7 Ways to Check Factors Affecting Organic Traffic

Organic traffic that flows to the website can never maintain a steady level but prone to fluctuations. As long as the fluctuations are within a tolerable range that does not affect the overall SEO performance, there is nothing to worry. Traffic fluctuations can happen for no reason at all and often unrelated to the external links and content. However, if there are erratic fluctuations that tend to follow a downward trend, then there is enough reason to worry.

7 Ways to Check Factors Affecting Organic Traffic

Drastic fall in traffic flow that keeps reducing is a sign of something grossly wrong, and you have to discover the underlying cause to arrest the trend and reverse it. Leaving the problem to persist could even jeopardize the SEO prospects and leave you devastated.

The problems might appear to be difficult from the surface, but when you scratch a little, you will discover that it is not much difficult to fix it. Therefore, instead of pressing the panic button, stay calm and learn a few methods of diagnosing the problem so that you can understand the cause and take appropriate remedial measures. If you are not able to work alone, look for an SEO agency that can guide you in this matter.

1. How Accurate is Your Finding?

Since the report of a drop in traffic is critical to understand the cause of the problem, you have to ensure first that the data contained in the report is 100% correct. No matter how you have collected data and whether you did it on your own or depended on someone else, double check to confirm that everything is correct. It would ensure that the traffic drop happens for some valid reasons and not a freak incident. Continuity in data collection influences the trend, and even if you miss to collect data for a day, it could impact the results and mislead you.

2. Be Sure That the Fluctuation is Not Normal

Since traffic fluctuation is normal, you have to be sure that the metrics point out to something that establishes that the fluctuation defies the usual pattern. Compare the trend of fluctuation with historical traffic trends that will help to highlight abnormalities that brings out the trend of deviation. If the deviation persists, it sets a new pattern that needs investigation. Keep a record of your SEO traffic of the previous year, and by plotting it on an Excel sheet alongside the current traffic data, you can find out the standard deviation. That will confirm how serious the problem is. By thumb rule, traffic flow over 8-9 weeks spread over a year is likely to remain one step below the weekly average. It can be a benchmark for comparing the traffic flow trend.

3. Rule Out the Effects of Google Algorithm Changes

As Google algorithm changes happen without any notice, sometimes it can temporarily affect traffic flow because it takes time to understand the change and adapt it. It is critical to adjust to the changes as quickly as possible to restore normalcy in traffic flow. Only if the key landing pages experience a decline in traffic and rankings, it can be due to algorithmic changes. If the problem happens due to algorithm changes you have to know what the difference is about and tune the website accordingly so that things become normal again. Usually, reviewing SEO content helps to make improvements that match with the update.

4. Consider the Significant Changes Done to Website

Changes to website elements that might be very simple like updating title tags, switching URLs to another JavaScript framework or removing navigation menu can impact the traffic flow. Before looking into other areas for the cause of the problem first confirm whether your website has undergone any drastic changes. Use some tools to identify poor quality backlinks or pages with a low word count that could send negative signals to Google and reduce traffic flow. Review any new content that you have uploaded, identify the no-index pages and try to find out if anything is conflicting between the key landing pages.

5. Scrutinize Every Segment of Website

Despite the overall webpage performing well, a particular section could be performing poorly and affecting the results and traffic flow. By looking at the whole site performance data, you can make out if this is your problem. Analyze the data by monitoring traffic flow to different segments of the website to identify if there has been little traffic going to some particular segment. Traffic flow depends on the type of device that the audience uses for accessing the website like desktops or mobile devices, and you should check your website’s compatibility for viewing on all kinds of devices. If all pages of the site do not display in the same way across devices, then some pages with less visibility will attract less traffic.

6. Indexing of All URLs

All URLs of your website has to go through Google indexing, but sometimes it does not happen that way. After you update your site or even otherwise, Google might index fewer URLs. This means that the potential of non-indexed URLs reduces the overall flow of traffic to the site. Check if there are crawling issues by typing the website URL in Google search and check if the number of results matches with the number of web pages of the website. If there is a huge difference, then it shows that there is some serious indexing problem.

7. Broken Links and Inactive Domains

All backlinks that appear on the web pages need to be active and updated which you have to ensure by reviewing the backlink inventory regularly. Broken links which are links that do not exist anymore are of no use as it does not attract any traffic. Use some tool to detect broken links and broken domains and replace it with active links and domains to gain traffic. The tool can also help to understand the reason for broken links.

Conclusion

The above are some key issues that need a close investigation to understand the reason for poor traffic flow that is also easy for restoring the normal level of traffic.