Losing site traffic can sting a lot – especially if you think you’re doing your best to attract users, and the numbers are dipping despite your best efforts. 

Today’s Internet is a complex ecosystem that is always in flux. SEO is a complicated process that requires constant monitoring of an ever-growing list of factors and observing a vast number of “best practices.” Faure to do so on any front may result in your site losing traffic, which can directly affect your bottom line.

Here are just some of the reasons why your web presence may be on the decline – and what you can do to remedy the situation.

You’re not Active on Social Media

Social media has been in the ascendancy for a few years now. In 2021, it would be fair to say that it influences nearly every aspect of life. If you aren’t actively taking steps to engage with audiences and communities on all the major social media platforms as much as you can – you’re missing out.

You’re not Engaging With Audiences on Forums

Forums and other spaces dedicated to a particular subject in some way relevant to your web presence are a great place to look for an audience and to create engagement. You should be proactive in seeking out such places and engaging with the communities that use them regularly.

You’re not Guest Posting

Guest posting is an excellent way to advance your branding efforts and increase your site’s traffic. Inviting some industry influencer or expert over for an appearance once in a while can have a profoundly positive effect on your traffic numbers. The benefit could then be doubled if they decide to return the favor.

You’re Not Engaging With Industry Leaders

Engaging with industry leaders boosts your credibility and attracts attention. Users like authoritative content – and few things are more convincing than an industry leader’s opinion on an interesting subject.

Your Content Is Not Up To Date

If your website is full of old, irrelevant news, people are unlikely to be interested in it – and your site’s traffic will reflect that. Make sure this doesn’t happen by reviewing and updating old content regularly.

Your Content is Not Appealing to Influencers

Influencer marketing can attract a lot of attention to your website – but in order to get a shoutout or a promotion from an influencer, your content must be appealing to them. Make sure this is the case.

You’re not Optimized for Google’s Mobile-First Index

In case you missed it – Google is now giving a leg up to websites that are optimized for mobile devices in their online searches. Making sure your site is mobile-friendly should climb near the top of your priority list.

You Have Lost Links

Having lots of lost links can have a direct impact on your search ranking. This may result in a loss of traffic. The solution to the problem is simple, though not easy to implement – you will need to check each link individually and either remove, replace, or retain them all.

Your Website is Not Optimized for Voice Search

Voice searches are not just a gimmick anymore. They make up a significant part of all web searches in 2021 – and are only going to grow in prominence. If you want to be ranked well, you need to optimize your texts so they get selected for Google’s voice search snippets.

Your Keywords are Out of Date

How keywords are used has changed dramatically over the years. Keeping with the newest practices and trends when it comes to keyword lists is crucial for nurturing a healthy web presence. Make sure you put in the effort to do good keyword research and update keywords regularly.

The Layout of Your Pages Shifts A Lot

Shifting layouts can cause many problems related to user experience – which in turn leads to reduced engagement and traffic.

You Have Broken Redirects

When you move your website to a new server or implement any significant structural changes in it, you can have broken redirect issues. Unless you have a proper 301 redirect plan in place, this can seriously damage your website’s traffic. So if you’re undertaking either of the abovementioned actions, make sure you have a solid plan on how to avoid that. 

You Have Suffered a Manual Penalty

If an employee at Google manually penalizes your site, you are likely to see a sharp drop in site traffic. A good way to be sure that you have suffered a manual penalty is to check if your site still ranks on other search engines like Yahoo or Bing.

The only way to restore your web presence, in this case, is to rectify the issue that caused you to receive the penalty in the first place. The notifications in your Google Search Console account could give you a hint of where to start.

Your Competitors Are Stealing Your Thunder 

We live in an attention economy, and SEO is often a zero-sum game. A loss of traffic to your site may be an indication that a competitor is moving in on your territory. If you suspect that may be the case, you can use web tools to monitor their activity, learn how they аre outcompeting you, and focus more efforts on evening out the playing field.

