Drops in web traffic can be very stressful, especially when your income relies heavily on online leads or e-commerce. While it’s normal (and sadly, unavoidable) to see some fluctuation in daily web traffic, a harsh decline in online presence is unusual and may indicate that there is a problem with your SEO. Luckily, it CAN be an easy fix – even though it isn’t always that simple. Sometimes, less experienced marketers aren’t able to make a proper diagnosis, and therefore, are unable to solve the problem before it’s too late. So today, I’ve decided to write a short article about three common reasons for declining web traffic.
1. Google algorithm changes
Algorithm changes can really nip you in the butt if you aren’t careful. It’s important to stay up to date on Google’s algorithm changes to ensure that you don’t fall behind when any major changes in search ranking occur. For example, on the April 21st, 2015, Google decided to include mobile optimized web pages as a major factor in Search Engine Result Page (SERP) rankings. This meant that all websites that used mobile-friendly templates went up in SERP ranking, bringing them closer to that sought-after position on the first page of search results, and all websites that didn’t use mobile optimized templates were penalized in the sense that mobile-friendly sites were coming out on top simply because they were using a newer template.
2. Lack of Content
Okay. So the most common reason behind a decline in web traffic isn’t always a lack of NEW content, but it can also mean a lack of the RIGHT content. Content mainly refers to any text that you put on your website; whether it be a blog post, a landing page, a site page or even any changes you’ve made to existing site pages. Anything original that you put on your website to be indexed by search ranking bots (sometimes called Robots or Spiders) is the content of your website. For the best results, you want to be spending an hour or more every day posting keyword-rich content on your website to keep the spiders coming back, and to keep those keywords optimized. However, you should keep in mind that you’re marketing to humans, not spiders. Although using keywords wherever possible will really boost your position on SERPs and ensure that you develop a strong online presence, it’s important to maintain a good flow without too much repeating to keep your actual paying customers interested.
3. “NOINDEX” Code Snip
A “Noindex” code snip does exactly what it implies; it tells search engines not to index your page, so it will never show up in search results. You can change this by going into your web page code, searching for “noindex” and changing any instances to “index” as you see fit. If you are unfamiliar with coding, you may be better off contacting your SEO company and notifying them of the issue instead of trying to change it yourself.
Keeping up with your SEO and troubleshooting related problems can be a very time consuming task, and can end up taking you away from your business. I mean, what good is it spending half of your day getting customers in the door when you don’t have the time to properly serve them? When experiencing drops in traffic, it’s best to hire someone with experience on the subject, not only so the job gets done faster and to a higher standard, but also to allow you to focus on what you’re really good at.
