Lost All Traffic from Wordpress Plugin Redirect?

[WithSuchTeeth]

Hello,

I made a blunder. I installed the woo commerce plugin to my site. Whatever I did, it caused a redirect for 80/100 pages.

As you could imagine, traffic sank to practically nothing.

I uninstalled the plugin and reran the site audit.

Is there anything else I need to do? I assume it’s going to take a while for the traffic to recover?

I also assume that is the issue as it's the only thing I was able to figure out. Unless the site is just that bad and this is what happened to it?

Any thoughts/advice are appreciated.

Thank you.

[tangor]

@WithSuchTeeth---

Welcome to Webmasterworld!

What is your time frame? How long to tank? How long since your correction? Have you dealt with the redirects with proper redirects?

[not2easy]

Had you previously submitted a sitemap via GSC? If so, was a corrected version submitted after your fixes?

As tangor asked, it would help to know the time-frame for both the age of the site prior to this change, how long was it affected and how long since you have repaired the problem? Answers would depend on whether the events were over a few hours, days or weeks.

[martinibuster]

Google is generally quick about fixing errors, like if a site goes down for a week or even a month, it can return within 10-15 days to about two months, that's my experience.

However, redirects (long story short) can trigger a re-evaluation of the entire site and that can take as long as several months.

But if you relatively quickly reverted the site (like within a few weeks to a month), then maybe you're looking at 10-15 days to a few months for rankings to return.

Sometimes they don't return except slowly and that could happen if whatever you did triggered a full site re-evaluation.

[Dimitri]

It caused a redirect for 80/100 pages.

As you could imagine, traffic sank to practically nothing.

No, I do not imagine.

A redirect(s) shouldn't cause loss of traffic, since the traffic reaching the old URLs is redirected to the new one.

Also, this shouldn't cause significant loss of ranking. A search engine will continue to serve the old URL, until it's aware of the redirect, then it will replace the old URL by the new One. This can lead to a re-evaluation of the page, and its ranking, but if the content is similar the ranking should be similar too.

So there is certainly something else, which cause the loss of traffic.

I uninstalled the plugin

I am not sure it's good idea to keep switch back and forth, that will , for sure cause troubles.

Check the GSC to see the reason of the traffic loss (lost of ranking, less pages indexed, etc...)

Also, be sure the news pages can be crawled and indexed. Verify they are not excluded in the robots.txt, or using meta tags.

[WithSuchTeeth]

Hi all,

Thank you so much for the replies. I didn't see where I could reply to each comment so my comments are below:

Welcome to Webmasterworld!

Thank you for the welcome!

What is your time frame? How long to tank? How long since your correction? Have you dealt with the redirects with proper redirects?

Last Tuesday is when the plugin was installed and I saw the dip immediately. I then corrected it last Friday! I haven't dealt with any pages that had proper redirects before.

Had you previously submitted a sitemap via GSC? If so, was a corrected version submitted after your fixes?

Yes, I new sitemap was submitted after the fixes.

As tangor asked, it would help to know the time-frame for both the age of the site prior to this change, how long was it affected and how long since you have repaired the problem? Answers would depend on whether the events were over a few hours, days or weeks.

The age of the site is a year and a half old. What I can see is that my posts are indexed and even show a position on GSC. The thing is when I type in that phrase or keyword it doesn't appear in the searches at all!

Google is generally quick about fixing errors, like if a site goes down for a week or even a month, it can return within 10-15 days to about two months, that's my experience.

So maybe I just need to wait more?

However, redirects (long story short) can trigger a re-evaluation of the entire site and that can take as long as several months.

That would make sense.

But if you relatively quickly reverted the site (like within a few weeks to a month), then maybe you're looking at 10-15 days to a few months for rankings to return.

Good to know thank you.

Sometimes they don't return except slowly and that could happen if whatever you did triggered a full site re-evaluation.

With the addition of new posts, would that assist with bringing the others back to some rankings?

No, I do not imagine.

A redirect(s) shouldn't cause loss of traffic, since the traffic reaching the old URLs is redirected to the new one.

The only reason why I brought that up was because it came up on a site audit. The overall health of the site seemed okay.

Also, this shouldn't cause significant loss of ranking. A search engine will continue to serve the old URL, until it's aware of the redirect, then it will replace the old URL by the new One. This can lead to a re-evaluation of the page, and its ranking, but if the content is similar the ranking should be similar too.

Then it could certainly be something else.

So there is certainly something else, which cause the loss of traffic.

It's an affiliate site and honestly my goof was 80/20 affiliate posts vs informational. I personally think that is what did it.

I am not sure it's good idea to keep switch back and forth, that will , for sure cause troubles.

Check the GSC to see the reason of the traffic loss (lost of ranking, less pages indexed, etc...)

Everything is indexed from what I can see. It's just that the positions GSC says they are in are not showing up on my searches.

Also, be sure the news pages can be crawled and indexed. Verify they are not excluded in the robots.txt, or using meta tags.

I will look into those for sure.

[not2easy]

Suggestion - you can quote others' posts, try using Preview before submitting and you will have styling tools for your post. It helps a lot to be able to sort questions from answers.

More tips about using the forums' features are on the Welcome [webmasterworld.com] page

Everything is indexed from what I can see. It's just that the positions GSC says they are in are not showing up on my searches.

It is common to get different results from Google than what others would see. Maybe try a search from a different device, desktop or mobile and not be logged in to your Google account or using your typical browser. The results you are seeing are not the same for every person searching for the same terms.

[WithSuchTeeth]

It is common to get different results from Google than what others would see. Maybe try a search from a different device, desktop or mobile and not be logged in to your Google account or using your typical browser. The results you are seeing are not the same for every person searching for the same terms.

Thank you for the reply and that makes sense.

I really think what has occured is that I went too heavy on the affiliate posts to Amazon. It's like an 80/20 affiliate vs informational and I'm getting dinged for it. Which I get ina ll honesty.

Now, I'm gonna have to focus on the informational posts and maybe those will make the others seem more legit?

[not2easy]

In case you haven't added it, you need to closely follow the Amazon guidelines on your affiliate disclaimer and on your privacy policy. They can get picky about details.

You will always have better sales if you have more information than links. More work, yes, but everybody and their cousin is selling Amazon goods so your information can make the difference. Why buy this? Why buy it now? Why buy from this site? Try to view your site as a person who wants to buy what you offer but isn't real sure about some of the features or details. See whether you think that your site helps them know that is just what they want. You can get hints from actual verified purchase reviews, just don't copy them.