Slight freak out about huge nosedive in pageviews

[AndreaNYC]

I have really prided myself in growing our traffic through good SEO practices, originally reported articles, content that is informative, etc. And our traffic was growing! I But yesterday, my traffic took a HUGE nosedive (down 38%), and we have done nothing differently. That is a huge for my small company.

Has anyone else experienced this? Does anyone else know if this is going to change?

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Andrea

[Frost_Angel]

I've experienced the same. I thought there was an issue with analytics at first - because the drop was so huge.

[AndreaNYC]

I am devastated, because I feel like we worked really hard to follow the rules, while also providing our readers great content.

[JesterMagic]

A Google Core update started rolling out around that time. Others have experience similar traffic drops. For more info see: [webmasterworld.com...] and [seroundtable.com...]

These updates tend to take about a week to finish rolling out so you may still experience some flux up or down in traffic.

On the surface it sounds like you did nothing wrong. There are a lot of us who do the same but still inferior content ranks above us. The Google Algo is not perfect and no one knows the secret sauce that will rank a page first.

This is the problem with relying on Google search traffic. They are a monopoly in search and every move Google makes is for their own financial interest.

[Frost_Angel]

@AndreaNYC
I learned in 2011 to never rely on just Google, like JesterMagic stated. I've focused more on building my email list than anything else.

[Wilburforce]

@AndreaNYC

Welcome to Webmaster World!

my traffic took a HUGE nosedive (down 38%)

What is the source of that information - server logs, or GSC/Google Analytics? If the latter, it may just be a reporting glitch that will right itself in a day or two.

If it is a real fall in traffic you need to get forensic, but any or all of the following might affect it:

1. Loss of SERPs position or prominence. A drop in position can be caused by competitors gaining as well as your own site falling, and prominence may be affected by PPC sites pushing yours below the fold, or by other Google layout changes;

2. Loss of a good referring site. A site might be down temporarily, or have removed a link (which might also affect SERPs);

3. Inactivity of a bot (is all the missing traffic human?).

This obviously isn't exhaustive. However DO NOT make sudden changes to try to fix it before you know what the problem is.

[AndreaNYC]

Okay. Thank you for your help. I viewed it on Google Analytics and feel like the drop is in conjunction with its new Core Search Algorithm roll out. We have 2,000 articles, so it wouldn't seem like all would be impacted by competition. I am also assuming all traffic is coming from humans, we have never paid for bots, nor do we have traffic coming from suspicious locations, or some weird spike in traffic for articles that should not be ranking well.

But thank you again for your thoughts/help.

[Wilburforce]

We have 2,000 articles, so it wouldn't seem like all would be impacted by competition.

1. Does each article get 1/2,000 of the traffic, or do some account for more traffic than others.
2. Are all articles affected in the same proportion?

It seems likely to me that of 2,000 articles a relatively small number account for most of the traffic, in which case a drop in position of one or two might have a disproprtionate effect on traffic. It is difficult to see what kind of change - algorithmic or otherwise - that would cause all pages/articles to lose traffic in the same proportion.

You need to look at what has fallen where and why. The aim of the June Algorithm Update hasn't been announced, but will nevertheless affect some search-terms, pages and sites more than others, so what - specifically - on your site has been affected?

[AndreaNYC]

Thanks so much. I need to look further into it. I just saw a few days ago my traffic was trending up, and then yesterday and day, there has been a huge decrease. I then saw the June update, and wanted to know if that was the reason why, as it literally had a sudden drop yesterday -- and nothing has changed with the site.

[tangor]

Depending on geolocation, sometimes world events "reduce" the number of users on line ... they are out doing something different. Some times it might be a holiday event, or protesting, or climate (bad weather). If your traffic relies on an steady number of users on line ... that can be a problem that is temporary.

Meanwhile, WAIT before doing anything. If the fall lasts more than a week or ten days, then start worrying.

Meanwhile, examine site logs and see what has actually changed. Also, don't assume human visitors ... CONFIRM human visitors. Managed your bot traffic ... because an increasing number of bots are coming in as "ordinary" user agents and getting harder to identify.

[AndreaNYC]

Thank you. Can you share how to tell if it is bot traffic? Is there a tool I can use?

[tangor]

@AdreaNYC ... you might start by reading this forum:

[webmasterworld.com...]

[RedBar]

My traffic has been down in the mornings for the past couple of days however I am putting this down to many 75th D-Day commemoration services and mass TV coverage, certainly many of my family and friends have been watching it.

Also bear in mind that G's new roll-out pushed organic results even further down the page, it's almost getting to the point of zero organic on the first page in my widget sector.

[AndreaNYC]

Thank you @Tangor for your suggestion, And @Redbar, if Google continues to push down organic traffic for ads, and same with FB and IG, where do people go to build their brand?

[RedBar]

where do people go to build their brand?

Their long-term strategy has always been "pay to play" ... People need to wean themselves off these thieves, they create nothing themselves yet can penalise the totally innocent. Not the sort of people you would associate with in the pub!

[AndreaNYC]

Yeah, it is just frustrating as you work hard to build up something organically and then it just disappears. Sometimes, it is like what is the point? It gets frustrating.

[Frost_Angel]

A cautionary tale: I relied on Google for all of my traffic when I started "back in the day". Worked hard for 11 years...I bought my dream house, my dream car and was happily married. I even had three employees (including my Mom!) In 2011, overnight I lost all my traffic and the income I had been working on all those years. Had to sell the dream home, take back the dream car... let all my employees go, including my Mom and... the marriage crumbled from the financial stress. In the end, the house... car... all that -- was just "stuff". But the stress and guilt -- took its toll.

[AndreaNYC]

@Frost_Angel, that is heartbreaking. It is hard for a small business owner, as you don't have a lot of time/money, so instead of spreading your self thin, you double down on one area. It just seems like there is no winning strategy.