Having Trouble with Your Website Traffic? Here’s a Few Possible Reasons Why
June 25, 2018
If you’ve been noticing drops in your usual website traffic, you’re not alone and there’s nothing to panic over. This is common, and if you check the statistics over the past several months, you’re likely to see plenty of fluctuation. But, what do you do if your traffic is dropping excessively, or there’s a continual downward curve? The first step in resolving a loss of traffic is determining why your site is seeing a change in trajectory. Here are a few reasons you might be losing traffic.
Problems with Google
It’s not pretty, and it might not even be warranted, but from time to time website owners make Google’s black list. Search engine penalties aren’t a website death sentence, but they are a problem, especially if you depend on your web traffic to further your brand and support sales of products and/or services. Some of the reasons Google might have given your site the boot includes spam, poorly formatted content, duplicated content, keyword stuffing, and irrelevant content. Other reasons include broken links, unrelated links, or links which lead to more spam.
You can check on the way that Google views your site from the Fetch as Google tool, which allows you to crawl your own website. This will give you a bird’s eye view of content which might be too general or too political. Sort through your content and revise what you can, including lengthy posts which are relevant to your brand and product or service. Resolve dead end links and take your time updating outdated sources and materials. If you can determine what the problem is and fix it, you can ask Google to reconsider your site for review by clicking, “request a review” in your GSC manual actions section.
Recent Site Changes
Another reason you might see a change in website traffic is if you’ve made recent changes. Have you redesigned your layout? Taken down old content? Posted new content? Any of these changes can ultimately affect how much your regular site visitors want to check out your site. It can also impact how visible you are through Google searches if your ranking is changed due to a reposition in keywords and links.
Sometimes changing your site, particularly in a redesign, can take out pertinent links or data which was keeping you visible for one reason or another.
If you’re afraid search engine optimization or unattractive content is the issue, you can work with an SEO expert or hire a freelance copywriter to add more bulk and authority to your site. Working with someone who understands the ins and outs of search engine algorithms can help your site creep up the ranking list and make you more visible to new and past users. This can increase traffic and improve readership overall.
Link Changes
The links on your own site aren’t the only ones to worry about. If there were backlinks which sent internet users to your site from other sites, which have been removed or broken, this could be a huge loss for traffic conversion. One of the important things to remember when it comes to backlinks is to continue fostering those relationships with other site owners. You want to keep your link up and running and remind other site owners that you’re still relevant and that your site is worth visiting.
Not only does damaged or lost backlinks keep web users from visiting you online, it also makes it appear to google bots that your site is no longer as popular as it used to be. This can be damaging to your search engine ranking, again dropping you down to a less popular location on the list of query results for your field or industry.
You’re No Longer Following Google’s Search Algorithms
Google’s algorithm is updated so often that it’s impossible to stay on top of it all the time. From time to time a change may make your site less desirable than it used to be, and you might not even notice until it’s too late. By keeping up to date on all the major changes as they happen, you can make sure that your site is ready for whatever the search engine giant throws your way. For example, a recent change that just occurred is that Chrome is beginning to mark all non-http sites as “not secure”, beginning this summer. Another recent change was Google’s switch to mobile-friendly indexing, which favors sites with mobile-friendly browsing. These are all factors to consider when traffic dwindles.
Whatever the reason for your traffic loss, don’t be disparaged. Remember, your website started at zero and it can soar once more. Once you determine the area where your site is losing followers, you can react and begin damage control. Whether this means rebuilding relationships for backlinks, fixing content so that it’s deemed worthy by Google, or editing redesigns to include more user-friendly features, there are ways to get back on top and stay there.
If you don’t have the time to continuously monitor the success of your website and follow up on changes which need to be made, it can be a huge help to hire someone to look after these aspects of upkeep. Just like a social media account which needs to be fostered and continuously used to stay relevant, a website must have new and fresh content regularly. Including a blog is a great way to achieve the approval of Google and keep new content flowing without appearing forced or rushed.