How to Diagnose Organic Traffic Declines

Noticed a drop in organic traffic? Here's how to identify the cause and fix it. Organic traffic is crucial for businesses, accounting for over 53% of global website traffic and 61% of marketers in the UK naming it their top-performing channel. A decline can lead to fewer visitors, sales, and enquiries - but not all drops are SEO-related.

Key Steps to Diagnose Traffic Declines:

1. Check if the drop is real: Verify analytics setup and cross-check data in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and Google Search Console to rule out tracking errors.

2. Segment traffic data: Analyse by device, location, branded vs non-branded traffic, and affected site sections.

3. Investigate technical issues: Audit for indexing errors, site speed, mobile usability, and recent website changes like redirects or template updates.

4. Look for external factors: Check for Google algorithm updates, seasonal trends, and competitor activity impacting rankings.

5. Prioritise fixes: Focus on high-impact issues first, such as top-performing pages or technical problems.

Pro Tip: Compare Google Search Console and GA4 data to identify discrepancies and pinpoint issues. If manual penalties or algorithm updates are involved, adjust content quality and technical performance accordingly.

This guide breaks down each step with actionable insights to help you recover lost traffic effectively.

Analyzing drops in Google Search traffic - Google Search Console Training

Check if the Traffic Drop is Real

Before jumping to conclusions, ensure that the traffic drop you’re seeing is real and not the result of a tracking error. Tracking issues are surprisingly common and can make a perfectly healthy website appear to be struggling. Taking the time to investigate your analytics setup can save you from unnecessary panic.

"Even a tiny mistake – like a misconfigured setting or a missing bit of code – can make it look like traffic has fallen off a cliff, when really it's just not being tracked properly."

This insight from Kevin Gibbons, Founding Director at Re:signal, underscores how small errors in tracking can lead to big misunderstandings. For example, on 5th August 2024, a website owner noticed a sudden drop in organic traffic in GA4, paired with a rise in direct traffic. Meanwhile, Google Search Console showed an increase in overall traffic. The issue? A misconfigured 'User-Provided Data Collection' setting. Fixing this restored accurate tracking.

Review Your Analytics Setup

Begin by carefully inspecting your Google Analytics 4 (GA4) setup and any other tracking tools you use. Errors like missing tracking codes, misconfigured settings, or cookie consent issues can all interfere with accurate data collection.

One common problem is the accidental removal of tracking codes during updates to your content management system or changes to your site’s header code. It’s more frequent than you might expect. Double-check that your tracking codes are still in place.

GDPR requirements can also complicate tracking. If your cookie consent settings are too restrictive, they may block data collection. Test your real-time reports on multiple devices to ensure tracking is functioning properly.

Additionally, confirm that your Google Search Console property is correctly verified and linked to your analytics account. Missteps here can lead to incomplete or inaccurate reporting. Be sure you’re viewing the correct property or date range in your analytics dashboard - it’s easy to accidentally switch to the wrong account.

Finally, compare your Google Analytics data with Google Search Console metrics. This cross-checking can help you identify discrepancies and pinpoint the source of any tracking issues.

Compare Data Across Platforms

After verifying your analytics setup, use external data sources to confirm your traffic trends. Comparing Google Search Console and Google Analytics data is particularly useful since these platforms measure different aspects of your website’s performance.

Google Search Console pulls data directly from Google’s search results, meaning it doesn’t rely on your site’s tracking code. This makes it a reliable tool for identifying whether a drop in traffic is due to tracking errors. If Search Console shows stable or increasing traffic while GA4 reports a decline, the issue is likely with your tracking setup, not your SEO performance.

Keep in mind that the two platforms naturally report data differently. Google Search Console tracks clicks (pre-visit behaviour), whereas GA4 focuses on sessions. Instead of obsessing over exact numbers, look at overall trends. If Search Console data shows steady performance but GA4 indicates a sharp decline, investigate potential causes like timezone mismatches, cookie consent rates, or filters excluding relevant traffic.

Another factor to consider is JavaScript blocking. Privacy extensions and ad blockers can prevent Google Analytics tracking codes from running, leading to data gaps. Since Google Search Console doesn’t rely on JavaScript, it’s less likely to be affected by these issues.

Finally, stay updated on any announcements from Google regarding reporting glitches or anomalies. Occasionally, technical issues on Google’s end can cause temporary spikes or dips in your analytics data. These are usually communicated through official channels, so it’s worth checking for any updates before diving deeper into troubleshooting.

Break Down Traffic Data to Find the Problem

Once you've confirmed a real traffic drop, the next step is to figure out where it's coming from. This means diving into segmented data instead of just looking at the overall numbers. By breaking things down, you can identify the exact source of the issue and take targeted action.

