Site Dying or Economy?

Site issues or economic issues

[Jez123]

My site has been online for 22 years. This past 12 months have decimated it. Traffic is now at a trickle at Christmas when it should be flowing nicely. I don't know if it's the site that's been downgraded in search or the economy or both. I am now about 2 thirds down traffic wise and still dropping. I am fearing that this might be the end of my business.

The site is e-commerce, UK based and most business comes from UK (though we do sell all over the world). We make bespoke products from natural materials

Is anyone else in the same boat? I know the UK economy is bad but Christmas is usually an absolutely manic time for us and I am getting zero orders.

If I can determine if it's the site / search or not maybe I can do something about it?

[jellyfish]

No, its not just you Jez123. I am experiencing very similar with a UK ecommerce site over 10 years old. Traffic levels are similar as previous years, or only slightly down around 5% for this time of year but the conversions and subsequent revenues are massively down. I also have another UK ecommerce site again over 10 years old which is showing the exact same pattern, similar traffic levels but 25% or more down on conversions. This is a very unusual pattern to see at this time of year in this particular niche. I have two theories 1). the economy, as the spare spending money of the general public or our target market is no longer available and 2). the constant changing face of google search results with paid ads, videos, people also ask pushing the relevant content down the page. Google only uses search result layouts that make it money these days and it's likely a reason for some of the results we're seeing.

[beaverman]

@Jez123 have you had noticeable drops on specific Google updates this year?

[robzilla]

I assume you have either Google Analytics or some other web stats? And a Search Console account? That should provide you plenty of historical data to figure out what's what. I think it's too easy to blame it on the economy or on Google, and that also takes you out of the driver's seat (though of course everything in the e-commerce ecosystem will have some effect). You start with things like where did I lose traffic, for what queries, etc. so that you can proceed to the why, which hopefully leads to some possible solutions. That's very site and niche specific, though.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

I'd consider gaining exposure through other avenues first. Other search engines, social networks, forums and sometimes other businesses can help you get the word out. Google was clearly too important to your business which is just another problem to fix.

Google might actually sort themselves out as you do the things needed to survive without Google.

[RubicCubed]

Have to agree with robzilla. Take a dip into your traffic stats to uncover what's going on. The economy is bad, but Google is becoming more anti-small business by the day. While we have seen sales from Google drop substantially, other traffic sources are constant in driving sales. As Sgt_Kickaxe noted, focus less on Google and more on alternative traffic/sales sources.

[Jez123]

Thnaks for your replies.

These are screen shots of SEMrush and GA
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I expected a downturn when the covid lockdowns finished (we were very busy during those - almost ridiculously so) but the decline has now gone further down than when covid started. Previously the charts were all gradually and steadily going up.

I have tried other revenue streams, Facebook, Google ads, and Pinterest but have found nothing that works at all really. Social media just seems to be detrimental as it takes more time dealing with the bottom of the barrel customers than is worthwhile. Google ads are very expensive and didn't really offer much value. It's interesting to add that my google ad campaign is still running with no changes and has gone from very focused but few clicks per day to rarely any clicks at all with zero changes to the campaign.

It looks to me like last August was the time when the tide turned so if that coincided with an update I don't know.

If anyone has any suggestions I would be grateful.

[engine]

There are no solutions where one size fits all Jez123, especially as some sectors can have seasonal fluctuations, product trends (new through to end-of-life), vertical market sectors, fashions, event-related (including economy shifts, major global sports, public holidays), disruptive technology, etc., etc.

I have always found that research is key to knowing how these changes will impact a business or service. It's worth investing time and money into this research, which should include how your competitors are doing, as well as your own stats. For example, if your competitors are down, it points to a trend in the market. If all your competitors are selling an old fashioned widget, and you're not aware of a new, young upstart selling the next-best-thing, you're not going to be able to adapt.

Stats from web traffic is only one part of that research.

If you haven't already, draw up a list of all the things that can affect your business, positively and negatively. Spend time brainstorming it with your colleagues. Take time out to do that away from the every-day distractions. Go into it with a positive attitude.
Meet with other businesses at seminars and discuss their challenges.
Take a look and see if you and your staff could go on a training course.
What about alternative outlets? Could you sell better through something such as ebay, or etsy, or amazon, or at local Christmas fairs, etc. Again, only you know your business.

