Why is my website traffic dropping? A quick guide from an SEO expert who’s been there, done that.
Every so often I get a panicked message from someone because all the sudden, their website traffic plummeted. Usually they've had decent visibility thanks to Google, and suddenly it's crickets—and that’s incredibly upsetting.
It's pretty scary when this happens, and oftentimes when people take to social media with their worries, the feedback loop typically lays the blame on algorithms.
And sometimes, it IS Google’s SEO algorithm that’s caused the problem. And that really stinks! We definitely saw this when Google shifted to mobile first indexing when not everyone had a mobile-friendly site.
However, most of the time the answer behind falling website traffic isn’t “blame Google’s search algorithm.”
Once I investigate, I typically see these traffic issues happen due to one of a handful of things. If you're someone who's keeping an eye on your traffic (and if you're not, it's time to start—here's an intro guide) and you suddenly see your traffic dip, don't freak out! Here's what to look for, with all the SEO terminology broken down into normal people lingo as best as I can.
1. If your traffic has plummeted, there may be something technically wrong with your website that’s caused your traffic to decline.
Believe it or not, while this sounds scary, if you have a significant traffic decline, this is often the easiest problem to fix. It's absolutely possible your website went offline or something broke that's super duper easy to repair. Here are some common culprits.
Your SSL (that little lock in your browser) isn't set up right. Google will heavily penalize this. I still come across this issue a few times a year. If you’re a Squarespace user, then this is an easy fix, but for other platforms, you’ll want to contact your web host or domain registrar for direction.
You changed a bunch of URLs (the addresses of content) and forgot to do the redirects (that's a little bit of code telling the internet that the page lives elsewhere now). This results in a bunch of 404 errors (pages aren't found), which can cause big problems. Squarespace users can fix this easily, following these instructions. If you use WordPress, we recommend using SEOPress (this is an affiliate link) to tackle this problem.
You changed your overall domain name, such as switching from firstname-lastname.com to firstnamelastname.com (this is why I haven't flipped the switch over to sarahmoon.com yet, even though I finally own it). Again, you’ll want to tackle your redirections if this is the case. Additionally, you’ll need to do a change of address within Google Search Console.
This may sound wacky, but make sure your website is actually up and running! I've seen this more than a few times—if you forgot to renew your domain or even your web hosting, you may suddenly see zero traffic. Yes, I've encountered both these scenarios. Visit your site in incognito mode and see what’s happening!
2. Your website is sending spam-ish signals to the internet and Google is penalizing you.
At that time, Google rolled out a massive update prioritizing content the algorithm deemed helpful. We saw, and continue to see, a lot of smaller sites actually perform better thanks to this update, but some sites experienced the opposite. Here are some of the things that can contribute to this issue:
Multiple pop-ups can cause usability problems that trigger penalties. This can be tricky because there are just a bunch of things that pop up on modern sites, like cookie banners and email newsletter signups. Those things on their own don't usually trigger issues but sequences of pop-ups can. It's easy to do this by mistake (yes, I've made this mistake myself), so definitely check things out in incognito mode to see the user experience.
Too many ad insertions that cover content is a huge issue with influencer/"content creator" websites that have been penalized over the last year. It's a poor user experience and rankings have tanked on many of these sites. I understand their need to monetize, but truly, it makes the internet deeply unpleasant for users—it's probably time to get creative with your monetization if this is part of your business plan.
Too much sponsored content can also cause your site to be de-ranked. Again, we see this more with influencer style sites, but it's also impacted more traditional sites that monetize content as well.
You may also see these actions taken when you use large language models to push content to your website. I know of at least one WordPress plugin that does this: basically it bulk "writes" blog posts and then publishes large volumes of this AI-style content at once. Google has already gotten wise to this game, but website owners may not know that using this type of tool can be very harmful.
The solution? Be human online and think about your audience and their experience with your website.
3. There are larger industry issues at play and your website traffic is following suit.
This is one I always feel uncomfortable diving into, but your website traffic is influenced by your industry's overall health as well.
For example, outdoorsy activities such as cycling or paddle boarding had huge search spikes in 2020 and have declined ever since, basically going back to 2018-2019 levels. Same with many personal development topics. We've seen this echoed in the state of these industries. Of course this really is unfortunate for these industries, but they were likely using traffic benchmarks that were unlikely to hold steady forever—new customers don't stay forever customers.
Look at the trend data in the following screenshots for two industries that exploded early in the global pandemic, cycling and stand-up paddle boarding. The SUP one is especially interesting because you can see the extreme seasonal fluctuations in addition to the spike in 2020 and 2021, followed by a steady decline since.
We also see this happen on the positive when there are "blips" in the media landscape, like a celebrity using a product or being photographed using a product (think Taylor Swift's glitter freckles). As an example, look at the spike in traffic she caused recently:
The Google trend for the search “glitter freckles.”
One thing a lot of beneficiaries of this kind of traffic blip don't realize is that the traffic patterns usually correct in a relatively short time, so it's expected to experience downturns after a "glitter freckles"-style spike.
Basically, don't plan your business around outliers!
The inverse can also happen: Bad publicity in an industry can have a knock-on effect and searches can diminish or be "negative searches" (this is a Sarahism, but basically I mean that people are looking for the hot gossip, so searches on Reddit etc will spike).
I say all these to be a voice of reason and calm in a sea of marketing panic that's designed to agitate you.
Even if search funnels aren't your thing, you've likely seen some shift in the business and marketing metrics you track over the last year. Too many people right now are stirring the pot to cause stress and anxiety so you, of course, use their amazing system to right the ship. Before you jump on the latest too good to be true promise and blow up systems that previously worked, get curious and see if the problem has a simpler solution than you think.
Has your website traffic declined? There’s a good chance it’s NOT the algorithm. Let’s dig into the problems and solutions.