Why Is My Website Traffic Dropping?
Kasra Dash SEO Speaker talking about website recovery

Why Is My Website Traffic Dropping?

Website traffic is the lifeblood of online businesses and content creators. When a website experiences a sudden drop in traffic following a core algorithm update can be a source of great concern and frustration.

In this article, I will delve into the factors that can lead to a decline in website traffic after a core algorithm update, focusing on both on-page and off-page SEO elements.

On-Page SEO Factors

Dead Weight Pages: One common reason for a traffic drop is the presence of "dead weight" pages on a website.

These are pages that offer little to no value to users and may be thin on content, outdated, or irrelevant.

During a core algorithm update, search engines become more discerning in their ranking criteria.

Such pages can negatively impact a website's overall quality and relevance, causing it to lose visibility in search results.

Solution: Identify and remove or improve low-quality pages. Focus on creating high-quality, valuable content that aligns with user intent.

Here is a video guide on how you can improve dead-weight pages:

Cost of Retrieval: In some cases, a website's core structure or architecture may be overly complex, making it difficult for search engine bots to crawl and index pages efficiently.

This can result in a decline in rankings and traffic.

Koray Tugberk GUBUR Speaks about this in his course often.

Solution: Optimize website structure and ensure that important pages are easily accessible to search engine crawlers.

Here is a video guide on how you can improve cost of retrieval by simply using internal links to more important pages:

Cutting Out Fluff for Featured Snippets: Cutting Out Fluff for Featured Snippets: Featured snippets have become prominent in search results.

Websites that provide concise, well-structured answers benefit from increased visibility.

Concise writing for featured snippets

If your content is filled with unnecessary fluff or lacks direct answers to common queries, it may lose out in the competition for featured snippets.

Solution: Review and edit content to provide clear and concise answers to common questions.

Use structured data markup to increase the likelihood of being featured in snippets.

Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T)

Author Transparency: Google's E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) guidelines have become increasingly important.

If your website lacks transparency regarding the authors of its content, it may not meet these criteria.

Solution: Clearly attribute content to authors and provide their credentials, qualifications, and expertise where relevant.

This builds trust with both users and search engines.

Here is a good example of author transparency:

Clearly you can see "Kasra Dash" is an expert and knowledgable about the topic SEO.
Are your authors as trustworthy as "Martin Lewis"

Trustworthiness of Authors: The trustworthiness of your authors plays a pivotal role in E-A-T.

If authors have a history of producing unreliable or misleading content, it can negatively impact the website's reputation.

Solution: Vet your authors carefully and ensure they have a track record of producing accurate, well-researched content.

Encourage fact-checking and citations.

External References: To bolster E-A-T, it's important that your authors are not only experts but are also recognized as such by other reputable websites. Backlinks from authoritative sources can serve as evidence of your website's trustworthiness.

Solution: Encourage your authors to contribute content to other reputable websites and aim to earn high-quality backlinks from trusted sources.

PS. This doesn't mean HARO. Every man and his dog can get placements on HARO; in fact, the amount of HARO links my team has disavowed has increased in the past 12 months.

Off-Page SEO Factors

Acquiring High Authority Backlinks: Backlinks from authoritative websites are significant in search engine rankings.

If a website loses high-quality backlinks or fails to acquire them, it can lead to a drop in traffic after an algorithm update.

Solution: Invest in link-building strategies that focus on acquiring high-quality, relevant backlinks from authoritative sources.

Searcharoo.com are a brilliant place if you want to outsource this.

Guest posting, content outreach, and partnerships can be effective methods.

Toxicity Levels of Backlinks: Not all backlinks are created equal.

Toxic or spammy backlinks from low-quality or disreputable websites can harm a website's credibility and rankings.

Solution: Regularly audit your backlink profile and disavow toxic backlinks using Google's Disavow Tool to ensure a clean and healthy link profile.

For disavows i would recommend backlink doctor.

Here are some websites that they have been able to recover:

Website recovered after uploading disavow
Website recovered lost traffic after EEAT Audit & Disavow
Massive traffic loss on website but recovered after Google disavow audit

Conclusion

A drop in website traffic after a core algorithm update can be attributed to a combination of on-page and off-page SEO factors.

To mitigate these effects, website owners and SEO practitioners should improve content quality, enhance website structure, adhere to E-E-A-T guidelines, and actively manage their backlink profiles.

Staying informed about search engine updates and continually adapting your SEO strategies is key to maintaining and growing website traffic in the ever-evolving digital landscape.

For any other updates make sure to follow me on Twitter

Shibam Sarbswa

Fractional COO for Post Seed & Series A Startups | Workflow Automation Consultant

5mo

I can't express how grateful I am for your guide. It's been my website's salvation!

Simmi Kukreja

Senior Consulting Partner at Up Market Research and DataIntelo | Market Research | New Business | Consulting | Sales | Growth

5mo

Your guide is gold! It's been instrumental in my site's bounce-back post-update.

Goldie Isselstein

Senior Executive @ Social Media Communication | Social Media Marketing, Community Building

5mo

I can't thank you enough for this guide. My website is on the path to recovery!

Brad Stevens, Founder/CEO Outsource Access

Redefining How You Scale with Talented, Affordable, Offshore Dedicated Virtual Staff from the Philippines (Marketing, Sales, Operations, Finance, Personal Tasks and More)

5mo

Your guide made navigating the algorithm update aftermath so much easier. Much appreciated!

Derek Kenny 康道仁

Co-Founder @ at CGP GROUP & Gateway UAE |

5mo

Your guide is worth its weight in gold. It's transformed my website's fortunes!

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