Algorithm Changes Have Deranked You

Google’s algorithm is always changing, and the fact that it likes your content now is not a guarantee that it’s always going to direct traffic your way. The reverse is equally true.

To avoid suffering a decline in your site’s traffic due to algorithm changes, make sure you keep with Google SEO trends, but also have a backup plan. Develop a diverse cross-channel marketing strategy that doesn’t exclusively rely on Google. 

Organic Changes in Search Patterns Have Pushed you Down

Your product may have been hot a while back, but if it is not popular anymore, it’s only natural that you see a dip in site traffic. If you think this may be the case, you may want to consider reimagining your content strategy to make it more appealing to currently existing audiences.

You Have Too Many Ads

Users tend to take a dim view of websites that are overloaded with ads – and annoying users is the last thing you want to do if you want to retain site traffic.

Your Pages Load too Slowly

Search engines usually aren’t too bothered about how fast the content on your pages loads. However, users are. Slow loading times are a guarantee for a bad user experience, and can thus be responsible for your site losing traffic.

You Have Used Bad Links In The Past

Google’s algorithm is always getting updated to make sure “link schemes” are not a viable tactic for building a web presence. If you have used such tactics to drive traffic to your site in the past, your online footprint could be diminished when they become ineffective or even counterproductive.

The only way to get out of this situation is to use legitimate link-building strategies and organic growth to fuel your web presence in the future.

You’re Having Server Problems

If your site has server issues, this will result in both a bad user experience and problems with how search engines crawl and rank your site. This is why you must resolve any server problems that pop up as soon as possible.

Your User Experience Is Sub-par

If there is some aspect of your site that interferes with your users having a positive experience with it, you should work to address the matter, regardless of the efforts doing this would cost.

Your Site’s Internal Navigation is Lacking

There’s nothing more infuriating than a site with bad internal navigation. Users are going to get annoyed searching for things that should be readily accessible and leave. Search engines may stop crawling it altogether. Make sure you have all of your content easily navigable and if that isn’t the case – deal with the problem.

You’re Using Old Clickbait Techniques

Clickbait isn’t as effective at baiting clicks as it once was. The tactic has been so over-used to promote junk content that many users get turned off immediately if they get even a whiff of what may be clickbait in a title. Try to make your titles interesting and provocative, but avoid cliches and obvious clickbait.

You’re Having Crawl & Index Technical Issues

If for some reason, search engines have a hard time crawling or indexing your website, your site’s traffic will suffer. To avoid this, make sure you take every step possible to make your website as search-engine-friendly as possible.

You’re Suffering From Server Overload

Sudden surges in traffic could lead to your server crashing. What’s worse is that this doesn’t even have to be your fault – if you’re sharing a server with another site, that site can crash the server. 

You need to make sure server issues are always resolved promptly to avoid suffering the negative effects of site downtime.

Your Meta Tags Are Poorly Made

Meta tags provide search engines with information on the nature of the services that your site provides. If they are repetitive, meaningless, inconsistent, generic, or otherwise unhelpful, your SEO will suffer.

One or More Sources of Traffic Have Run Dry

Most growing sites are helped along by traffic from several sources, such as organic searches, email marketing, and social media. If one of those streams suddenly ceases sending users your way, you are likely to see a sharp dip in user activity on your site and should try and resolve the issue as soon as possible.

You Have a High Bounce Rate

Bounce rate is the percentage of all sessions on your site in which users viewed only a single page. If you don’t run a site that only has a single page, a high bounce rate could be an indication that users don’t wish to engage with your content. Over time this results in losing site traffic – which is why you should try and figure out why users are getting turned off from your site.

You’re Still Affiliated With Toxic Sites

Having sites that feature objectionable content link to your site can have a profoundly negative impact on your web presence. If you ever experience a sharp decline in traffic, make sure to check if this is the issue, and take steps to disavow bad links to your site as soon as possible.

You Have Duplicate Content

Having substantial blocks of content that duplicate other content is generally harmless unless Google thinks you are doing it for deceptive or malicious purposes. If this is the case, the search engine rankings of your site will take a hit.