Website traffic down? Here’s why (and how to fix it before it’s too late)

Here comes an even more important mission — how to fix a site so that traffic flows your way again. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on identifying the red flags and breaking down actionable steps to regain valuable visitors. Believe it or not, someone else has overcome the same challenge as you have now, and you can follow suit if proper measures are carried out. Let’s get your traffic soar!

Common causes of website traffic drop

Once you encounter the problems, you should first investigate what stands behind them. This is a crucial step before finding appropriate solutions to get people back to the website. In the sections below, we’ll take a look at the most common causes of losing visits, which will help you pinpoint the right issues.

Search engine penalties

If you’re wondering, “Why has my site dropped in Google?” a search engine penalty might be the culprit. It happens when web indexing services punish a website for violating Google’s Spam Policies for Web Search. These can include keyword stuffing, malicious links, and duplicate content that are considered unethical or black-hat SEO techniques. When sanctioned for such practices, your positions on SERPs may suffer significantly, with specific pages, sections, or even the entire site being deindexed.

The penalties can be manual or algorithmic. In other words, a human reviewer flags the site, or the system detects guideline breaches automatically. To better determine the main cause, you can ask yourself whether you have been involved in suspicious activities. Avoiding them helps prevent the site from being penalized, resulting in better visibility and traffic. Nevertheless, check the Search Console for any manual actions detected and resolve them appropriately.

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Google algorithm updates

Your website traffic drops aren’t necessarily the consequence of your actions. Google constantly imposes algorithmic updates to enhance search quality, and they might critically hurt rankings and visits. For instance, an update includes new SEO criteria your site doesn’t align with. This is unpredictable and out of control, causing the loss of audience and potential customers.

Staying informed about changes is key to preventing sudden traffic drops. Google typically introduces a few major updates annually, and you should watch for Google Search’s Core Updates that may catch you off guard. In the image below, you can see a significant traffic decline during one such update. This happened because Google made changes in its ranking algorithm, prioritizing websites that better align with its updated criteria. If your site falls behind, traffic loss is inevitable.

In this situation, the first step to recovery is conducting a comprehensive SEO audit. This means analyzing what has changed, identifying why Google no longer favors your site and understanding how competitors in the top rankings meet the new standards. This process can be challenging and time-intensive, but be patient and expect a gradual result because everything doesn’t work at the snap of a finger. 

Low content relevance and freshness

Another reason for losing website traffic is outdated, irrelevant data. Google prioritizes customer-centric content that offers sufficient answers to the user’s prompt. Thus, if a site doesn’t demonstrate the expected quality and value, it will endure reduced visibility. Remember that search engines always favor the latest articles on the same topic, and your older materials will be replaced by new ones sooner or later.

For instance, a popular blog post in 2023 faces a significant decline in views as time goes by because its information is no longer relevant. Recent articles give more fresh, up-to-date insights (something Google loves!), and as a result, the former post loses its rankings to them. To fix this, refresh content regularly for a steady flow of viewers. Adding old content reviews with current news and data to tactics can help you achieve better results.

Losing quality backlinks

Having a high-authority link removed might diminish traffic significantly. Why? Powerful backlinks prove to Google that your content is trustworthy, and when you lose these links, credibility also dwindles. Consequently, the search engine would deem the information less valuable, ranking pages lower on SERPs and limiting the organic traffic overall. It would be a truly frustrating experience.

Fostering a strong link network indeed contributes to a quality site. Therefore, commit to maintaining relationships with reputable websites in your niche while carefully monitoring your backlink profile. Otherwise, a plummet in traffic can happen at any time, and you’ll lose your sleep trying to contact site administrators and rebuild external links. Don’t let this disaster happen to your website!

Major changes and/or website redesign

Website redesign is necessary to breathe new life into your online presence and should be done every four or five years (in our subjective opinion). Changes in interface typically involve the site’s structure, branding elements, and key content to improve user experience and keep up with current trends. However, the execution can cause a sudden drop in website traffic since search engines require some time to adapt.

