It’s a normal day at the office. You’ve just finished sending out some emails, and you decide to take a glance at the latest metrics for your website. But as you read through the data, your eyes widen. “Oh no,” you say aloud. “My website traffic is going down.”
Maybe it didn’t happen exactly like that for you. Even so, you might find your website not getting traffic — at least, not as much as it typically does. If that’s you, your mind is likely filling with questions. What does that mean? Why is your traffic down? How can you fix it?
Well, you can breathe easy because we have some answers for you. On this page, we’ll go over six possible reasons that your traffic might not be where you want it, plus how to fix that. First, we’ll look at some potential long-term problems and then some potential short-term ones.
Keep reading to learn some methods for improving website traffic!
My website traffic has been going down for a while
Has the traffic on your site been low for a long while? If so, there are several different problems that could be causing it. Three of those potential problems are:
- Your technical SEO isn’t up to snuff
- You aren’t targeting the right keywords
- Your site doesn’t use HTTPS
Keep reading to find out more about each of those problems, including how to fix them.
1. Your technical SEO isn’t up to snuff
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of getting your site to rank high in Google so it will drive website traffic. Understandably, then, a poor SEO strategy will lead to your website not getting traffic.
In particular, you should make a point of optimizing your technical SEO — that is, SEO tactics focusing on the backend of your website. Technical SEO includes things like:
Optimizing for each of these things is a great method for improving website traffic.
2. You aren’t targeting the right keywords
When it comes to improving website traffic, keywords are everything. Including a specific keyword on a page signals to Google that your page should rank for that keyword. Of course, that doesn’t mean you should target just any keywords. To start with, you should target keywords that are relevant to your business.
Also, you should try to target long-tail keywords — that is, keywords that are several words long. These keywords are more specific, which means they target a more precise audience and have less competition in search results.
If you’re not currently targeting any keywords — or if the keywords you’re targeting aren’t relevant or long-tail ones — it’s not surprising that you’re experiencing low traffic. But by rethinking your keyword strategy, you can begin to fix that issue.
3. Your site doesn’t use HTTPS
Another possible reason your website traffic is going down is that you’re not using HTTPS. Check out your website URL — does it begin with the letters “https” or just “http”? If it’s the latter, that could be part of the problem. The standard HTTP protocol is used by many sites, but using HTTPS is preferable.
That’s because HTTPS is essentially a more secure version of HTTP. It signals to users that your site is safe to visit — especially if it features an online store where they might share their financial information. Also, Google favors HTTPS websites, so you’ll rank higher using that protocol.
My website traffic is going down as of very recently
So far, we’ve looked at some things that might affect your website traffic long-term. But what if this is a very recent issue? Maybe last week your traffic was fine, but all of a sudden, it’s dropped dramatically this week.
In this case, it could just be a fluke, but it could also be something more serious. Here are three possible reasons that your site traffic might have dropped very recently:
- You’ve made some recent changes to your site
- Your site has been slapped with a penalty
- Google has updated its algorithm
Keep reading to find out more about each one.
1. You’ve made some recent changes to your site
One possible reason for your website not getting traffic is that you’ve recently updated your site in a major way. If anything big changed on your site recently, it could affect your rankings in Google, which in turn could cause your traffic to drop.
For example, maybe you recently redesigned the layout of your site and launched the updated version. But maybe the redesigned website loaded a lot more slowly than the original version, causing it to rank lower in Google. That would cause your traffic to go down quite a bit.
If you’ve made any big changes recently, check them out and see if they might be responsible for the low traffic you’re experiencing.
2. Your site has been slapped with a penalty
There are certain cases where Google will manually penalize a website’s position in rankings. This happens when websites use unethical, black-hat SEO tactics like:
Needless to say, you should avoid using any of these shady tactics. But what if you already have? It’s possible you’ve even done it accidentally. In that case, Google may have slapped you with a penalty, causing your site to rank far lower (or not at all) and significantly hurting your traffic.
3. Google has updated its algorithm
Finally, it’s possible that the sudden drop in traffic has nothing to do with changes you’ve made, but with changes Google has made. Google often updates its algorithm, sometimes in really big ways. Check the news — has Google recently made any notable changes to its algorithm?
If so, you should figure out exactly what those changes were. For example, let’s say Google made an update that focused on addressing search intent. In that case, you should look at your content and make some revisions to help it better match the search intent for the keywords you’re targeting.
Website not getting traffic? Turn to the experts
Improving website traffic isn’t always as simple as following the steps above. Sometimes, you need to take it up a notch, which may require partnering with a professional agency.
Thankfully, we’ve got your back. We offer professional SEO and digital marketing services that will help your site rank higher and bring in more traffic. With multiple decades of experience under our belt, we know what it takes to drive traffic.
Interested in partnering with us? Contact us today to get started!
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