Traffiic halved between Jan and feb

positions maintained and improved

[Adam_C]

I've noticed across 4 holiday websites that I promote that traffic from search engines (which accounts for the vast majority of overall traffic) has halved between January and February, whilst all SE positions have either been maintained or improved upon.

The only explanation I can think of for the drop in traffic is the Iraq situation (i.e. people not wanting to book holidays because of the uncertainty/possible war).

Has anyone noticed anything similar?

[Skylo]

I have a holiday site myself and visits have been growing for the last month and this month has started well. Who knows, in this business anything can happen. Just make sure you are/still tops in your search results and that optimisation is well done:)

[Adam_C]

Thats the thing...

We are acheiving some very good positions. But the number of people searching on these seems to have suddenly dropped!

[DrCool]

I saw increased traffic in February for most of my travel related sites. Sales were up as well. I guess it depends on what niche you are targeting.

[Liane]

My sales were up wildly in December & January but dropped in February.March has been dismal thus far. This usually doesn't happen until April 1st when it is similar to turning off a tap. Things generally die for about two months in April and May in my industry and then go mad again.

Last year, February and March were my biggest months. This year, February was the worst I've had and March looks as though it won't be much better. :(

I have no doubt its the talk of war with Iraq. People are once again feeling uneasy about getting on planes. I wish they would make a decision one way or the other and just get it over with! The "talk" is killing the economy.

<Added> Traffic and rank haven't dropped though ... so people are still looking. Their just not buying!

[cornwall]

As other posters have said, it obviously depends on the niche you are in.

I have a lot of hotel and tourism sites, and traffic is definitely not down between January and February.

My sites cover mainly UK, but I have a large US and a large World site. The US site is about 10% down between early Feb and early March.

The world site is about the same over that period.

I would say that if you are getting half the traffic then you have a problem somewhere, unless there is something that is particularly odd about the clientelle of your niche market.

[mat]

... What Liane said - traffic isn't down, but 'action' is - lots of tyre kicking going on.

There is talk of American booking patterns changing - at least as regards overseas travel - with the 'plan and book well in advance' trend being replaced by a willingness to leave it much closer to the time. Who knows.

Obviously the looming madness is affecting willingness to jump on a plane, simple as that.

[Liane]

Yup ... lots and lots of last minute "bargain hunters", but those who used to book 8 months to a year in advance (50% of the business) is drying up quickly.

[glengara]

From the customer perspective:
Going to Florence for a week in late May, decided to put off booking for a while to see how things pan out.
Hoping the Yanks cancel and there's some bargains around :-)

[dbr1066]

I also run a travel site - UK specific - and I've seen traffic level off after Christmas, but the number of people booking has fallen off by about 20% since January. Nice to know its not just me <grin>.

[austtr]

My experience with travel/tourism/hospitality is not so much that traffic is down in Feb... but more a case of Jan always showing far more visitors than the other months.

My flagship site has been online since 97 and every year shows a big jump in Jan. Exactly the same pattern year after year.

No... I don't know why and the leading lights in these forums were not able to shed any light on the phenomenon either.

[TWhalen]

Adam,
You're not targeting keyword:
"middle east vacations" are you?

(I don't think anyone is planning any trips there any time soon!)

;)