How do you know why organic traffic is decreasing from Google search?
How do you know why organic traffic is decreasing from Google search?
Your arrival on this page means that your morning was good before you looked at the Google search performance report in Search Console, where you found a significant decrease in the organic visits received from it , which made you wonder about the reason for this decrease .
In order not to waste a lot of time, on this page you will find information about the types of declines in the next visits to the search engine and how to analyze them in a way that enables you to understand the reason behind this decline , and other useful information.
Reasons for low traffic from Google search
Traffic drops from Google search may occur for several reasons, including basic updates in Google search systems , etc., perhaps due to a problem with the website, and more. Here are the most prominent ones:
Technical problems
Technical problems Among the problems that cause low search traffic by preventing Google from crawling, indexing , or displaying the page on search results, it may be due to one or more of the following:
- Server malfunction.
- Command in robots.txt file
- Errors that cause the page not to appear
These errors may be related to:
Website : In the event that the website is down or unavailable, for example.
Page : In the event that the noindex tag was mistakenly placed on the page, for example.
Therefore, if you notice a sharp decrease in the number of visits coming from the Google search engine, the first step is to verify that the website or page is working well and that you are not preventing it from being crawled, indexed or displayed.
Security issues
If Google detects security problems in a website, it shows warnings to people who try to access it, which may cause them to undo their visit because it contains a security problem, and a warning or window may appear that prevents access to the website through the browser, such as:
- Hacked content
- Malware and unwanted software.
- Social engineering
It must be verified that there are no problems with the security of the website in the event that a significant decrease in free visits from the Google search engine is observed . You can start by looking directly at the Security Issues Report from the Search Console.
Manual procedures
In the event that the search engine discovers that a website is trying to circumvent the search systems in order to be ranked first or for major policy violations, it will punish it with a procedure that is applied manually on the website , and the manual procedures will have a significant negative impact on the presence of the website and its pages on the search results.
When a manual action is applied to a website, the latter may disappear from the search results and may be a sufficient reason for a significant decrease in visits from it .
Changes in algorithms
Essential updates may cause a decrease in the number of visits received from Google search , because Google is improving its search systems to provide the best user experience for people through useful search results, so the website may witness a significant decrease in visits from Google search due to the launch of basic updates in search systems .
Seasonal changes
Traffic from Google search may decrease , but not because there is a problem with the website or a manual procedure , but rather because people are no longer searching for certain content – simply – or that content is being searched for in certain periods of time.
For example, if you provide content that is a type of Eid al-Adha ram, then the search query for it should drop after Eid al-Adha, and so on.
How do you know the main reason behind the decrease in visits from Google search?
It does not require large codes or procedures other than searching and investigation, and if you are tracking the status of your website in Google search through Google Search Console, it will be much easier and you will save valuable time while finding the main reason behind the sudden decrease in visits from Google search .
first step | Make sure that the website or page is working
As the first step to finding out why Google search traffic is so low , check that the page or website as a whole is working:
- Try to access the affected website or page directly from the URL with a new or hidden browser.
- Inspect the page or website as a whole using the URL Inspection tool in Webmaster Tools and test the published URL .
If you find that everything is fine, you can move on to the second step
The second step | Ensure that there are no security issues
The presence of security issues in the website plays a direct role in the decrease in the number of visits from Google search , check:
- The status of the website in terms of safe browsing .
- Report security issues in Google Webmaster Tools.
If you find that everything is fine, you can move on to the third step
The third step | Ensure that there is no manual action
Low traffic from Google search may be due to a manual action taken on your website, check:
- Manual Actions Report in Google Webmaster Tools
If you find that everything is fine, you can move on to the fourth step
Fourth step | Check the latest updates in Google search systems
The latest major update launched in Google search systems may be behind the huge drop in traffic from Google search, check:
- Latest updates launched in Google search systems and matched to the type of content you provide (for example, if your website offers product reviews and the product review update was launched in Google search systems , this is most likely the cause, and instructions should be followed).
Fifth step | Check seasonal visits
Seasonal search queries play an important role in decreasing visits from Google search , as after a certain season witnessed many related search requests and visits, after the end of the season the search request decreases and visits from Google search may decrease dramatically and suddenly at once.
Make sure that the decrease in visits is related to seasonal search requests or not, and if the reason for the decrease in visits is not one of the above, then this is most likely the reason.