Check Traffic by Device and Location

Start by analysing traffic trends based on device type and location. Google Analytics 4 makes this easy with its Demographics and Tech Details reports, where you can track traffic by location and device type. Look for any stark differences between desktop, mobile, and tablet traffic. For instance, if mobile traffic has taken a nosedive while desktop traffic remains stable, it could point to mobile-specific problems like slow loading times or usability errors.

Next, filter the data by country and drill down into specific regions or cities to see where the most significant declines are happening. A drop in traffic in certain areas might suggest localised issues, such as regional algorithm updates, increased competition, or technical glitches affecting users in those regions. Pay close attention to patterns that link device and location data. For example, a dip in mobile traffic in a particular region could indicate issues like poor network performance or a lack of local mobile optimisation. These insights will help you zero in on whether the problem is technical, market-specific, or something else entirely.

Once you've reviewed device and location trends, move on to analysing search intent.

Compare Brand vs Non-Brand Search Traffic

Branded traffic - searches that include your brand name (like "Nike shoes") - tends to convert significantly better than non-branded traffic, which comes from broader searches (like "best running shoes"). Typically, non-branded searches make up about 80% of organic visits, while branded searches are more focused and targeted.

To get started, you can set up custom dimensions in Google Analytics 4 using regex filters. For branded traffic, you might use a pattern like .*brand\sname.*, and for non-branded traffic, something like ^(?!.*brand\sname).*. Google Search Console also allows you to segment keywords by including or excluding brand terms. For example, in 2022, REI concentrated on growing their non-branded content, which led to a 15% increase in non-branded organic traffic and a 22% rise in new customers.

By comparing metrics like clicks, impressions, and click-through rates for branded and non-branded traffic, you can figure out whether the issue lies with brand visibility or broader search demand. This analysis helps determine if the problem is specific to your brand or if it's part of a larger trend in your market.

Group Traffic by Pages and Sections

Another effective approach is grouping your URLs by site structure to identify which sections of your site are experiencing traffic drops. For example, you can categorise pages based on product types, content formats, or stages in the user journey. An e-commerce site might group pages into "product pages", "category pages", "blog posts", and "landing pages", while a service-based business could organise them as "service pages", "location pages", "resources", and "case studies."

Pay close attention to whether the decline affects entire sections, like all blog posts, or just specific topics. Are certain product categories hit harder than others? Focus especially on your highest-traffic pages before the drop - losing visibility on these can have a big impact on overall performance. If many of your top pages are affected, look for shared characteristics, such as similar content themes, technical configurations, or keyword focuses.

Also, consider where users are in their journey. If traffic to top-of-funnel content (like blog posts or guides) is steady, but product or service pages are declining, it could point to issues with commercial intent keywords or increased competition in transactional search queries. Use the Pages report in Google Search Console to identify which URLs have seen the biggest drops in clicks and impressions, and prioritise these for further analysis. These patterns will help guide your next steps, whether that means a technical audit or refining your content strategy.

Check for Technical and On-Page Problems

After segmenting your data, it's time to tackle the technical and on-page factors that could be affecting your visibility. These issues can interfere with search engines' ability to crawl, index, or display your pages, potentially causing sudden drops in rankings and organic traffic.

Technical SEO Audit Checklist

Once you've identified a traffic drop, the next step is to assess your site's technical health. Start by using Google Search Console to pinpoint critical issues. The Coverage reports can highlight indexing errors, crawl problems, or manual penalties that might explain the decline. Pay close attention to spikes in excluded pages, server errors, or "crawled but not indexed" warnings that coincide with your traffic drop.

For a deeper dive, tools like Screaming Frog, Semrush, or Ahrefs can help you crawl your entire site. Here are some key areas to investigate:

• Site speed: Slow-loading pages can harm rankings, especially with Google's Core Web Vitals now playing a role. Check metrics like LCP (Largest Contentful Paint), FID (First Input Delay), and CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) for any recent performance issues.

• Mobile usability: Ensure your site is responsive and functions smoothly across devices. Even minor mobile compatibility issues can lead to noticeable traffic losses.

• Robots.txt, XML sitemaps, and canonical tags: Errors in these areas can cause major problems. A single mistake in your robots.txt file could block critical sections of your site, while incorrect canonical tags might confuse search engines with duplicate content.

"When conducting an SEO audit, ensure that the pages you want to rank for are crawlable and indexable. In my case, it's all about priority and impact, i.e., high-priority, medium-priority, high-impact, medium-impact. I remove low-priority, low-impact from my audit; you can always disregard it. But I will always concentrate on things that have high priority, high impact, and medium priority, medium impact."
– Aleyda Solis

Also, review your site's internal linking and navigation structure. Changes like removing internal links or altering menus can affect how search engines understand your site's hierarchy.

