Is Your Business Website Experiencing A Traffic Jam?

Last Updated: 

April 4, 2023

You’ve been receiving a steady flow of traffic to your website, but suddenly this traffic has halted. What’s causing the traffic jam? Well, there are many different possible causes. This post explores a few potential common causes. 

Key Takeaways

  1. Search engine rankings: A decline in traffic could be due to falling search engine rankings caused by algorithm changes, site activity, keyword usage, page loading speed, or growing competitors. Consider hiring an SEO consultant to improve your rankings.
  2. Public reputation: A damaged public reputation, due to scandals or negative reviews, can lead to decreased traffic. Consider investing in PR efforts or encouraging satisfied customers to leave positive reviews to restore your reputation.
  3. Page speed: Slow-loading webpages can result in high bounce rates and lower search rankings. Optimise your website by reducing file sizes, managing video usage, and choosing a reliable server.
  4. Redirects: Ensure that your redirects are still functioning correctly. Broken redirects can lead to reduced traffic on certain pages.
  5. Security issues: Websites flagged by security software may experience a decrease in traffic. Regularly update plugins and check for potential security risks using website security checkers.
  6. Functional issues: Address any functional issues, such as broken buttons or missing content, which may negatively impact your website's user experience and cause a drop in traffic.
Discover Real-World Success Stories

Is it your search rankings?

Most lapses in web traffic are due to falls in search engine rankings. Search engine rankings can be affected by so many factors including:

  • Changes in search engine algorithms
  • Site activity (have you added any new content recently?)
  • Poor keyword usage
  • Page loading speed (explained more later on)
  • Growing competitor websites

If you think search engine rankings could be to blame, it could be worth hiring an SEO consultant to see what you can do to boost your rankings. It’s possible that you may need to adapt to algorithm changes or find a way of separating yourself from competition by targeting new keywords.

Has your public reputation taken a knock?

A public scandal may initially result in a rise in visitors, but after this you may see a significant drop in traffic. Similarly, recent negative Google reviews can put off visitors. These are both worth looking into - it’s possible that you may need to find a way of boosting your reputation again to get people back on board such as investing in a PR company or encouraging happy customers to leave positive reviews. 

Has your page speed slowed down?

A slow loading webpage could result in a high bounce rate. In other words, you could be getting visitors, but they could be leaving straight away. As a result, other pages that visitors may have previously taken time to explore once on your site may no longer be getting visitors.

Page speed can also affect a page’s rankings, which could mean that you do experience a drop in traffic in the long run. There are many things that can affect page speed including file size of images, use of videos and even the server that your website is on. Check out this guide for a few tips on how to speed up your website

Are redirects still working?

If you had redirects in place, you may also want to check that they’re still working. If a certain web address is no longer redirecting visitors to the right page, this could be a clear reason as to why this page has seen a drop in traffic. Fix this in order to help regain traffic. 

Are there security issues?

It’s possible that your website may be getting flagged by security software if security issues have been identified. Be wary of old plug-ins that could be seen as a gateway for viruses or links leading people to pages that are now considered unsafe. There are website security checkers that you can use to determine if your site is deemed secure. 

Are there other functional issues?

Many other functional issues with your website could be causing you to lose traffic. This could include buttons that no longer work or important images/videos that no longer load. Scour your website to make sure that there are no bugs that need fixing. 

People Also Like to Read...