Has your website stopped getting visitors? A significant loss of traffic could be due to all kinds of things. Below are some of the top potential reasons why people are deserting your website.
Are you still being indexed on search engines?
Many websites get the majority of their traffic through search engines. If you’re no longer being indexed on search engines, this could be a big reason as to why no-one is visiting any more.
The first thing you should do is to search for your website on Google or Bing. If it doesn’t come up, you have a problem.
There are all kinds of reasons as to why sites don’t get indexed. You may have been penalised or there may be faulty code stopping you from getting indexed. SEO experts may be able to help you get to the root of the problem. From there you can find a way to get your website re-indexed.
Sometimes a website can lose traffic not because it’s not being indexed but simply because its ranking has taken a serious hit. In these cases, it’s worth investing in some SEO to help boost your rankings back to where they were.
Do your web pages take ages to load?
Slow loading web pages can test visitors’ patience. Many visitors may leave shortly after arriving because they don’t have the time to wait for your website to load. Over time, a high bounce rate can affect your rankings. And this is when you’ll start seeing a quick fall in visitors.
Ideally, a web page should take no more than 3 seconds to load. There are many ways to improve a web page’s speed including moving to a better host, optimising images, reducing redirects and removing bulky code.
Are you regularly adding new content?
Regularly adding new content to a website keeps visitors coming back. This is particularly important for media sites and online stores that depend on return visitors. If it’s just the same articles or the same products, readers/customers aren’t going to see the point of coming back.
It’s also worth noting that a lack of new content can also lower your rankings. If you’re not regularly editing or updating a site, search engines may view it as ‘inactive’ and therefore won’t rank it as high. Consider adding a new blog post or editing a section of your website to see what impact it has on your rankings and visitors.
Have you got new competitors?
It’s possible that competitor websites could be stealing your traffic. These could be new competitors who have recently launched, or old competitors who have recently upped their digital marketing game.
This is why you should regularly do some competitor analysis to see who your rivals are and what they are up to. Check out websites that have recently started ranking higher than you and see if they are offering anything better than you. This could include more well researched articles, cheaper prices or a greater selection of products. Then find a way to do better than then – which could include beating them at their game or finding a new USP to stand out.
Are you still promoting your site?
Websites need to be regularly promoted to keep traffic coming in. If you’ve stopped sharing web content on social media or you’ve stopped running ad campaigns, this could be a reason why your site is not getting hits anymore.
Constant marketing is essential with a business website. Don’t let your website become a ghost time simply because you’ve stopped advertising. This post lists a few ways to improve your marketing.
