By popular demand I am writing this post about… No way, just kidding! But I wanted to write it because I have been reading this phrase a lot lately in many LinkedIn posts. I suspect that it is mainly a justification for posting something that might generate a certain fear in the person when posting it. I have already gone through the phase of shame years ago and this is also an exercise for myself so I have stopped looking for this type of justification.
1 Comparison with previous years
2 Analysis at the traffic type level
3 Actions to take depending on the problem identified
Comparison with previous years
A drop in traffic from one month to the next can have several reasons. It could be a drop in demand in general, a seasonal fluctuation or a loss of positions for keywords with a lot of traffic.
Therefore, to start with, it is necessary to understand that certain drops are inevitable, some do not even have to be bad (nor good). In the end, it is a figure and the relevance of it remains to be discovered.
It is also interesting to analyze how the competition is affected. If you lose and they win, there is no need to look for excuses, but rather find the root of the problem.
Analysis at the traffic type level
After having identified the trend and let’s say that it is not a seasonal issue, we want to understand where that rise or fall in SEO visits comes from. Now it’s time to investigate a little more in detail.
Junk or transactional traffic: there are better searches than others. “Buy yellow balloons for a birthday party” is one of those keywords that is of interest if you have a decoration phone number library store and offer that type of product. I’ll give you an example for a more complicated case. “Nude” is one of the keywords that generates a lot of traffic on one of the five websites that I supervise in a project for a client. If you speak some English, you know that the translation is “naked.” If you don’t offer erotic content, you probably aren’t too interested, so it could be classified as junk traffic. But if you offer makeup products, you might be because there is a well-known brand called “NudeCosmetics.” My theory is that in this case 99% of the people who put that keyword are not looking for the product. If you fall into positions with “naked” and you are in the same situation you should not worry too much.
High volume or low volume traffic
There is a type of keyword that we can all agree is important. Those can you share your organization’s use with purchase intent that also have a high volume. As we all agree here it is also understood that the competition for the same reason will be high. If you lose here you have to get your act together because many sales are decided here. For slightly more mature companies that also invest in branding the type of keywords related to the brand and its evolution is key. If people search less for your brand you may have a problem beyond SEO. I would not focus solely on quick wins at the SEO level either. The easier small victories will distract you from the important battles for the keywords that really matter.
Actions to take according to the identified problem
We do not want to fall into the hole of analysis paralysis. We have to move forward and, depending on the problem identified, we have to take a step forward.
Fall in junk traffic searches
It is clear that there is always the prestige of wanting to grow in visits. Do not let your ego take your focus away from what really matters. Having visits without impact on branding or sales does not interest you, so in this case you do not have a problem.
Fall in transactional searches: you have work to do, and taiwan data even more so if they are high volume. You can consider several things. Improve your Onpage SEO structure (consult this with an expert) and/or invest more in Offpage SEO (buying links). You should also study the links that the competition has and you do not. If, like me, you lack the knowledge to carry out this task, hire people who know more about this than us.
Fall in brand searches: here you have a problem beyond SEO. Your relevance as a brand is falling. If people search for you less on Google and it is not because the demand for the products has fallen or it is not the season for it, you have a branding problem. You will have to invest in other channels such as video ads, influencer marketing, offline, etc.