To avoid such issues, it’s essential to involve an SEO specialist during the development process. Their expertise ensures that all SEO settings from the previous version, including text content, titles, and meta tags, are carried over to the new version. They can also monitor the entire migration process, ensuring proper implementation of 301 redirects and the smooth transfer of high-authority pages. For a more detailed guide, refer to our guide to a successful website migration.

It’s worth mentioning that temporary traffic fluctuations are normal during and after a redesign or major upgrades. On the other hand, if your website is losing views significantly for a long time, it might be due to improper changes. Evaluate them carefully for adequate amendments, and your site will be good to go. Or, invite website redesign experts to take part in the process so you can rest assured there won’t be any disruption in monthly visits and the business in general.

Technical issues

Another frequent factor that causes website traffic decline is technical issues. Examples include slow loading, unoptimized content, and chaotic navigation, which drive poor performance and limited visibility on search engines. Imagine a website takes too long to respond to a user’s prompt. In this case, Google is likely to reduce rankings, considering the user experience.

Moreover, some errors also affect the search engine’s evaluation process of the site, preventing Google from crawling and indexing pages properly. These problems include:

• complex sitemap;
• Robots.txt restriction;
• broken internal links;
• inaccessible pages.

To overcome technical issues, remember to track SEO elements regularly and then perform adjustments for improved traffic. Hire a specialist team for a technical audit, which thoroughly assesses behind-the-scene components and produces detailed technical task documentation. This action will relieve you from anxiety about lowered rankings and traffic loss.

Competitors activity

Your rivals can gain an advantage in search engine rankings by implementing new SEO strategies or marketing plans. So, don’t be surprised to see traffic decline — competition is a reality. You can conduct a quick keyword search. If other websites are now outranking you on queries they previously didn’t, it’s likely they have invested in optimizing their content for better visibility.

Moreover, they may have built more high-authority backlinks or utilized other marketing channels, such as blogs and social media. Various actions by competitors can divert visitors from your website, leading to a sudden drop in traffic. When you’ve experienced this decline and identified opponents’ activities as a major factor, you need to step up the game.

To address the issue, conduct an SEO competitor analysis to compare strengths and weaknesses with those of your rivals. Ultimately, this will help you create a roadmap to regain position in the market or even surpass stronger competitors. 

<div class="post__style-link">For more details, read about our approach in How to do an SEO competitor analysis article.</div>

Seasonal trends or external factors

It’s common for retail websites to experience attendance fluctuations during the holidays, as people tend to shop more during this time of year. Similarly, if you sell seasonal products like swimwear, you can expect a decrease in visitors when the weather isn’t suitable for this type of activity. These trends could explain the question, “Why is my website traffic dropping?”

In situations like these, it’s crucial to understand your niche and recognize seasonal shifts. If you’re unsure about the cause of a website activity drop, monitor your primary keywords closely. During seasonal declines, traffic may decrease, but the rankings for key keywords often remain stable. This is a strong indicator that the drop is due to reduced demand rather than an issue with your website’s SEO.

Other non-SEO-related factors, such as economic shifts and pandemics, can also be the reason. Reshaping consumer behavior is a factor that may negatively impact monthly visits, particularly when keyword search volumes decline. In situations like these, adjusting your strategy can help mitigate the harmful effects on website traffic and improve overall business outcomes.

<div class="post__style-link">If you’re curious about how successful a proper website launch can be, our SEO case study provides all the details.</div>

How to diagnose the problem

Now that you understand the common reasons your website may be losing visitors, it’s time to diagnose the symptoms. The first step is to identify which traffic has declined. Overall, there are four main types:

• Organic traffic. Check rankings by searching for primary keywords. Once your site doesn’t appear on the first page, you may be struggling to attract organic traffic from search engines.
• Direct traffic. Changes in branding or URLs can impact direct traffic. If you notice a drop, your audience may be encountering error pages due to typing in the wrong website address. 
• Referral traffic. A decline in referral traffic can result from losing quality links. Regularly monitor your backlink profile to verify that links direct to the correct pages. Additionally, evaluate the traffic on your referral sites.
• Paid traffic. If your ad campaigns aren’t performing well, it may be time for a budget review. Sometimes, paid ads fail to reach the right audience, leading to wasted money on displaying products to the wrong crowd.

