A sudden drop in website traffic can be stressful, but it’s not uncommon. Believe it or not, it happens more often than you think. This could be for a few reasons that we can cover in another article. So woo-sah for now.
So what’s the good news? Most traffic declines have identifiable causes and solutions that you can take right away to get things back up and running again. In this article, we’ll cover steps you can take to turn things around.
1. Analyze Traffic Data Thoroughly
Checking your data is the first recommendation because your website analytics hold the key to understanding what went wrong.
Tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console provide detailed insights into traffic sources, user behavior, and performance over time. Look at metrics like sessions, bounce rate, and average session duration.
While looking, you want to try to identify which pages or traffic sources (organic, direct, referral, social) have seen the steepest declines. For example, if organic traffic has dropped, the issue might be related to SEO.
Compare data week-to-week or month-to-month to pinpoint when the decline started.
Action Tip: Create a custom report in Google Analytics focusing on traffic trends and the affected channels for a clearer picture.
2. Assess Recent Changes to Your Website
Changes to your website or marketing can inadvertently cause traffic drops. Besides regularly posting, it’s important to write down changes such as website redesigns or migrations as you make them.
For example, a redesign can disrupt SEO elements like meta tags or URLs. If you’ve migrated your site, you have to make sure that proper 301 redirects are in place.
If there are plugins or core updates, you should check for any compatibility issues, especially with caching or SEO plugins like Yoast or Rank Math.
Double-check if you’ve removed high-performing content or adjusted internal linking structures.
Action Tip: Run a full crawl of your website using tools like Screaming Frog to detect errors after changes.
3. Evaluate SEO Performance
SEO issues are a common culprit behind traffic declines. Unfortunately, you cannot avoid this aspect when trying to run a blog. While the internet is not perfect, it’s important in the big picture. Who can someone find you if they you’re not providing indicators to help in the search?
We recommend using tools like SEMRush or Ahrefs to monitor the rankings of your top-performing keywords. If rankings have slipped, review your content quality, competition, and on-page SEO.
Performing backlink audits will help you to identify any lost links and reach out to the linking websites to regain them.
Another tip is to check Search Console Insights for penalties or warnings, such as manual actions or mobile usability issues.
Action Tip: If rankings have dropped, refresh your content with updated keywords, visuals, and relevant links.
4. Review Content Quality and Relevance
Engaging, up-to-date content is important for retaining visitors and attracting new ones.
One of the first things you should do here is identify underperforming posts and pages. Use analytics to see which content has high bounce rates or low average time spent.
You might find that your content could use a bit of a refresh. Refreshing older posts with new data, images, and examples can help improve engagement and traffic. For instance, you can update the title of an article titled, “Best Apps for 2020” to “Best Apps for 2024.”
We often recommend creating evergreen content and investing in topics that remain relevant, such as “How-To” guides or beginner tutorials. If you don’t have any evergreen content, this would be a great time to start adding to your list of posts.
Action Tip: Use a content optimization tool like Surfer SEO to identify gaps and improve rankings.
5. Improve User Experience (UX)
Visitors won’t stay on a site that’s slow, confusing, or hard to navigate.
Slow-loading pages discourage users. Period. There’s no easy way to put it.
There are a few things that you can do in this case. First, you can compress images, enable browser caching, and minimize JavaScript. Google PageSpeed Insights is a great option to identify speed issues.
While there, you should check on your mobile traffic as they now accounts for over 50% of web traffic. Ensure your website is mobile-friendly by using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool.
Another great tip is to reduce clutter on your menus and create clear call-to-actions (CTAs) for your visitors.
Action Tip: Regularly test your site’s usability with tools like Hotjar to understand visitor behavior.
6. Reassess Marketing Strategies
If your promotional efforts aren’t yielding results, it’s time to rethink your approach. In this case, we recommend taking a second look at your content strategy.
Audit your posting frequency, content quality, and engagement. Try experimenting with formats like Reels, Stories, or live videos and compare the results.
With email marketing, try reviewing your campaigns’ open and click-through rates. Use catchy subject lines and segment your audience to improve relevance.
Now, if you’re running ads, we recommend evaluating your performance metrics. You should check if ad spend is being allocated effectively.
Action Tip: Use a tool like Canva to design eye-catching visuals for social media campaigns and ads.
7. Monitor Competitor Activity
Keeping an eye on competitors can reveal opportunities you might be missing. You’d be surprised at opportunities you can find after conducting a content gap analysis.
Tools like Ahrefs can help identify topics your competitors are ranking for that you haven’t covered yet.
If competitors are dominating featured snippets or FAQs, optimize your content to compete for those placements.
Action Tip: Subscribe to competitors’ newsletters or follow their blogs to stay updated on their latest strategies.
8. Fix Technical Issues
Technical issues can silently wreak havoc on your traffic. In some cases, the word havoc is an understatement. While fixing technical issues can be tedious, you have a few options.
We recommend using tools like Broken Link Checker to find and fix any dead links on your site. Checking Google Search Console (GSC) for issues like blocked resources or indexing problems will be helpful especially if you’ve allocated time for the activities.
Another tip is making sure that your site is secure with an active SSL certificate as search engines will prioritize HTTPS over HTTP sites.
Action Tip: Perform regular health checks using all-in-one tools like Sitebulb.
9. Engage with Your Audience
Your audience can provide valuable insights and help spread the word about your website.
- Encourage Interaction: Add polls, surveys, or comment sections to spark engagement. Respond to comments to build trust.
- Build Community: Create exclusive content or forums for your loyal audience to keep them coming back.
Action Tip: Use platforms like Typeform to create interactive surveys and gather feedback.
10. Stay Updated with Industry Trends
The internet is always changing, so staying informed on what’s happening online or hiring someone to manage things for you. It will help you succeed in your goals online if you know more of what’s happening online or in your area of focus.
Try regularly read trusted industry resources like HubSpot and Search Engine Journal. Another option is to experiment with new technology. We do!
For instance, you can check out new AI tools for content generation or automation.
Action Tip: Join forums or communities like Reddit’s r/SEO or r/digital_marketing to exchange ideas and learn from peers.
Conclusion
Traffic declines are a normal part of running a website, but with the right approach, they’re fixable. By systematically addressing these areas—analytics, SEO, content, UX, marketing, and technical issues—you’ll not only recover lost traffic but also build a stronger foundation for long-term growth. You’ll also come to appreciate why and how things are happening with your site more than ever.
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