Reasons for change in organic traffic year-over-year
-
Need some help in answering the concern of my client.
My client is concerned that organic visits from the 1<sup>st</sup> and 2<sup>nd</sup> quarter of 2016 are LESS than q1 & q2 of 2015. Overall there was about a 15% variance.
Basically, I am trying to explain why the 2015 quarters have more organic traffic than 2016 (over the same time frame)?
I have explained that to the client:
- There are external factors that affect SEO such an increase in competitor presence
- That we have been focusing on generating quality traffic to the site rather than just quantity
- That Google’s new SERPs layout is pushing organic rankings down
Unfortunately, my client does not believe the above points to be valid, despite the fact he is still receiving the same amount of conversions, with less traffic.
Why would his traffic be less in 2016? What else could cause this?
Any help would be appreciated so I can help him.
-
Are you filtering spam referrals in your Analytics data? A lot of SEOs noticed that spammy Analytics data declined significantly in the first quarter of 2016. (Unfortunately, the spam data has definitely come back over the last 2-3 months.) If you aren't filtering out spam and the site had a lot it in 2015, that might account for a 15% drop in overall traffic reported.
Your points are valid, but cover your bases to ensure there are no hidden issues. You should perform a technical audit and risk assessment of the site if you haven't done so already. Check for crawl issues, page speed, content duplication, and risky backlinks (to name a few).
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
-
A web audit for web traffic? Need answers please..
Hi, We are a PR agency based in Dubai and we produce a lot of web content. The website is build on ruby on rails and we have implemented keywords and SEO strategies but sadly the traffic pattern has not changed since the past three years. What surprised us today that we created a page 2-3 days ago for a client who is participating in Arab Health (a very prestigious healthcare event) and suddenly our page comes on top 3 on google.ae as well as google.com We are kind of convinced that there is something wrong with our code.. Do you think this could be a possibility? and the lack of change in the traffic pattern might not be an SEO issue but a code issue? What could be the possible reasons for this pattern? In such a scenario what would experts like you recommend we do? Do a SEO Audit? Web audit? code audit? hire a seo/ web / code consultant? Thanks - helpful answers are really appreciated and just btw if anyone feels they could professionally help us out of this mess, we are willing to work with him/her. Thanks in advance
Algorithm Updates | | LaythDajani0 -
Is there a direct correlation between google places and organic listing ?
Basically, I have examined several examples that the sites which are included in Google places are not listed in organic results in page 1. For example, If my site is listed in google places. is it going to affect my ranking for the same keyword?.
Algorithm Updates | | Abith0 -
Yahoo & Bing algorithm changes?
We have noticed that several of our clients have been falling fairly significantly in the rankings in both Yahoo and Bing in recent weeks. Do you know if they have made any algorithm changes lately, and if so, do you have any indication of what changes may have been made?
Algorithm Updates | | GregWalt0 -
Changing Googles Sitelinks
Hi all, I know Google will only show sitelinks if the site is deemed authoritive and if it will help the user searching a keyword, but is there anyway to order or control which links appear in the sitelinks? I know you can demote a sitelink in Webmasters, but is this not shooting yourself in the foot? If I demote a link will Google replace it with the next link it thinks is worthwhile and be doing this eventually show the links you want to appear in your sitelinks? Thanx Gary
Algorithm Updates | | gazza7770 -
Is changing your meta titles frequently good SEO Practice
Greetings, Im a new SEO and really knew nothing until signing up to SEOMoz. After reading the SEO101 and gathering as much information in a short period of time things started to become a little clearer. So I started my first campaign used my new SEO knowledge and input all of my meta information. Then I waited a few days to see what happened with my search result. We had never ranked for a single keyword before mind you. So a couple/few of days go by and I started punching in my keywords and looking through the pages. There I was page three. I was SO happy. I read the entire SEO101 again, realized a little more about what I had to do. So I started changing everything up, adding pictures, I found out what a IMG ALT Attributes were in the HTML editor, bolded text and all the other things I missed the first time around. Three days go by and I move up again. I start to notice my traffic is increasing and I am actually getting organic hits through search traffic. This has never happened before. I am over the moon. But I realize that I have my main focus keyword as the second key word in my title tag. So I switch the two words around, wait a few more days. Here's why I ask my question. The original title tag was still showing up and I was on the first page for both keywords, and I could see both title tags when searching for either keyword. So; Is changing your meta titles frequently good SEO Practice ? Warmest regards, Michael S&M Warning: adult site, NSFW
Algorithm Updates | | Sexandmetal0 -
SEOmoz suddenly reporting duplicate content with no changes???
I am told the crawler has been updated and wanted to know if anyone else is seeing the same thing I am. SEOmoz reports show many months of no duplicate content problems. As of last week though, I get a little over a thousand pages reported as dupe content errors. Checking these pages I find there is similar content (hasn't changed) with keywords that are definitely different. Many of these pages rank well in Google, but SEOmoz is calling them out as duplicate content. Is SEOmoz attempting to closely imitate Google's perspective in this matter and therefore telling me that I need to seriously change the similar content? Anyone else seeing something like this?
Algorithm Updates | | Corp0 -
Can anyone explain these changes to our Titles in the SERPS?
Hi there, We've been doing well in the SERPS over the past few weeks. Our previous meta title was displayed as: "Hunter Original Tall - Buy Original Tall Online Here" However, recently we've seen the title in the SERP switch over to: "Hunter Original Tall - Cloggs.co.uk" This has occurred on several of our product pages which display a particular style of a certain brand. So for example: "Ugg Bailey Button - Cloggs.co.uk" Has anyone else experienced these changes or can explain why this may have happened?
Algorithm Updates | | NigelJ
There is not change to the source code and our Titles have proven to have good click through rates in the past. Any ideas mozzers?0 -
How to increase my traffic?
I've performed countless SEO tactics, post tons of unique content. social bookmark tons of it. Facebook, Twitter, etc. Implement new sections to my site all the time in the past month I've implemented a dating site and a discussion forum. Yet my traffic pretty much always stays the same. We are at a level where our site is now the best place on the web to find disability news, and I can't really think of how else to improve it without simply having it more active. Is my niche just too small? http://ablemagazine.co.uk
Algorithm Updates | | craven220