Besides these, you may also earn traffic from email and social media marketing. Ask yourself whether the current letters and online posts are effective in drawing website visitors. Gaining insight into all of the above makes it easier to diagnose the root cause of the decrease and execute proper fixes to recover the audience.

Proven strategies to fix a traffic decline

For website owners, it’s normal to worry about the sudden drop in traffic and its potential impact on their business. However, there are effective methods to reverse this falling trend, and in the next sections, we’ll explore proven strategies to make the site more appealing to audiences and search engines. 

Conduct a сomprehensive SEO audit

To pinpoint the hidden issues affecting traffic, perform an audit that thoroughly assesses all SEO-related aspects of the website. This process encompasses analysis of on-page and off-page elements, such as navigation, visuals, content, and backlinks. This way, you can get a clear picture of what works well and what doesn’t, preparing better strategies inspired by these insights. 

Based on audit results, you’ll optimize performance to boost search rankings and regain lost traffic. Frequent audits guarantee the site’s health and that it stays ahead of the competition.

It’s a demanding task to complete a comprehensive audit by yourself, given the complexity of the website and how thorough you expect it to be. That’s why most product owners seek assistance from SEO audit professionals to smoothen the process. Working together, we’ll provide you with a wealth of tools and resources and create actionable plans for your website’s success. 

Optimize and refresh content

Content is the main source of traffic, and you need to care about making it user-centric. Relevant information engages the audience to stay on the website longer, eventually signaling to Google that your pages are high quality. Such interaction can enhance your site’s rankings and invite more visitors. 

Maintaining freshness for your content is also very important. As we said earlier, web indexing services always prioritize recent information, so regularly updating text is a smart move to gain some favor. Take time to revisit popular posts from the previous year and add current data or expand the topic to make it relevant. This action proves that your website is active, continuously offering the latest news. 

You can secure content appeal by hiring content marketing services for personalized advice and campaign execution. The experts guarantee that data meets the evolving demands of the audience while achieving exceptional results through SEO content best practices.

<div class="post__style-link">If you’re curious to learn more, check out our blog post on How to create an effective SEO content strategy.</div>

Fix serious technical errors

Technical problems hinder websites from higher rankings due to poor performance. Broken links, server unavailability, or duplicate content are just some of the factors that steer the audience away. There are cases when users immediately leave once they encounter non-existent pages, increasing bounce rate and harming search rankings. To resolve this, consider fixing 404 errors so that visitors stay on the site longer.

Furthermore, issues with the Robots.txt file can prevent Google from crawling and indexing your website properly. The file instructs the search engine which content to access so that the site doesn’t overload, and sometimes this negatively impacts indexability. Such a scenario can be avoided if you ensure that crawlers are not accidentally blocked from reaching certain pages, content, or sections on the website.

A recommended method to diagnose issues is by turning to technical SEO services. Dedicated professionals will define your site’s purpose, evaluate technical basics, inspect performance, analyze crawl and indexation, and finally produce customized SEO strategies. With full-suite support, you’ll safeguard website performance and get better visibility and traffic.

To put this into context, earlier in the article, we highlighted that technical issues can have a significant impact. In our case, during a redesign, the Title tags didn’t transfer to the new version of a site, causing a sudden drop. A quick technical audit revealed the issue within an hour, allowing us to fix it promptly. Just a few days later, the traffic began to recover, showcasing the importance of addressing technical errors swiftly to minimize disruption.

Improve user experience (UX)

Giving people an intuitive and enjoyable experience is an effective way to increase traffic. Search engines and users prefer accessible, easy-to-navigate, and visually appealing websites, so you should make these features the focal point of your design strategy. Conversely, when website traffic drops suddenly, poor UX elements may be the reason.

Ensure you have a fast loading time. Waiting too long for a page to load causes frustration, resulting in visitors abandoning a session to find information elsewhere. Moreover, a scalable design is crucial since Google prioritizes websites that fit multiple screen sizes. Hence, you should also develop a mobile version to reach smartphone users and rank higher on SERPs.

A great user experience will bring back your traffic or boost it even further. For optimal outcomes, it’s best to invest in UX design in the early stages of website building. UI & UX design services are the best option to get things in place. Depending on your needs, our team of specialists can provide a UX/UI audit, MVP design, user research and testing, or a complete overhaul of the existing design.

