Over the past few months, site owners and content creators have voiced concerns about a decline in their website traffic. Many are bewildered by such occurrences, especially considering the significant effort invested in setting up their sites. This has led to questions like, "Is SEO dying?" and "Does Google still prioritize SEO for website improvement?"
In the following paragraphs, I've compiled screenshots of comments from users on a Search Engine Roundtable post who experienced a decrease in their site traffic.
It's essential to note that a drop in traffic isn't unique to your website; many webmasters, including myself, have faced similar challenges. There was a period when my site traffic nearly plummeted to zero. However, through a thorough investigation into potential causes, I gained insights into the issues and discovered solutions that helped me recover.
I'll be sharing some of the problems I investigated and how I followed Google's search recommendations to address them. Keep in mind that these solutions may or may not work for your specific situation.
Disclaimer: I cannot guarantee that implementing the provided procedures will resolve the drop in traffic to your website pages. Every site may have different issues contributing to such declines.
Why Decrease in Website Traffic?
There are various reasons why your website might experience a decline in traffic, and a significant factor contributing to this is Google updating its search algorithm.
The Google search algorithm, an intricate system of rules and processes, aims to deliver the most relevant and high-quality results for users' search queries.
Does Google algorithm update show that you have violated Google rules that make your website lose traffic?
No. If your web pages are not performing as well after a core update, it doesn't necessarily mean there's a problem. According to Google, these pages haven't violated spam policies or faced any manual or algorithmic actions. In other words, the decline in performance might be a result of the update itself, not a consequence of your pages violating Google's guidelines.
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| A screenshot from Google explains that a drop in traffic during algorithm/core updates may not be a violation |
However, several factors can influence how your site is affected by algorithm updates, including:
1. Low Search Relevance:
When users' queries don't align with the content on your site, search engines may not prioritize your pages for those queries. Fewer visits to your web pages result in a decline in overall traffic.
2. Low/Poor Content Quality:
Search engines prefer content that thoroughly addresses user needs. If other sites offer more comprehensive solutions, they may surpass your site in rankings. This could lead to reduced visibility, impacting potential user engagement.
3. Poor User Experience:
Issues with user experience can convey negative signals to search engines. If your site encounters problems such as slow loading times or navigational difficulties, it may not be favorably ranked, reducing its visibility and hindering user interaction.
4. Technical SEO Issues:
Technical problems, such as slow loading or other issues, can impact your site's ranking. When your site is not easily accessible, users are less likely to engage, leading to a decrease in traffic.
5. Poor User Engagement:
A high bounce rate, where users quickly leave your site after arriving, can be detrimental. Search engines interpret this as a lack of relevance or satisfaction, potentially downgrading your site's visibility and causing a drop in overall traffic.
Understanding how these factors interplay with Google's algorithm updates is crucial for addressing issues and maintaining or improving your website's traffic. Regularly assessing and enhancing your site's content, user experience, and technical aspects can help mitigate the impact of algorithm changes.
Possible Solution to avoid a decrease in website traffic
Getting ready for updates to Google's rules is crucial to prevent potential issues that could harm how well your website performs. Here are some simple tips to avoid losing visitors when these updates happen:
1. Update Your Content Regularly or add new content:
Make sure your website's content is still useful and matches what people are looking for. Regularly update it to keep it valuable. One best way to do this is by using keyword tools to find what your target audiences are searching for and write about the topic.
Google values high-quality, original, and informative content. Pages with well-written, engaging, and relevant content are likely to rank higher.
Google tends to favor recently updated or published content, particularly for topics that require up-to-date information.
2. Follow SEO Best Practices:
Learn and use the best ways to make your website easy for search engines to understand. This includes things like using good titles and making your website links clear.
3. Make Your Website Work Well on Phones:
Ensure your website looks good and works properly on phones. Google likes websites that work smoothly on different devices.
To test if your website is responsive on smartphones and tablets, press CTRL + SHIFT + J or the F12 key on Windows and COMM + SHIFT + J on Mac
Alternatively, you can right-click on your PC and click on the inspect link
4. Keep Your Website Technical SEO in Check:
Proper website structure, use of meta tags, proper HTML coding, and other technical aspects contribute to a webpage's search visibility.
Look for technical problems on your website like slow loading or broken links. Fixing these helps your website stay accessible and perform well. For more info on how to fix the technical problems on your site, find out in this article - Mastering Technical SEO: The Ultimate Guide to Maintaining Your Site's Health
5. Make It Easy for People to Use Your Website:
Improve how people experience your website by making it easy to navigate, quick to load, and user-friendly. Good experiences on your site make Google like it more.
Factors like page load speed, mobile-friendliness, and overall user experience contribute to search rankings. Google aims to provide users with a positive browsing experience
6. Use Different Types of Content: (Bonus points)
Try using different types of content, like videos or pictures, to keep things interesting for your audience. It adds variety and depth to your website.
7. Get Good Websites to Link to Yours:
Build relationships with other high-quality websites that relate to your content. When they link to your site, it shows Google your site is trustworthy and valuable.
8. Keep an Eye on How People Interact:
Check how people use your site – like if they quickly leave or spend a lot of time. If something seems off, fix it to keep visitors happy.
9. Stay Updated on What's Popular:
Keep up with what people are interested in and how they use the internet. Adjust your content and strategies to stay relevant to what's happening.
10. Be Active on Social Media:
Be present and engaging on social media platforms. Even though it's not directly about Google, being active on social media can indirectly help how your site shows up in searches.
Taking these steps helps website owners make their sites strong against updates and keep their visitor numbers steady.
Other issues include:
1. Delayed Google Crawling:
If your content is new, or updated, or you have requested recrawling, Google may not have crawled your site yet. This delay in crawling can result in decreased traffic for the affected page. When you modify the URL that search engines have previously indexed, they may struggle to reach and recommend it to searchers.
How to Fix:
- Ensure that you have submitted an updated sitemap to Google Search Console.
- Use the Google Search Console "Fetch as Google" tool to manually request indexing for the specific pages that have been updated.
- Monitor the Google Search Console for crawl errors and address any issues hindering the crawling process.
2. Site Migration or Structural Changes:
If you recently moved your site or made structural changes, such as altering your hostname (e.g., from www.example.com to www.newexample.com) or transitioning between platforms (e.g., from Blogger to WordPress or from Shopify to Squarespace), search engines might take time to recrawl and index your updated content.
How to Fix:
- Implement 301 redirects to ensure a smooth transition for users and search engines when changing URLs.
- Update your sitemap and resubmit it to Google Search Console to reflect the new site structure.
- Use canonical tags to indicate preferred URLs and consolidate indexing signals.
- Monitor 404 errors in the Google Search Console and address any broken links resulting from the site migration.
- Inform Google of the site move through the Change of Address tool in Google Search Console for a more seamless transition.
Tags:
SEO