13 questions to diagnose and resolve declining organic traffic

There’s nothing like recognizing a nose-dive in natural site visitors to make an search engine optimisation’s coronary heart skip a beat.

The considered digging in and discovering the problems can really feel downright overwhelming. The contributing elements behind SEO efficiency are quite a few, interconnected and infrequently advanced.

The place do you even begin? 

After over 15 years of taking part in an search engine optimisation personal investigator – in-house and as a guide – I’m sharing 13 questions which have helped me shut even probably the most curious instances. 

Collectively, they make up the framework for a methodical evaluation that covers all of your bases and uncovers all the problems. 

1. Are there indicators this could be a monitoring situation?

Earlier than we set out searching for any points, let’s be sure that this isn’t only a monitoring bug. 

We’re on the lookout for a few frequent indicators: 

• Massive information discrepancies: Google Search Console is reporting vastly totally different metrics than your inside analytics platform. (Small disparities are regular, so don’t sweat these. They’re, in spite of everything, totally different metrics measured by totally different instruments, utilizing totally different methodologies!)
• Different channels: If website site visitors is down throughout the board, there’s a superb likelihood one thing is up together with your Analytics monitoring code or Tag Supervisor implementation.

Dig deeper: Top 5 SEO data pitfalls to avoid for accurate analysis and reporting

2. Is that this a model downside?

The extra your natural site visitors is made up of clicks from branded searches, the extra cause to examine in. If fewer persons are looking for your model by identify, that’s an issue however not inherently an search engine optimisation downside. 

Google Search Console can let you know pretty rapidly. Filter all the way down to the key phrases that embrace your model identify within the string and examine latest efficiency to historic efficiency. 

Right here’s a simple instance of what that may appear like for my firm, utilizing GSC’s Question filter performance and RegEx: 

Are you seeing comparatively flat non-brand site visitors modifications, however a giant model swing? The much less folks see a model, the much less they seek for it. 

Which means it’s time to have a look at what’s totally different on the model and/or channel degree, together with issues like unfavourable press, sundown advert campaigns, or vital rollbacks in acquisition spend. 

3. The place is non-brand efficiency down?

If non-brand efficiency is the first issue, search for the leaks – aka the URLs and key phrases which can be trending down. 

Filtering your GSC information will assist highlight any patterns, which may go a good distance in pinpointing the precise situation(s).

Thoughts all 4 major metrics – clicks, impressions, CTR and common place – for every of the views under. (Mix this information with first-party analytics instruments like GA4 and Matomo, as wanted, to dig deeper.)

• Seasonality: Does year-on-year information present the identical degree and charge of decline on the similar time annually?
• URL: Which web page(s) are dropping site visitors? Do they share connections like a URL listing or JavaScript template?
• Question: Which search phrases are contributing to the decline? Are they associated by way of matter or focus? 
• SERP function: Did dropping featured appearances push your natural outcomes under the fold (and clicks together with them)? Observe that you simply may have to lean on a third-party software for this, like Semrush, as GSC gained’t report on all placement sorts. 
• Procuring and media: Are Google Procuring, Picture search, or Video search inflicting declines you gained’t see in your natural rankings? (Utilizing the Search Sort filter)
• Geography: Do regional modifications in your rankings present that person curiosity is dwindling or that the SERP is now displaying localized search outcomes? 
• Cellular: Did you lose extra visibility on smartphones and tablets vs. desktops?

4. Can we care about this site visitors?

Typically, dropping site visitors doesn’t truly matter all that a lot. 

It’d really feel slightly taboo to say, nevertheless it’s true. The true worth of site visitors is whether or not customers convert – no matter that may imply for what you are promoting. 

Typically, the sources of the best conversion loss ought to all the time get consideration first. If the location is dropping natural clicks from key phrases or URLs that don’t contribute to conversions in any significant method, it might be OK to not take any motion. 

Not each web page leads on to a conversion – particularly pages greater up the funnel, like weblog posts, the place customers are simply on the lookout for info.

