Huge and sudden fall in SEO traffic
-
Hi,
I’m writing you because we have noticed in Google Analytics account, a huge fall in the SEO traffic of mywebsite, starting suddenly in one precise day.
The difference between this day and the previous one is: -46,36% . Traffic has fallen in all parts of the site in the same way. Some details:
- we did not make any relevant change to the website
- we haven’t been banned by Google (or we don’t have any message about it in GWT)
- the number of the landing pages remains approximately the same
- the number of indexed keywords falls from 9.000 to 4.000.
- around 2 weeks ago we found out around 120 pages with 404 error, but the error now is solved and the pages are currently working
- we open the content to Google about 4 months but still we have not published our Site Map.
I know that the 404 error could could affect the indexation, but do you have any other idea, apart of this, of what could have happened? Thanks!
-
Agree.
Didn't saw any changes in our german website...
-
The 404 errors aside, which are certainly prime suspects for the drop - did the drop occur at the same time as a drop in your competitors rankings too? I recently noticed a 10 position drop for a major keyword and checked the Ranking History for that particular keyword and noticed that at all three of the competitors I initially submitted when I setup my campaign had all dropped an equal (or greater) number of positions for that particular keyword in the same week. Which would suggest to me that a change to Google algorithm has taken place and affected us all equally, rather than as a direct result of changes made to my website content or any temporary issues with the site which would prevent Search engines from crawing the site.
Whilst I am still suffering as a result of this drop it is good to see that it wasn't isolated to my site and therefore likely to be as a result of content changes or technical problems.
-
Candida,
We will need more details from Google analytics in order to determine a more likely cause for the problem. As Daniel suggested, it could be the Farmer Update if these changes occurred over the past month, but it could be something else.
What I suggest you do is view the entrance sources for the actual pages that received the drop in traffic. What keywords specifically received this hit? What keywords didn't? What sort of optimization did you do for the keywords that received the hit?
-
It would be helpful to see the domain so we could analyze the existing link profile. Depending on link types, anchor text percentages, and linking sites there could be a plenty of reasons the recent algo updates earmarked your domain.
Are you using an exact match domain?
Are the majority of your links one type? (Article dirs, blog comments, blog networks, etc.)
What have your search query reports showing recently? (Impressions, Click-thru rates, rankings)
-
Hi Candida, I'm wondering how your rankings are doing now that it's been a few weeks since the (possibly coincidental) update. Have you recovered any traffic? Did you figure out any reasons for the drop?
-
Search results can differ when logged into search engines, so make sure you compare results when you're logged out. After Google indexes your site again and finds the 404s gone, I'm sure you'll work your way back up.
-
Check your recent back link structure. A change in Google's algorithims could have render certain key words as not ranking because they are now considered to have an artificial linking structure.
-
Though it appears her website is targeted at Spain, and the Farmer/Panda update was aimed at US sites at that time, so that may not be the issue.
Can't reply to myself so will edit and correct. I should have said that the update was targeted to users in the US, not sites in the US, so she would need to see if it was just visitors from the US that dropped off to see if it was this update.
-
Yes, the fall has been the same in all sections of the web
-
Thanks I had no clue about this. Better check my feed more eh? That guy definitely thumbed down you lol
-
Do you track any of your rankings? Have they fallen by a uniform amount?
-
There was this pretty major algorithm update over the weekend called the Farmer Update. You can read more about it from Search Engine Land here:
http://searchengineland.com/google-forecloses-on-content-farms-with-farmer-algorithm-update-66071
If this applies to you, then it would definitely explain the drop in traffic.
-
My first thought is to check two things:
-
make sure the Google Analytics code is still present (and correct) on all your pages.
-
Check to make sure there aren't any new filters being applied to your Analytics account.
-
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
-
Need help related to SEO ?
Hi, Hope you guys are doing well! I need help from experts, I have a query that "Does google allows SEO for websites related to crypto currency ?" If yes, what is best way to do SEO for crypto currency website ?