Strengthen your backlink profile

Building a strong link network is a popular method of driving visitors. It indicates the website’s authority — based on that, search engines will determine whether the content is valuable and trustworthy. Therefore, to reverse traffic drop, pay attention to the backlink profile. The more powerful it is, the more potential customers will notice your website.

To increase the number of high-authority backlinks, it’s essential to create shareable content. Publishing well-researched articles, interesting case studies, or interactive infographics is a great way to attract the attention of reputable sites and blogs in the industry. You can also contribute to key websites with guest posts and comments, which include links directed to your site.

Don’t forget to keep an eye out for maintaining existing relationships. Reach out to site administrators to fix broken links immediately or suggest new pages for updated content. This is a win-win situation that helps you earn valuable backlinks and allows other web owners to optimize their online presence. 

Consistently produce high-quality content and proactively build and sustain industry relationships. Use this momentum to enhance search rankings and reclaim your hard-earned traffic.

Diversify your traffic sources

To ensure your site’s monthly metrics are stable and resilient, don’t rely on a single source of traffic. Suppose the main users come from organic search, and you’ll lose a great deal of audience if one day Google issues a major algorithm update. It would be a risky situation as your other channels can’t offer a sufficient stream of visitors.

Nevertheless, there are multiple ways to diversify sources of traffic. Building partnerships and seeking collaborations with other websites are instances of creating referrals. Contribute to forums, community boards, and guest posting to increase the chance of getting in the spotlight. Leveraging paid traffic is also a practical tactic to drive visitors instantly, given that you have a budget.

And, emphasizing this once again, don’t overlook the power of email and social media marketing. Frequently update status, share valuable content, engage in the comment section, and host fun events to attract people from different platforms. Also, connect with the audience through continual newsletters and promotions, fostering the opportunity for repeat visits to your website.

Monitor and adapt to competitor strategies

As mentioned, competitors’ activity is one of the common reasons for traffic loss. It’s essential to track their strategies and make wise adjustments so that you don’t fall behind. Have your specialists run an SEO competitor analysis to identify gaps and create a responding action plan. At the same time, you can follow this 5-step approach to gain some insight:

1. Identify key competitors. Use your target keywords to find competitors.
2. Analyze content. Check the topic, quality, and frequency of their content. 
3. Assess backlinks. Investigate the sources of their high-authority backlinks.
4. Examine technical SEO. Review their meta tags, keywords, and structure.
5. Watch social media activities. Look at how they interact with the audience.

With all of the perks in your pocket, you’ll be able to reclaim search rankings, elevate site traffic, and advance in the competition.

Stay ahead with regular maintenance

For smooth website performance and steady traffic, keep up with appropriate maintenance activities. Our recommendation is to conduct a routine review of all aspects of your site to ensure functionality and user experience. To do this, you can perform checkups on content and links as well as page speed and mobile responsiveness for seamless accessibility and usability.

Additionally, catch potential problems early and address them before they have a chance to impact your traffic. For instance, outdated software and plugins can create vulnerability threats, so ensure they’re always up to date. Regular backups are equally important — they provide a safety net, allowing you to recover quickly if something goes wrong. Taking these steps will protect the site from security flaws, data loss, and server downtime, delivering a positive experience for visitors.

Why professional help makes a difference

Dealing with a sudden drop in website traffic is a daunting experience, especially when you don’t know where to begin. Questions like “Why is my website losing traffic?” or “Why has my site dropped in Google?” can give you a terrible headache. This is where professional SEO services step in and allow you peace of mind by offering first-class expertise and advanced technologies.

Our experts possess the ability to spot your website weaknesses and resolve them effortlessly. With the best tools in hand and profound experience, we’ve diagnosed different problems and proposed effective solutions for companies across industries. On top of that, we offer ongoing care as we understand that SEO is a long-term process. 

All in all, we hope that this comprehensive guide has helped you learn about the common causes of traffic drop, how you can diagnose problems, and the proven strategies to reverse the decline. And if you have any further questions, please drop us a few lines for a personalized consultation session.