Rankings going up, traffic decreasing
-
Hi there,
I have been burned 3 times with shonky/bad SEO experts so was nervous about paying another company, so I am trying to learn SEO myself. My rankings are going up, but my traffic is at an all time low. This doesn't really make sense to me. Can anyone help me?
Thanks, Astrid
-
thank you for your insight. A whole lot I need to work on here.
-
Thanks for your help.
-
Thanks Logan. I will try these.
-
Depends on what rankings you're going up for. Have you done a keyword analysis on the keywords you're ranking better for? Ranking well for the term "blue kangaroo widgets" might sound awesome... until you realize nobody searches that term.
You might want to spend a little money on Adwords and play around with keywords to see what brings in actual traffic. More importantly, Google has been showing more ads above organic, so even if you rank #1, you might be #4 in the actual list behind ads. While the Keyword Estimator is good, real data is better. Moz also has the Keyword Difficulty Tool which can help you find keywords that are actually worth ranking for.
Lastly, are you tracking conversions? You need to be. Figure out what that incoming traffic is doing. Even if you bring them to your site, are they doing what you want them to?
-
Logan
I agree with Logan - Go through Webmaster Tools page by page and see if you can identify some traffic trends. It should not take too long. Click all four clicks, impressions, CTR and position. See what is happening on each page, then you can narrow it down by search term.
On WMT's I would also do a custom comparison for 90 days, ie 45 days each (compare). Or from when you noticed the trend - comparing with when you were ranking lower - only hiccup is only goes back 90 days.
Also I suggest Semrush you get a free use for one hit - i would pop your URL into Semrush and see what the graph for organic keywords looks like.
It is a bit of a puzzle but start with some basics and see how you go. Hope that assists.
-
Hi Astrid,
First things first, it's important to remember that the keywords you track are not the only keywords driving traffic to your site. It's entirely possible that people were finding your site by way of a keyword(s) that has actually dropped in rank that you're not monitoring.
A good way to gain some insight into what's bringing traffic to your site is through Google Search Console. Go to Search Traffic > Search Analytics. From there you can see things like position, CTR, impressions, and clicks based on queries. There are a number of ways you can slice data up here to give you some really good insights.
You can also take a look in Google Analytics at your landing page report for organic traffic and compare dates to see if there is any major differences in entry points to your site. This is a good way to determine topics people were searching to find your site. For example, if they enter from organic search on /blue-widgets they were probably searching for something related to that.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Do references to neighborhoods and local attractions in body copy provide any benefit to geographic rankings for the city in which those neighborhoods/attractions exist?
A few years ago, some SEOs encouraged the mentioning of local points of interest in the copy of a page to improve localized rankings for the city in question. The argument was that a page mentioning "Wrigley Field" (in a natural-seeming manner) would be more likely to be ranked for "Chicago" searches. A similar argument promoted the use of maps (assuming they have a meaningful purpose) because of the neighborhoods, streets, etc mentioned on the map. Was this ever actually a benefit, and if so is it still?
Keyword Research | | Mjesse2 -
Rank for a keyword with a slightly different designation
Hi guys, I'm a newcomer in the world of SEO. I'd like to rank for the keyword "therapy toy" but I'm used to name my product "therapy smart toy". Is a slightly different designation of my product can affect my ranking position in the short or long term? Thank you for your help 🙂
Keyword Research | | JulienLeka0 -
Wrong page ranking for keyword.
I have a page i'm trying to rank for certain keywords around "emergency vet clinic" the page is domain.com/emergency-vet-care but my home page is the one that is ranking better and better. How can I get the other page to rank for e.g. "emergency vet care" , "emergency animal care" and the main page to rank for just regular vet care? My on page looks pretty good. I've also taken out most references to emergency care on the main home page except for the one link to it. Thanks
Keyword Research | | swagseo0 -
Any way to track rank of a URL for keyword BEFORE setting up in Rank Tracker?
Hello all I realize this data is probably impossible to get but thought I would take a chance and ask. Anyone know of a way to see ranking for a URL for a keyword before being setup in Rank Tracker? Would love to see how a URL moved up and down over time prior to tracking. I know its a long shot but if anyone knows its the Moz community! Have a great day people.
Keyword Research | | S2RSolutions0 -
Keyword ranking by word order
If we have a keyword with 2 words like "SSL Audit". Will it rank in the same position the other way "Audit SSL" ?
Keyword Research | | Cistrust.com0 -
I need my keyword rankings report before the time it is provided. Is there anyway to get it now?
The keyword ranking report is telling me i'll get results by this Friday but I need them by today. How can I access the information collected so far?
Keyword Research | | stringsattached_sheridan0 -
When are we goning to get a way to estimate traffic
It's been months and you guys still say you're working with the Google API. Not buying it anymore. I notice you don't have any trouble charging my card $99/month while I wait. I am new to SEOMoz, so if I am being a jerk and you have some other good method to determine the organic volume of a key phrase,, please let me know!
Keyword Research | | tdawgtoo0 -
Rankings are changing all the time
Hi there! My client has a webpage http://www.finlotto.fi. It's a lottery in the Internet. We are trying to dominate keyword "lotto". It's a high volume keyword that has over 135 000 local searches (exact) per month. However, it seems that there aren't much competition out there. We have only one competitor - Veikkaus.fi The issue: We usually have first page ranking only for 2 days max, then we got dropped to third page. Two days later we have first page ranking again. Then we got dropped again to third page. This happens all the time. the odd thing: when we are in the first page, there are a date in the beginning of the META description. When we got dropped to third page, the date disappears. I know this has something to do with crawling. Can you give me some answers considering this issue? I'd be VERY VERY grateful 🙂 BR, Teemu Kinnunen
Keyword Research | | TeemuKinnunen0