Even though you think that you know quite a bit about SEO, sometimes things happen which still surprise you. Despite all the tinkering on your website, you have recently lost traffic. Why is that? In a second, you’ll learn what the potential causes are and what could be done about it. Let’s go!
Recent changes
Before you start overanalyzing about every possible reason why your website lost traffic, you should focus on your recent activity. Have you changed the layout of your website, the type, or the form of the articles? With some tools, such as Pro Rank Tracker or Ahrefs, you could check when did you start losing the traffic. Compare this data with the time when you implemented the changes on your website. If there is a clear correlation, you should consider rolling back the changes.
Quality of content
If the number of visitors has recently been steadily decreasing it might be due to the lower quality of the articles. You always hear about the importance of excellent content, but now it is more relevant than ever. Google has been changing its algorithm to reward websites where you can find quality content. What if the quality of the articles on your website hasn’t changed? Even if it has stayed the same, the recent changes might be why you are ranking worse – other websites might create better content. Sure, there are several tricks that you could use to improve your rankings, but how your website ranks depends on how helpful you are to the visitors.
Before you start creating content, it’s best to check the quality of the articles of your top-ranking competitors. It would give you a general idea of the content that you’ll have to top. Remember that it’s not all about Google’s bots. Providing comprehensive answers to the questions that people might ask will cause your website to rank better. If you create valuable content, then people will be more likely to link to your website too! This way, you wouldn’t have to put so much effort into backlink building.
Check your competitors!
Even if your content is passable and you haven’t introduced any major changes recently, you might still notice that the number of visitors is going down. Why? Your competitors may have stepped up their game. If you want to check if the websites with which you compete have put more focus on SEO, you should use tools to check keyword strategy, but also the number and the quality of backlinks. More and more companies hire professional SEO experts to increase their visibility online. It means that few simple tricks won’t do you much good – you’ll have to try your best to climb to the top!
Analyze your backlink profile!
The number of your backlinks might be dropping. What could be the reason? It is possible that the places that have previously linked to your websites are replacing their links with some better sources. There is no other way to counteract this process than to create better content. Yes, you will hear that a lot. Still, it is crucial. On top of that, you should check whether the websites that link to your website are valuable. Even if your website is often linked to, you might find that the quality of the backlinks could be better.
Try different keywords
If you are experiencing difficulties ranking with the most popular keywords that are relevant to your niche, you could change your strategy a bit. Instead of competing for the top phrases, you could focus on less popular keywords instead. Although they might not be as commonly searched, the competition should be much smaller. If your niche is pretty big, then this change of strategy could bring you incredible results.
They say that you should aim for the stars, but it is often the case that small companies try to compete in places where they have no chances of success. It doesn’t mean that they should abandon all of their SEO efforts. What matters is being smart. You can get back your lost traffic, but if your competitors have much more funds, you need to know your limitations.
It’s not an uphill battle!
Even though seeing the traffic on your website decrease can be stressful, you shouldn’t panic. Before you start reacting, you should first learn what could be the reason. It might be that the new changes weren’t really the best idea. If the analysis conducted with SEO tools doesn’t bring any clear results, then you should analyze the recent activity of your competitors. If you have detected any modifications in their strategy, which caused them to rank better, then you should react appropriately. The world of SEO might be complex, but it doesn’t mean that you cannot get back your lost traffic if you put enough effort into it!
