Solutions to Common Website Traffic Problems
Finding out your site is no longer ranking or not ranking as high can be alarming. You worked hard on your content and earned that ranking, so losing that is tough. The good news is this is fixable. With easy research and simple changes, you can get your site back on track and regain your lost website traffic.
Here are some easy tips to help your SEO ranking the will ultimately help customers find your site.
Identifying the Issues
There are several possible culprits when website pages lose their ranking. Everything from an algorithm update to bad backlinks to more formidable competition is a possibility.
1. Algorithm Update
Search engine algorithms can deliver website traffic to your site, and sometimes they can just as easily divert traffic from your site. Search engines are constantly tweaking and improving their algorithms, so it’s possible that a recent change no longer values your content.
The easiest way to determine if a recent update is wreaking havoc with your ranking is to check your Google Search Console to see if any issues are detected. Another option is to check out Google Analytics and zero in on the day things took a turn. Once you have that date, check to see if an update launched around that time.
If you can confirm that a recent update is the cause of the issue, run a Google search to figure out what the new update was about or what issue is holding your site back. Search engines are very secretive about their algorithms, so you won’t find a definite answer. You will likely find other people experiencing the same issue and you can learn from their troubleshooting efforts. Once you identify the problem, go about updating your site to alleviate the issue.
2. Check Your Backlinks
Backlinks are when another site links back to your site. Generally, backlinks are good. They illustrate to search engines that your site provides value in the form of helpful information. However, sometimes backlinks can do more harm than good.
Backlinks from leading sites in your industry, media, and even influencers are amazing, hugely significant, and incredibly helpful. Backlinks from random sites trying to legitimize their questionable site by latching on to yours are not beneficial. Essentially, you do not want spammy backlinks.
Most search engines are wise to this sketchy practice and understand that you cannot control who links back to your site. Disassociating your site from a spammy link, while not necessary, may prove to be helpful. Google has gone on the record indicating that low-quality backlinks are not a problem and disavowing these links is unnecessary in most instances. However, sometimes disavowing backlinks is the right thing to do.
How to Search Backlinks and Improve Website Traffic
Run an audit of all of your backlinks; this can be done using various systems, including Google Search Console. You want to look for anything weird or irrelevant or that just seems like spam. If you find anything like this, disavow the link.
3. Tough Competition
It can be hard to hear, but maybe the reason your site is no longer ranking so well is that someone else published better content. This doesn’t mean your content is horrible. It just means that your content was fantastic and you need to do some work to reclaim your place.
Content is constantly evolving and it’s entirely normal for content to lose some of its luster with time. It may cushion the blow to look at this within the context of professional athletes. Athletes set records for most points scored in a game or some other milestone. Sooner or later, someone else comes around, surpasses the old record, and takes the crown. Although, you have the option to take on the rising star and reclaim your ranking.
Check the Analytics
Open up whatever analytics program you use and identify what pages have experienced a drop in their ranking. You can do this by comparing your current ranking to earlier periods when the ranking was high. You want to determine the URLs and keywords that have dropped in ranking.
Type those keywords into Google to find out what sites are ranking for those keywords. That’s your competition. Audit those pages and look for what sets them apart from your site. Basically, what do they have that you don’t have? Do they provide more information? Do they have really great videos or graphics that explain a complex issue? Do they answer questions in a much more precise or straightforward manner?
Use this information to improve your content to fill any gaps and make your page better than the currently ranking sites. Keep the same keywords so you can build on your success instead of starting over.
Competing With Yourself
Evaluate your site to determine if you are competing with yourself because this can drag your ranking down. Each page should rank for different keywords. If you have multiple pages all with the same keywords, then you are your own worst enemy.
Simple Solution
The easiest solution is to create a unified front and combine similar pages. This way, you’re still going up against other sites, but you’re no longer working against yourself. Determine which page ranks the best and keep that one. Then review the content on the other page(s) and pull anything that isn’t already addressed on the page you’re keeping and add that content there. When combining pages, make sure the text flows logically, and the content is strong.
The URLs for the pages you no longer keep still provide value, and you don’t want to lose whatever traffic they were bringing in either through organic searches or backlinks. Set those pages to redirect to the page you’re keeping. This way, any website traffic that comes in will land on a helpful page, even if it wasn’t the user’s intended destination. You’ll also still benefit from the older pages ranking without those pages potentially stealing visitors away from other pages of your site.
Building Your Ranking
Website ranking is an ongoing task. There is always room for improvement, and there are always changes coming your way. Building and maintaining your ranking takes a lot of work. If you don’t have time to keep up with this work, feel free to get in touch.
I can help your site build its ranking or regain lost ground. Either way, ensuring users can find your site is the priority, and I can help make sure that happens.
