Declining Traffic With Same Rankings

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JaffeyApple
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Hello

I would be grateful for any input on this.

I'm the webmaster of a site. Before May 22, 2013, penguin 2 updates, the site was getting around 720 hits per day

After penguin 2 Updates, there is no difference In ranking... But my traffic has halved.

Just checked on Moz for rankings update and I have used all 300 Keywords permitted with rankings of 220 In Top 3 & 288 On First Page

But traffic stats show

Week ending: 6/16 Change 6/23 6/16 Change 6/23 6/16 Change 6/23
Organic Search Visits
Total number of organic (unpaid) visits to your site from search engines.
1,782 -11% 1,589 37 -16% 31 1,745 -11% 1,558
URLs Receiving Entrances Via Search
The number of distinct URLs on your site that receive one or more organic (unpaid) visits from a search engine.
370 -4% 354 8 13% 9 362 -5% 345
Non-Paid Keywords Sending Search Visits
The number of distinct keywords that send one or more organic (unpaid) visits to your site.
886 -2% 865 8 0% 8 878 -2% 857

I have another serps tool which has the sites full 1100+ kws and I can see no difference here either.

I have checked historical analytics data to see how much can be allocated to seasonal variations but May 2102 traffic only reduced by a little over 6% compared against Apr 2012. Jun was 1.7% down on Apr 2012 so no great fluctuations.

Looking at 2013 on the other hand Apr traffic was up 2.375% against March. May, when the issue commenced, we were down against Apr 17.63%. Jun we have not recovered as traffic compared against Apr was down 52.79%

My questions are

1. Why is there a major decline in traffic when ranking is more or less the same

2. What is the possible solution?

This is a little frustrating and obviously would like to get to the bottom of it so would be grateful for any input. Thanks.
#declining #rankings #traffic
  • Profile picture of the author alvinchua91
    alvinchua91
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    There could be a high chance that either one of the following happened:
    1) you're ranking for a fad keyword search term... Hence the sudden change in demand for that keyword.
    2) Your website user experience is poor and repeat 'keyword-searchers' do not wish to go to your website again.

    How to solve it:
    Check if it's either of the above... You should know how to solve it if it's one of them.

    If none of them applies to you, then it could be that you may have a changed ranking SERP for one of the search engines which you didn't notice.
  • Profile picture of the author PROmotions LLC
    PROmotions LLC
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    It could be traffic lost from other keywords you lost rankings for. 5 or 10 random long tail keywords added up could be the equivalent of the traffic from 1 good keyword.
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  • Profile picture of the author eClicker
    eClicker
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    Google Trends if it's an established keyword. What does the trend say going back a few months to this time last year?
  • Profile picture of the author tpw
    tpw
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    Look at those websites ranked against yours for those particular keywords.

    Do the other sites look more attractive than your listings?

    It could be that your competition changed something in how their site was listed in Google to make their site more attractive than yours to users.

    It could also be that your competition is doing a better job of giving them exactly what they need, thereby eliminating the need for users to keep looking for an answer.
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  • Profile picture of the author january14n
    january14n
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    Do manually checking and check if your website appears on top of the search.
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    No Clicking Here - I Repeat No Clicking Here
  • Profile picture of the author MisterMunch
    MisterMunch
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    There are several reasons for loss in CTR.

    -A good AdWords ad-writer can get 8-15 % clicks where the average is maybe 1% (just guesses). This will steal a lot of your clicks.

    -There are more AdWords ads or those who had the spots have discovered ad extensions etc.

    -Competitors can use profile image in search results as well as star ratings. This will steal CTR as well. (or you lost yours)

    -Someone mentioned frequent searchers. People who use the same keyword each time they want to see how long the salmon is supposed to stay in the oven. Maybe your advice got them a little dryer salmon and they click on position #2 (personal experience).

    -A celebrity or popular blog/brand is ranked in the top 5 and steal clicks as people have more trust in their advice or products.

    -Google have added their own product to your targeted keywords. This includes maps, calculators and more.

    -Image results are moved higher on the page

    -Your website has got a "?" or red dot in the results instead of the green one.

    And several others.

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