- Published: Feb 21, 2023
- 10 min. read
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Sarah BerryWeb Marketing Consultant
- Sarah Berry is a Google Analytics-certified Web Marketing Consultant at WebFX. She’s written over 400 articles on digital marketing, covering topics like SEO, CRO, and Amazon. When she isn’t polishing her Time Magazine Person of the Year Award, she’s spending time with her flock of ducks.
What are the most common reasons for a decline in website traffic?
Some of the most common reasons why website traffic declines include a new search engine algorithm update, not providing “helpful” content, and having technical SEO errors on your site.
Why is my website traffic going down? It’s a question many of us have asked at some point. And if this question is on your mind, then you need a solution, and fast.
Luckily for you, we’re diving into some of the most common reasons why your website traffic is going down! Plus, one of WebFX’s own resident search engine optimization (SEO) experts, Clayton, provides his expert insights on the most common causes of drops in web traffic that our team sees and how we fix them!
Let’s get started!
P.S. Try our free Website Traffic Checker tool to check your site’s traffic right now for free!
5 main causes of website traffic decline
So, now that you know how we get to the bottom of web traffic declines, let’s dive into some of the most common causes of website traffic drops.
Keep reading to discover them, plus insights from our SEO expert Clayton, on some of the most common causes our team sees and how we fix them!
- Your content isn’t “helpful”
- You have technical SEO errors
- Your paid ads campaign ended
- You recently redesigned your site and didn’t prepare for SEO
- A new algorithm update launched
1. Your content isn’t “helpful”
A common culprit for lower web traffic is not producing “helpful”, valuable content for users.
Expert insights from
“It is possible you will see a drop in your site’s organic traffic if you are not prioritizing the creation of “helpful content”. Google’s helpful content system intends to favor sites that are creating people-first content and provide value to readers. Creating content just to do it no longer works. Instead, focus on creating content that provides value to help grow your organic traffic, rather than fill it with unhelpful content that is more likely to lose traffic.”
The problem
Search engines like Google want to give their users the best possible experience. And that means showing them websites that answer their questions and provide them with the information they need.
With Google’s Helpful Content Update in 2022, creating valuable content for users has become more important than ever.
If your content isn’t people-first focused compared to being created for search engines, you’ll likely experience a drop in traffic.
Our solution
So, how do the experts at WebFX produce helpful content that ranks well in search engines?
First, our content strategists develop a content marketing strategy for our clients that focuses on developing custom content that provides the information their target audience is searching for.
Then, our in-house copywriters and editors get to work creating the content. Our team will conduct thorough research into the current search results to determine exactly what users want to know for each topic to ensure the copy satisfies users.
Plus, our SEO and user experience (UX) specialists will ensure that your content follows SEO best practices and provides a great user experience for site visitors.
More helpful content resources
Content Marketing Strategy Success Guide for 2024
8 Ways to Create Better Content
WebFX SEO Content Marketing Services
2. You have technical SEO errors
Technical SEO errors and issues can also cause a loss in website traffic.
Expert insights from
“Your site has technical errors that are holding it back. Trying to build a site on a poor technical foundation is going to be difficult. As these issues continue to grow, you are likely see your site’s traffic dip. Taking time to address your site’s technical SEO can go a long way in boosting your site’s existing content, as well as putting new content in a better position to drive results faster.”
The problem
Technical SEO is a set of website and server optimizations that make your site easier for crawlers and website visitors to understand and use.
There are plenty of technical SEO ranking factors that you need to consider when it comes to ranking well in the search results and driving traffic to your website.
Here are a few common technical SEO issues our team encounters:
- Your site’s loading speed is too slow
- Your site isn’t optimized for mobile devices
- Your site doesn’t have an SEO-friendly URL structure
- Your site isn’t secure
- Your robots.txt file isn’t optimized for SEO
Our solution
If you’re asking, “Why is my website going down,” and you’re not familiar with technical SEO, you’ll likely need the help of a professional agency.
So, how do the SEO experts at WebFX solve these technical SEO errors?
When you invest in our SEO services, our team gets started by conducting a thorough SEO audit of your entire website. We’ll identify any technical SEO issues and other errors affecting your SEO performance and web traffic.
From there, our team will work with you to craft a custom SEO strategy that helps you solve those technical SEO issues in order of priority and reach your business goals.
More technical SEO resources
7-Point Technical SEO Checklist
3. Your paid ads campaign ended
You may also experience a drop in web traffic if you were driving traffic from a paid ad campaign that recently ended.
Expert insights from
“Maybe some of your campaigns were paused, and you didn’t realize it. Maybe you have a social or Google Ads campaign that stopped running last month causing your overall traffic to take a dip. Do yourself a favor and create reminders for when you have campaigns starting and stopping to help you not miss anything when reviewing your site’s analytics.”
The problem
If you were running an effective paid ad campaign, like pay-per-click (PPC) ads, that drove a lot of traffic to your site, you might have experienced a dip in traffic after it stopped running.
You may also experience a loss in traffic if some of your campaigns are paused.
Our solution
When diagnosing traffic drops for clients, our team will look into your paid ad campaigns to determine if they are the root cause behind your loss in traffic.
If they are, we’ll work with you to get those campaigns back up and running to restore your traffic. Plus, we can help you optimize your campaigns on an ongoing basis to help you drive even more traffic and conversions for your website.
More paid ad campaign resources
4 Steps to Managing a Successful PPC Campaign
8 Types of Paid Advertising to Grow Your Business
4. You recently redesigned your site and didn’t prepare for SEO
A site redesign that doesn’t consider SEO can cause devastating damage to your website traffic.
