyse whether seasonality is the reason for a big fall in traffic:
-analysis of available indicators for the current and several previous years in order to identify possible seasonal “leaks” of customers;
-history of requests from the search engine;
-Google Trends.
When you conclude that the drop in traffic on the site occurred precisely because of the seasonal nature of the services, product or topic, you can try to fix the problem. To do this, it is necessary to expand the subject or introduce a new category of goods, services, which will have an off-season nature. Universal themes are always key to solving this issue.
2. Hostile actions of competitors
Don’t ever forget that competitors are also moving forward. And often they are the first to take steps to remove the “enemy” from the search engines’ field of view. To do this, it is enough for them to resort to the services of a Seo-professional in a timely manner. And if you do not notice the hostile actions of competitors in time, then you can say goodbye even to loyal customers.
In order to prevent this from happening a priori, you should find the main leaders in the business area of interest in time and never lose sight of them. Do not forget about successful Australian beginners. And timely and constant analysis of site and market traffic, quick response to any changes, constant SEO promotion of your portal, help of specialists – will ensure a constant increase in the client base.
3. Loss of main links
There are two reasons for the loss of the main link mass, which led to an influx of more users to the site – either the web resource itself was slightly modified and, as a result, the main links were lost, or donor sites carried out optimisation or other technical work. Even carried out by specialists with the observance of all precautions, such manipulations can lead to the loss of important links. They can be accidentally deleted or simply closed from the constant indexing of search engines.
Such loss of link mass significantly affects the ranking indicators during the next automatic recalculation. As a result, the traffic sags.
Recovering links is not easy. Most often, you have to rewrite them again and wait for the next update and recalculation of rating indicators.
4. Algorithmic changes in the work of search engines
It is very easy to identify the algorithmic changes made in search engine systems. Even about the most insignificant of them, all information immediately appears in the public domain.
Having discovered that the reason is a change in the algorithm of work, it is important to find out in detail which additions were made. Correlating the information received with the problem of the site, you can determine how to fix the situation.
But before taking specific troubleshooting steps, it is better to use the qualified help of Sydney SEO experts. This will help avoid additional problems with the resource.
5. If the tracking code is knocked down or the site itself has changed
Often, it is because of the lost tracking code that an alarm signal appears. Decreased traffic. Before you panic, there are three options to check. The analyst code may have been removed during maintenance. The installation of an alternative analytical system could have caused the tool to malfunction. Due to failures on the site, the code simply does not have time to reload. If at least one of the listed reasons is available, then the matter is not in changes in attendance, but in the tracking code.
More complex and much more serious can be the problem associated with malfunctions on the site. Sometimes in the course of technical work, there are problems that knock the portal out of the search engine index. For example, renaming a URL, during which the redirection is not performed correctly.
The transformation of the site content architecture, the loss of metadata, errors in such important files as robot.txt – these and other changes can lead to disruptions in the traffic of the Internet project. The fact that the reason is precisely such malfunctions can be evidenced by the next technical work carried out the day before. If the problem cannot be resolved quickly, you can simply use a saved backup of the previous version of the site.
6. SEO promotion has been stopped and user behaviour
An elementary response to the next change in search engine algorithms or to the actions of competitors must be done immediately and without delay. Otherwise, you can quickly lose those high positions that you managed to achieve thanks to SEO-promotion. But not only stopping or slow website promotion is among the main reasons for the drop in traffic. The user factor is equally important.
Search engines are programmed so that the slightest change in user cues immediately finds its reaction in the search engine.
They immediately add more information to the existing one about the relevance and quality of the web portal. And if the number of viewed pages decreases, users quickly leave the site, and only a few of them return, search engines immediately draw the appropriate conclusions. Here, it is important to determine what the search engines might have reacted to and why the user opinion has changed in a negative direction.
7. А cyberattack
An experienced hacker usually acts discreetly and leaves no obvious trail that is immediately discovered after a hack. The negative consequences begin to manifest themselves over time. Most often, a malicious code is fixed on one of the pages, compromising the site in the eyes of search robots. The search engine perceives it as a virus and protects Internet users by blocking the resource.
Webmaster tools from popular search engines allow you to check your site for infection. Restoring the code, in this case, will lead to the return of traffic to the previous level. But if you have once been subjected to a cyberattack, you should wait for its repetition. Now you have to periodically update the site engine, take care of data backup and change your password frequently.
8. Viruses
Viruses are another reason why search engines can exclude a site from the search results by adding it to the blacklist. Browsers will also warn users about malicious content by showing appropriate signs when trying to navigate to a resource.
Attendance immediately drops significantly. And it is not alone: user loyalty will also decrease, as well as trust. This can be a very important issue for online stores. Therefore, the site must be regularly checked for viruses and, upon their first detection, treated. After that, you need to wait for the search engines to re-index the pages.
9. E-A-T content
Google has begun to pay more attention to the factors of EAT – expertise, authority and credibility. This is especially relevant for sites of YMYL categories – those related to the life, health and well-being of people since the information that these sites provide can be very harmful.
It is necessary to correctly arrange the authors of the content, use micro-markup, add certificates and supporting documents, and follow the reviews.
Conclusion
A drop in traffic can be the result of a variety of actions, and not only on your part. The main thing is to be attentive to site optimisation, contact only qualified specialists and always think about users, because in the end everything is done for them. Good luck!