Review Recent Website Changes

Even small website changes can have a big impact on your organic traffic. Adjustments to site architecture, URL structures, or navigation can unintentionally affect visibility.

Create a timeline of recent updates, including content revisions, template changes, and plugin installations. Pay extra attention to high-traffic pages, as minor modifications here can disrupt optimisation efforts.

• Content updates: Adding, removing, or redesigning content can alter rankings if not handled carefully.

• URL redirects: Misconfigured redirects are a common issue. For example, a charity website saw a significant traffic drop after a redesign introduced missing pages and incorrect redirects. Ensure all redirects use 301 status codes correctly.

• Template changes: Updating your CMS theme or page templates can unintentionally remove key SEO elements like meta descriptions, schema markup, or heading tags. Double-check that these elements remain intact after any updates.

These changes can compound over time, so always test thoroughly before implementing them.

Look for Google Penalties

A sudden, sharp drop in traffic could also indicate a Google penalty. Check Google Search Console under "Security & Manual Actions" for any manual actions taken against your site. These penalties are issued for violations like unnatural links, thin content, or keyword stuffing.

Algorithmic penalties are trickier to spot since Google doesn’t provide direct notifications. However, if your traffic drop aligns with a known algorithm update, it may reflect changes in how Google evaluates content quality, user experience, or relevance.

Use the "Index Coverage" report to look for patterns such as "Submitted URL blocked by robots.txt" or "Duplicate without user-selected canonical." These may signal broader issues affecting multiple pages. Stay alert for notifications in Analytics and Search Console to catch problems early.

If you’re hit with a manual penalty, fix the underlying issues and submit a reconsideration request via Search Console. For algorithm-related problems, focus on improving content quality, user experience, and technical performance to align with the algorithm's priorities.

Feeling stuck? Reach out to the experts at Skwigl Digital for tailored help diagnosing and resolving technical or on-page issues impacting your organic traffic. Once you've tackled these areas, you'll be ready to investigate external factors in the next section.

Review External Factors and Market Changes

Once you've tackled on-site issues, it's time to look outward. External factors, although outside your control, can have a noticeable impact on organic traffic. Understanding these influences is key to diagnosing and addressing traffic fluctuations effectively.

Check for Google Algorithm Updates

Did you know Google made a staggering 4,725 algorithm changes in 2022 alone? While many of these updates are minor, the major "Core" updates - released several times a year - can cause noticeable shifts in rankings.

To determine if an algorithm update is behind your traffic drop, start by aligning the timing of the decline with known update dates. Reliable sources like Google Search Central or SEMrush's Google Algorithm Update History can help you pinpoint relevant changes. Keep in mind that Google Analytics 4 often requires a few days to fully propagate data, so ensure you're analysing accurate information.

If an update seems to align with your traffic drop, use Google Search Console to compare performance before and after the update. Focus on your top-performing pages and queries to identify patterns in the affected content. Remember, updates can impact different search intents - like informational, commercial, or transactional queries - differently, so it’s worth analysing these separately.

SEO strategist Colin Gacek advises caution before making drastic changes:

"I try to avoid any knee-jerk reactions to fluctuations, as that yo-yo effect tends to naturally bring back ranking over time, but those that do not, after sustained declines, that's when I would plan for a big change." - Colin Gacek, SEO Essentials Strategist, OuterBox

If rankings have dropped, take a closer look at the websites now ranking above you. Compare their content strategies, keyword usage, and overall approach to see what the algorithm might be prioritising. From there, consider whether seasonal trends or broader market changes could also be playing a role.

Review Seasonal Patterns and Market Trends

Seasonality has a big impact on search behaviour, influencing both traffic and conversions. What might seem like a sudden dip could actually be part of a predictable seasonal trend in your industry.

Dive into your historical data from Google Analytics and Search Console to identify recurring seasonal patterns. For example, gardening-related searches tend to spike in the spring and early summer, while holiday gift searches surge toward the end of the year. Recognising these trends can save you from unnecessary worry - and unnecessary fixes.

To stay ahead, create a seasonal content calendar tailored to key UK events and dates. Consider how factors like economic conditions, weather, or local events might affect your audience's behaviour. Tools like Google Trends can help you track how search volumes for your keywords ebb and flow throughout the year. If your traffic decline aligns with these patterns, focus on preparing for the next peak instead of scrambling to make changes.