Technical SEO | | JessicaThompson0 -
I'm looking for a good SEO
I need someone that can help me with my SEO. I am too busy to do it and the last person that did it, I really feel didn't do a good job. Please message me (If that is possible). I am looking for on-page, probably disavowing a good bit of links, and anything else that someone can point me in the right direction to do. I'm having some pretty major issues with my guy right now and I just feel like my rankings are falling off of the map because of it. Thanks!
Technical SEO | | Veebs0 -
What effect does HTTPS have on SEO for a public site?
I have a client who I've been working with for 4 months but getting NO TRACTION at all on their SERPS. This is unusual for me! The only difference to their site from other clients is that the whole site is https so I'm wondering if that's making a big difference. The site is: https://www.cnc-ltd.co.uk Any help of hints would be great thanks in advance Steve
Technical SEO | | stevecounsell0 -
SEO for User Authenticated Content
Hi Everyone - I have a potential client who is seeking SEO for a site that contains about 95% of content only accessible through user authentication . Does anyone have tips for getting this indexed without having to open it up to the public? I was considering adding "snippets" into the robots.txt or creating an additional page with snippets linking to the login page. I'd appreciate any thoughts! Thanks!
Technical SEO | | manutx0 -
What's the correct SEO for a Gallery?
Hi there, I was wondering if anyone was an expert on galleries and using canonical URL's? URL: http://www.tecsew.com/gallery In short I'm doing SEO for a site and it has a large gallery (3000+ images) where each specific image has it's own page and each category (there's 200+) also has its own page. Now, what I'm thinking is that this should be reduced and asking Google to index/rank each page is wrong (I also think this because the quality of the pages are relatively low i.e little text & content etc) Therefore, what should be suggested/done to the gallery? Should just the main gallery categories get indexed (i.e http://www.tecsew.com/3d-cad-showcase)? Or should I continue to allow Google to trawl through all of it? Or should canonical URL's be used? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Best Wishes, Charlie S
Technical SEO | | media.street0 -
SEO Tomfoolery
Oh Hai, I recently changed the permalink structure on my Wordpress based site, southwestbreaks.co.uk from the standard ?p=123 to a more SEO chummy /%postname%/. As a result, my site has completely dropped off the board for all my previously well ranked search phrases. Having since gotten into SEOmoz a bit more, I can see there are WP plugins available that apparently would've done this a lot more smoothly. I'd be most grateful if someone could explain if this drop off is just temporary, or have I somehow entered Google's shun book? The site has been like this for about 48 hours. Thanks, Tim
Technical SEO | | Southwesttim0 -
Does the Referral Traffic from a Link Influence the SEO Value of that Link?
If a link exists, and nobody clicks on it, could it still be valuable for SEO? Say I have 1000 links on 500 sites with Domain Authority ranging from 35 to 80. Let's pretend that 900 of those links generate referral traffic. Let's assume that the remaining 100 links are spread between 10 domains of the 500, but nobody ever clicks on them. Are they still valuable? Should an SEO seek to earn more links like those, even though they don't earn referral traffic? Does Google take referral data into account in evaluating links? 5343313-zelda-rogers-albums-zelda-pictures-duh-what-else-would-they-be-picture3672t-link-looks-so-lonely.jpg Sad%20little%20link.jpg
Technical SEO | | glennfriesen1 -
Getting to grips with the technical side of SEO
Hi all, I have been working in online marketing for a while, predominantly working on the affiliate marketing and business development side. Over the last year I have decided to focus my energies on getting to understand SEO and have picked up some actionable tips and strategies to put together an SEO strategy for the business I work for whilst at the same time broadening my skillset in online marketing. I would like to think I now have a good understanding on key areas of the SEO framework such as keyword research, on page optimisation and link building and look to put my learinings into practise as well as continue to play around through my personal blog An area that I see as more and more important so to get a full understanding is the technical side, getting a decent understanding on the learnings of HTML and CSS and putting this into practise. Can anyone recommend a detailed tutorial, powerpoint that provides insights and learnings on how to best understand this side of SEO? Thanks Simon
Technical SEO | | simonsw0