In case your analytics reporting defaults to a last-touch attribution mannequin, you gained’t see the true conversion worth of site visitors touchdown on higher-funnel pages. So it’s essential to examine each first- and last-touch. 

The previous tells you which ones URLs lead folks to future conversions, whereas the latter tells you which ones pages drive purchases when customers are prepared. Each are necessary!

5. What does the pattern line inform us?

In case you’ve made it this far, it’s in all probability since you’ve decided that you’ve an search engine optimisation situation and it’s inflicting you to lose site visitors that’s necessary to the enterprise.

The search begins! First cease is the trendline. 

In case your trendline exhibits a big drop in a brief period of time (steep and to the left), one thing’s in all probability damaged. You may see this after main growth work, like a migration, or shortly after a Google algorithm update.

A extra curved and gradual trendline factors to points occurring over time, like skinny content material stacking up, the market panorama evolving, or dropping referrals sooner than you’re profitable them.

6. Did one thing change with our website content material?

Content material modifications, exterior of main modifications to huge parts of the web site, are often related to a gradual trendline. (Exceptions embrace latest helpful content updates.)

There are a few explanation why content material points are nearly inevitable in some unspecified time in the future except you’re always pruning, updating and evolving content. 

• Search engines like google create higher experiences by bettering their capacity to serve customers useful content material – and their and customers, standards for useful content material change over time. 
• As websites create new content material that meets fashionable requirements, outdated content material that doesn’t meet these requirements provides up.  

A content material audit is a pure subsequent step if site visitors is falling as a result of rankings are slipping sitewide, or throughout many pages.

Dig deeper: 16 reasons why your page isn’t ranking on Google

---

7. Are there new or main technical points on the location?

A trendline that appears prefer it adopted an Olympic diver off the board is an effective signal to search for main technical hiccups. A gradual trendline might be the results of smaller technical points stacking up over time. 

Both method, a technical audit is one of the best ways to seek out any needles within the haystack.

Look again at what you realized if you have been slicing and dicing efficiency in GSC. Have been there patterns that emerged? They may level within the path of the place to search for technical points. 

For instance, if many of the losses come from a selected website listing, there could be one thing damaged on the web page template used to create these URLs. 

If there’s a very steep drop in site visitors, it’s most frequently a matter of indexing or crawling (i.e., whether or not Google can entry your content material, learn it and advocate it on SERPs). Robots.txt, meta robots and canonicalization are high priorities on this case.

8. Did we lose backlinks or referrers?

There’s what you possibly can management by yourself website, then there’s what occurs exterior of it. Both can have a big impact in your search engine optimisation efficiency. 

The very first thing we wish to examine by way of exterior search engine optimisation elements is backlinks since they play a giant position in serving to Google gauge the standard of a site. Fortunately, there are many search engine optimisation instruments on the market that make this straightforward (Ahrefs, Majestic, and so forth.).

Decide whether or not you’ve misplaced backlinks on a significant scale or any referrals from excessive authority websites. It may be trigger for concern in the event you see one or each, particularly for youthful websites which can have much less authority within the first place. 

A reasonably frequent trigger for dropping backlinks over time is historic PR work. As publications clear up their outdated content material, the backlinks disappear and there aren’t as many new referrals to fill the void.

And since many publications are owned by the identical mum or dad firm, these efforts – and the ensuing lack of hyperlinks – can stack up rapidly. That is very true for business publications. 

9. Was there a latest algorithm replace?

In case you’ve by no means had a website you’re employed on hit arduous by an algorithm replace, then it in all probability appears slightly just like the search engine optimisation boogie monster. The legends are all too actual.

When Google makes modifications, being on the dropping finish can result in site visitors swings of epic proportions.

Google proclaims a lot of its algorithm updates, however there are people who they don’t. And that provides a layer of complexity as a result of how on earth do you discover the “shadow” updates?

The search engine optimisation group is as much as the duty! There’s documentation and even instruments the place business consultants are retaining tabs on what’s shifting within the index, when these shifts sign an replace and the place it’s having an impression.