Expert insights from
“Many sites experience a dip in traffic after launching a new website, especially if there are major changes to URLs. If did not properly prep for a redesign (content migration, 301 redirects, updating internal links), you are likely to see a drop in traffic that might take some time to recover from.”
The problem
Redesigning your website is an excellent decision, especially if you have an older site. A refreshed website looks modern and professional, plus provides a better user experience, which can increase your bottom line.
The problem, however, is that many companies forget about SEO when designing their site.
Even web design agencies make this mistake. While they understand design and how to create an attractive and usable website, they don’t recognize the relationship between web design and SEO, and how a redesigned (or newly designed) website can tank traffic.
A few ways a website redesign can hurt your SEO and traffic include:
- Replacing page content, including title tags and meta descriptions, with unoptimized content
- Creating brand-new pages for existing pages, without setting up a 301 redirect
- Changing the site structure, without updating the sitemap
- Redesigning the website without including your Google Analytics tracking code
In comparison, a site design can prevent your website from ever achieving its dream levels of traffic. That’s because, without SEO, your site will struggle to appear in search results related to your industry, products, or services.
Since your website’s design impacts your entire site, it’s critical to fix this problem right away.
Our solution
At WebFX, our team can approach a traffic drop following a site redesign in a few ways, including:
- Restore your previous site with backups
- Optimize your new content and website
- Update your sitemap
- Set up 301 redirects
Depending on your redesign, your fix may take a significant amount of time.
For example, if your company needs to restart your SEO strategy, it will take time to rank in search results and earn the kind of traffic that your website had before. In comparison, creating 301 redirects requires less work, though your traffic levels will probably take a few weeks or months to recover.
We can help your team and company regain your traffic, as well as ensure that future design updates protect your SEO strategy.
Learn more about website redesigns
Complete Guide to Redesigning Your Website
How Much Does a Website Redesign Cost?
WebFX Website Redesign Services
5. A new algorithm update launched
For many companies, an algorithm update is the most common culprit for lower website traffic.
The problem
Search engines like Google and Bing aren’t lounging around. They’re always looking for ways to improve the search experience because a better search experience means happier users, and satisfied users mean increased loyalty and market share.
That’s why it’s common for search engines to update their algorithms regularly. An updated algorithm, however, can change your website’s ranking in search results. It can improve your ranking or decrease it, which impacts your site traffic.
If a search engine like Google, for example, updates their algorithm and that results in your website moving from page one to page two for a competitive keyword, it can cut your site traffic substantially. That’s because only 25 percent of users view the second page of search results.
Our solution
At WebFX, our SEO experts spend their days staying up-to-date with the latest search engine algorithm changes and updates to ensure your website consistently drives traffic and revenue.
If we find that your website lost traffic due to an algorithm update, we’ll investigate to determine what factors influenced the drop in traffic and fix them. We’ll also optimize your website on an ongoing basis to keep your website up-to-date with the latest changes.
We can also help you implement a cross-channel marketing strategy to help your business earn website traffic from multiple sources.
A few examples include:
Learn more about search engine algorithm updates
How to Track Google Search Engine Algorithm Updates
A Timeline of Google Algorithm Updates
What Is a Google Core Updates? (And How to Recover)
7 additional reasons your website traffic is down
Still confused about why your website traffic is going down? Check out these potential causes:
WHY YOUR WEBSITE TRAFFIC IS DOWN | HOW TO FIX YOUR WEBSITE TRAFFIC |
---|---|
1. Broken 301 redirects | Review your 301 redirects for errors and fix Ensure canonical tags, XML sitemaps, and links are up-to-date |
2. Manual Google penalty | Log in to your Google Search Console account and check alerts Make recommended site or page changes |
3. Slow page speed | Check page speed with PageSpeed Insights Make updates or use page speed optimization services |
4. Poor internal linking | Audit internal linking strategy Add internal links to content deep in your website Use anchor text related to page topic or targeted keyword |
5. Unreliable server | Review server performance and hosting package Move to a new service provider or different hosting package |
6. Duplicate content | Check website for identical blocks of content Make identical content unique |
7. Unindexed site | View Google Search Console to see if site and pages indexed Submit website and pages for indexing |
Restore your website traffic (and then some) with WebFX
No one wants to see their website traffic down, but it happens. Learning why your website traffic is going down on Google and how you can fix it, however, provides your business with the insight and tools for regaining your traffic.
In many cases, it’s an enormous task to restore your website traffic, like after a website redesign or abandoned keyword strategy. That’s why businesses partner with our full-service digital marketing agency.
With more than 28 years of experience, plus more than 500 web marketing specialists, we have the skills and technology to help your company. Just browse our testimonials and digital marketing services to see how our team can help yours.
Give us a ring at 888-601-5359 or contact us online if you have any questions!
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Sarah Berry is a Google Analytics-certified Web Marketing Consultant at WebFX. She’s written over 400 articles on digital marketing, covering topics like SEO, CRO, and Amazon. When she isn’t polishing her Time Magazine Person of the Year Award, she’s spending time with her flock of ducks.
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Plan Your Marketing BudgetTable of Contents
- 5 Main Causes of Website Traffic Decline
- 1. Your Content Isn’t “helpful”
- 2. You Have Technical SEO Errors
- 3. Your Paid Ads Campaign Ended
- 4. You Recently Redesigned Your Site and Didn’t Prepare for SEO
- 5. a New Algorithm Update Launched
- 7 Additional Reasons Your Website Traffic is Down
- Restore Your Website Traffic (and then Some) with WebFX
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