Optimizing a website can be pivotal to its success in search engines. Sometimes, however, sites can experience drops in rankings and organic traffic despite the facts that they may be optimized and that no big changes have recently been made to the site.
When this occurs, knowing where to start looking for answers can be essential to fixing the issues, reversing the downward trends and realizing better results from the site.
After a Drop in Rankings & Traffic, Check…
- The mobile site – Does your site have a mobile version? If so, is the mobile version reflective of industry best practices? Is it properly optimized for different types of devices? Problems with mobile optimization can trigger a fall in rankings, especially when mobile sites take a long time to load, they do not properly display on certain (or any) devices, etc.
- The analytics configuration and data – Were analytics configured for your site? If so, were they properly set up? And have you (or has someone) been reviewing the analytics data regularly to identify possible issues that could be contributing to rankings drops? While closely reviewing analytics data for a site can indicate which pages are likely not providing users with the info they are looking for, it can also indicate when linking strategies (or other optimization efforts) may be problematic and causing drops in rankings.
- Technical issues – Another factor that can contribute to rankings and traffic drop offs can be the technical problems a site has, as these can negatively impact the user experience. Some of the specific technical issues to look into can include (but are by no means limited to) broken links and redirects, directories being blocked from indexing, and loading time issues.
- The content – Is the content delivering information that users are expecting to see (based on the titles/descriptions on SERPs)? Or is the content offering any interesting, important or unique information? If not, the poor-quality content may also be contributing to the site’s poor performance, and doing a content refresh may be necessary.
If none of these factors seems to be contributing to the drop in rankings:
- Consider some of the changes SERPS have experienced recently – With the 3-stack local pack and other recent chances to SERPs, drops in rankings can be related to the new way Google is displaying certain search listings (rather than a problem with the site itself).
- The site may have been hit with a Google penalty – This can be identified by checking Google webmaster tools and/or the analytics data for the site (to see if any cluster of pages or terms have all experienced a similar rankings drop).
- It’s time to get some professional help and insight from the Internet marketing gurus at Epic Web Results – Our pros can perform a free website audit to help you identify issues that may holding you back from realizing better rankings, traffic and leads from your site.
Contact Epic Web Results for Effective Internet Marketing Solutions
To achieve exceptional results from your website, contact the professionals at Epic Web Results. We are up to date with the latest advances in Internet marketing and SEO best practices, and we are highly adept at designing and maintaining optimized websites that will soar to the top of search engines.
To learn more about our customized, innovative Internet marketing solutions, call (800) 501-9724 or email us using the contact form on this page.