A few my favourite sources are: 

• Marie Haynes’ Google Algorithm Update List: It features a working listing of confirmed and unconfirmed updates, together with useful commentary. 
• GSC Guardian: A Chrome extension created by Darwin Santos that overlays updates and uptime points from Google onto your Google Search Console charts.

10. Did the SERP change in significant methods?

The data panel is in no way new. However in the event you have been within the search engine optimisation world again when it was rolled out in 2012, you may need thought it was the tip occasions. 

If customers now not needed to click on on a end result to see the knowledge they have been on the lookout for, natural outcomes have been set to take successful – even when rankings stayed the identical.

In hindsight, the data panel is only one of many modifications Google has made to look engine outcomes pages. Whether or not it’s making adverts extra outstanding or certainly one of any variety of featured snippets, every new iteration tends to push conventional natural outcomes additional under the fold.

And now, with some SGE results in the wild, it’s occurring once more!

Lengthy story quick, the construction of the SERP is much from static – and that’s a degree to think about in your investigation. 

11. Is the area being penalized?

It’d be remiss to speak about penalization with out first making a transparent distinction between getting “penalized” and getting pummeled by an algo replace.

The impression of an algorithm replace can feel and appear so much like penalization. Besides, it’s not distinctive to your website or only a byproduct of Google attempting to make Google higher. 

A penalty, then again, is the results of Google figuring out that your website is extraordinarily low-quality or dangerous in a roundabout way. 

It’s an actual risk, even when your website doesn’t have malicious intentions or isn’t actively partaking in spammy search engine optimisation ways. To search out penalties, search for a notification in your GSC account (Safety > Handbook actions).

12. Did competitors change?

With each iteration of the Olympics, new world information are set throughout totally different sports activities. New rivals emerge, current rivals enhance and champions get knocked off the rostrum. 

That’s the character of competitors. 

In the identical method, each area is in a race in opposition to different domains to rank on high. If the leaders set it to cruise management, different domains hit the fuel and ultimately catch up. 

Dropping rankings and featured placements to rivals could imply that they’re doing one thing proper, or it could merely imply that Google is testing which ends up make customers happier. on-page and domain-level elements by way of a aggressive evaluation can illuminate their potential benefits.

For on-page elements, ask your self:

• Does the content material do a greater job of assembly the person’s wants?
• Is the content material totally different from different rivals (together with your area) by way of high quality and perspective?
• Does the construction of the knowledge make it straightforward to know?
• Is the creator of the content material extra of an authority on the subject than different authors?
• Does the web page present an elevated person expertise?

For domain-level elements, create a scorecard (desk) the place you possibly can see the next metrics side-by-side by competitor:

• Area score or area authority
• Variety of listed pages
• Backlinks
• Referring domains

13. Are customers behaving in a different way?

Because the world modifications, society modifications – and preferences change in tandem.

For instance, if I requested a barista for an oat milk latte 10 years in the past, I’d have in all probability gotten a bizarre look. At this time, it’s a staple in lots of espresso retailers. 

You may see that phenomenon quantified in Google Developments, which experiences that curiosity ranges in oat milk have shot up over the previous 5 years. 

When the curiosity in a subject, business, service, and so forth. grows, so does the overall variety of clicks out there to win. When it shrinks, clicks drop – even when rankings keep constant – as a result of the lead pool as an entire is smaller. 

Quantifying modifications in key phrase quantity over time can function a type of market intelligence that offers you a view into whether or not general demand is shrinking.

Dig deeper: Why traffic declines despite solid rankings and what to do

Take your findings to the staff 

When you’ve adequately answered all of those questions, it turns into a matter of weighing the problems in your listing in opposition to each other. 

Dig in to know what’s having probably the most outsized impression and decide what you wish to repair. And, simply as importantly, doc it in a method stakeholders can perceive. 

The larger your capacity to construct a robust enterprise case, the extra doubtless it’s to garner assist, get fastened and switch outcomes round. Joyful investigating!