Investigate Traffic Drops With Google Search Console

A guide to diagnosing and fixing traffic drops on your website with Google Search Console.

On March 5, 2024, Google released the core algorithm and SPAM updates simultaneously. These updates caused significant fluctuations in the organic traffic of many websites.

If your website has been experiencing a decrease in traffic lately, you can attribute this decrease to Google’s algorithm updates.

This week, we’ll look at three basic ways to analyze traffic drops using Google Search Console. Thanks to these methods, you can diagnose the cause of the traffic drop and make the necessary corrections.

First, if you haven’t already, I recommend checking out Google’s beneficial guide to analyzing traffic decline.

After reviewing this guide, you can query the possible causes of traffic drops by applying the following methods:

1. Performance Report:

• Period Selection: Select a period starting from March 5, 2024.
• Comparison: Compare the decline period to a period before the update.
• Problem Identification: Examine metrics (clicks, impressions, click-through rate) that may be associated with the drop in traffic.
• Data Visualization: Track trends and anomalies through graphs and tables.

2. Search Queries Report:

• Queries Experiencing Traffic Loss: Identify queries experiencing a decrease.
• Ranking Changes: Check out the changes in your rankings after the update.
• Click-Through Rate (CTR): Is the decline due to a drop in CTR?
• Competitive Analysis: Examine the change in your competitors’ rankings.

3. Pages Report:

• Pages Experiencing Traffic Loss: Identify the pages experiencing a decrease.
• Impressions: Is the decrease in impressions due to a change in ranking?
• Click-Through Rate (CTR): Is there a decrease in the CTR of the pages?
• Technical Issues: Check for technical issues that may cause a crash.

I hope this guide helps you analyze traffic drops in Google Search Console and understand how the March 5 update affects your website.