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Why Your Website Traffic is Low and How to Fix It

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It’s completely normal for website traffic to experience ups and downs throughout a calendar year. However, if your website was experiencing consistent traffic and suddenly sees low traffic, there could be a bigger concern.

Here are some common (and uncommon) reasons your website is now experiencing low traffic and how you can fix the problem.

Analyze Your Traffic Drop

A good first place to start is to examine your traffic drop and note any trends. Take a look at the curve of your traffic over a few months. Ask yourself:

  • Did this decline happen suddenly or over time?
  • Are there any other metrics negatively impacted during this same timeline?
  • Could the cause of this dip be seasonal/linked to a specific time of year?

These questions should give you an excellent place to start for your investigation, but make sure you investigate your Analytics or whatever website tool you use is working correctly to get accurate information (which leads us to the next point…).

Check Your Analytics Connection

Sometimes, the problem is as simple as your Google Analytics or another measuring tool isn’t properly connected to your website. If you use Google Analytics (which is the most common tool), you can start your troubleshooting here. If, after going through these steps, you find out your Analytics or measuring tool is connected correctly, it’s time to move onto other scenarios.

Did You Run an Ad?

If you ran a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign and it ended around the same time your website traffic decreased, this could be the reason behind the dip. However, if this is the case, this is a sign that it’s time to restart your campaign or start a new one. Once you restart it, see how this impacts your site traffic; it could have been the “culprit” all along.

Take a Look at Your Backlinks

Sometimes, a major traffic generator for websites could be backlinks, where other sites pointed back to yours, and it’s possible that a specific website was sending a lot of referral traffic to your site but then removed your link. There are several reasons why a site would no longer backlink to you, but it’s wise to do some research before concluding. Once you have a concrete reason behind it, it may not hurt to reach out to the site owner and discuss how you could get this backlink back.

Was Content Removed from Your Site?

If you recently went through a content audit on your website and deleted pages or content that you thought didn’t add any value to your site, you may want to republish this content. As a reminder, perform removing any content from your website, it’s important to see that page’s analytics before.

Google Penalized Your Website

There are dozens of reasons why Google would penalize your website, but luckily, it can be reversed. Google penalizes websites that break their Webmaster Quality Guidelines, and these penalties can drastically impact your site’s traffic. No matter the rule that was broken, it’s imperative that you correct the problem at hand.

To see if your site has been penalized by Google, log into your Google Search Console and see if you have any notifications. Google will let you know exactly which rule your site is breaking and offer resources on how to resolve the issue at hand.

Once you’ve corrected the issue and your submitted request for a site review has been approved, take a look at your traffic metrics and see if it starts to increase again.

Your Site’s Load Time is Slllllooooowwwww

No one likes to spend time on a website that’s too slow, and nowadays, people will not give your business the time of day if it takes more than a couple of seconds to load. PageSpeed Insights will let you know how your site stacks up and how you can rid your website of the elements that cause it to be so slow.

It’s Time for a Website Update

Old websites and marketing tactics tend to lead to poor user experience, which leads to less traffic, lower conversions, and higher bounce rates. If you haven’t updated your website within the last five years and haven’t found a “direct” reason behind your site’s low traffic, this may be the answer to your troubles.

While the above reasons are not the only reasons why your website traffic is so low, these are an excellent place to start your troubleshooting. If all else fails, contact GreenMellen for a full website audit, and we’ll uncover why your traffic has been impacted.

About the Author

Brooke Desmond

Communications Manager
With a passion for all things digital marketing, Brooke aims to give a unique perspective on the latest trends and ideas in this ever-changing space.

View Brooke's Profile

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