Sorry if you've already been through all this.
I hope it's given you some ideas to start, and it's only a start.

[tangor]

I know I sound like the squeeky wheel, but it's the economy more than anything. Money flow world wide is depressed at the moment as all are holding breath (and savings) to see where we go next. Recession is on the horizon, and those that ignore it will get a wake up call pretty soon. :(

[Jez123]

Thanks everyone.
I found this to be very interesting! A competitor who ranks in the top 10 for a major keyword in our market:

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and me
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Virtually identical drop in traffic over exactly the same timescale. I don't know what it proves but it looks like the competotor has now gone out of business - his site is unreachable and cached last in November

[robzilla]

for a major keyword in our market

What does the query volume graph for that keyword look like? Is use of the query steady?

[Dalnoon]

Use Google trends to identify the search trends. Stop asking random people on the internet, and manage your business with data not opinions.
Instead of looking at SEMrush, go look at your GSC for data, are you losing your RANKS or IMPRESSIONS? If it's impressions, check Google trends and see if the keywords aren't actually being searched anymore.
Yeah, the economy is bad, but I 100% believe your traffic is down not because of the economy/market.

[Jez123]

Impressions are similar and fairly steady and the trend is also not disimilar - it's down from covid lockdown levels and I am wondering if part of the issue is that everyone bought what they needed during the lockdowns. In UK people were on 80% of wage to stay off work. We have never been busier than during that period.

So I assume that rankings have dropped a bit but also searches for that keyword have dropped a bit as well.

[ichthyous]

I have tried other revenue streams, Facebook, Google ads, and Pinterest but have found nothing that works at all really. Social media just seems to be detrimental as it takes more time dealing with the bottom of the barrel customers than is worthwhile.

Exactly right...Social media is a huge waste of time for my business...the ads bring in the lowest level of visitor, it's almost a joke. Building a social media base without ads now is impossible, your posts will have zero visibility. I am contemplating deleting my Facebook business page and my Twitter account entirely. After that will be Instagram, which has dropped to new lows in post visibility and doesn't reach the people I want to reach and never did.

For some of us with high value items to sell, Google was it. Google is now over. Google text ads do not work...they are hugely expensive now and do not convert. Due to the huge changes Google has made over the last couple of years, but especially in 2022, all the converting traffic has vanished. The results are simply too overstuffed with ads and widgets, so ranking highly does not produce traffic. This year my online business brought in less revenue that in my FIRST year of business in 2004! No social media strategy will replace the 20 years of strong search ranking.

I have tried the ads...they don't work. I have tried partnerships with other larger sites / brands...a huge waste of money so I canceled them. Let us face reality now, the days of small business success online are effectively over until governments step in to smash up all the monopolies controlling the flow of traffic. Don't hold your breath.

And yes, people have also stopped spending as much this year due to inflation, the war, unease, the stock market dropping, crypto imploding, and everything else...but really it's mostly Google that has destroyed our traffic and our businesses.

[Pjman]

I dropped all socials years ago and focused on capturing my users through email and giving them a high level experiences through email and it has worked wonders. I tripled my business and sold it 4 months ago for a great profit.

Email is the way to go.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

Ditto, including the sale. I agree - collect an email list interested in your topic(s).

Social is a game of diminishing returns as the platforms come up with new ways to keep traffic on their site.

[Jez123]

I know now that google is to blame for my site slowly dying. The start of this week Google did something, removed filter or whatever and for 2 weeks all of the customers that wanted to find my site did. We took an enormous amount of orders in this time and now it's back to the usual crap and bottom feeding time wasters that low quality traffic produces.

[vivalasvegas]

Have you been paying close attention to how your pages appear in the search results? A change in the title and/or description shown will sometimes have a big impact on traffic received or conversion, even if your positions in the SERPS do not change much or at all.

[Jez123]

@vivalasvegas

Yes, I have noticed google has rewritten some of my page titles. Really badly rewritten. I would imagine it would affect stuff as well. Not much I can do about it though is there?

[vivalasvegas]

A big SERP description modification has caused an important drop in conversion for one of my websites and it took me quite some time to realize what was causing it. Especially that the old page descriptions kept bouncing back at which point conversion would also be back to normal. Things are stable now, unfortunately with the newly compiled descriptions.

I guess you could study how search engines come up with page titles and descriptions and try to influence this to your advantage by structuring your pages in a certain way.