It's also important to keep an eye on real-time trends and be flexible enough to adapt to unexpected events. And don’t forget to check in on what your competitors are up to as part of your external review.

Monitor Competitor Activity and Search Results

Sometimes, a drop in traffic isn't about what you're doing wrong - it’s about what your competitors are doing right. If competitors are stepping up their SEO game or if search result features are evolving, it can impact your visibility.

Use tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Moz to monitor competitor performance. A keyword gap analysis can reveal which terms competitors are ranking for that you’ve lost traction on. As Cyrus Shepard, Founder of Zyppy, puts it:

"Until you know what multiple competitors rank for, keyword research remains a guess."

Take a close look at the search results for your key terms. Are new features like snippets, local packs, or shopping results taking clicks away from organic listings? Analyse the top-ranking pages to see how they’re structured. SEO expert Lily Ray suggests examining "how the content is laid out, what topics it covers, whether it contains video, images, or interactive features, and what types of structured data the page utilises".

Don’t just focus on direct competitors. Keep an eye on "shadow competitors" - businesses outside your industry that still meet the same customer needs. For example, in May 2025, LOCALiQ helped a garden centre stand out by addressing customer emotions like uncertainty and intimidation. They introduced "Garden Confidence" workshops and "Plant Rescue" clinics, offering solutions competitors hadn’t considered.

"True market analysis is about finding the spaces between competitors, not just mapping where they are."

By monitoring competitors, you can uncover both threats and opportunities. Learn from their successes, but also identify gaps in their strategies that you can exploit.

If analysing these external factors feels overwhelming, or if you need help navigating competitive landscapes, Skwigl Digital offers tailored insights and strategies to help you stay ahead.

Summary: Steps to Diagnose Traffic Drops

Here’s a quick rundown of the process for diagnosing organic traffic drops. The goal is to systematically identify the issue, using tools like Google Analytics and Search Console to guide your investigation.

Step 1: Confirm the drop is real.
Start by ensuring the decline isn’t due to tracking errors or misconfigured analytics. Compare data across platforms and check for any recent changes to your website code or analytics setup. Sometimes, what looks like a traffic drop is simply a technical glitch in tracking.

Step 2: Segment your data.
Once you’re sure the drop is genuine, dig deeper by segmenting your data. Compare year-over-year metrics to account for seasonal trends. Break down traffic by device, location, and user type. This detailed analysis can help uncover specific issues, such as mobile usability problems, regional ranking drops, or broader site-wide challenges.

Step 3: Investigate internal factors.
Look into recent website changes, run a technical SEO audit, and use Search Console to identify indexing problems or manual penalties. Internal issues, such as broken links or poor site structure, can often explain traffic declines.

Step 4: Analyse external influences.
If internal factors don’t explain the drop, consider external ones. Check for algorithm updates, seasonal shifts, or competitor activity that might have impacted your rankings.

Step 5: Prioritise and take action.
Quantify the impact of the issues you’ve identified and focus on fixes that are most likely to improve your traffic and revenue. Address the most critical problems first to maximise your recovery efforts.

If the problem persists or you’re dealing with a complex situation, it might be time to seek expert help. Skwigl Digital offers tailored solutions for technical SEO challenges and algorithm-related traffic declines. Following these steps can help restore your site’s performance efficiently.

FAQs

How can I tell if a drop in organic traffic is real or caused by a tracking issue?

If you’ve noticed a drop in organic traffic, the first step is figuring out whether it’s a real decline or just a tracking issue. Start by examining your analytics setup. Look for common technical hiccups like broken tracking codes, incorrect filters, or misconfigured tags. Double-check that your tracking tools are properly integrated and working as they should.

Once you’ve ruled out setup problems, verify the traffic drop using multiple analytics platforms if you have access to them. Next, consider any recent changes on your site - this could include updates to content, design tweaks, or server adjustments. It’s also worth investigating potential SEO penalties or algorithm updates that might have impacted your rankings. If your data looks inconsistent or shows unusual fluctuations, there’s a good chance the issue could be with your tracking rather than actual traffic loss.

By working through these steps, you’ll be able to pinpoint whether the problem stems from your analytics setup or reflects a genuine shift in traffic trends.

What should I do if my organic traffic drops after a Google algorithm update?

If you notice a drop in organic traffic after a Google algorithm update, the first step is to evaluate the situation. Tools like Google Analytics can help you figure out which pages or keywords have been hit the hardest. This insight can reveal patterns or specific areas that might need your attention.

Once you've identified the problem spots, it's time for a thorough website audit. Look for issues such as outdated or low-quality content, technical glitches like broken links, or slow loading times. Make sure your site matches up with Google's latest guidelines. Focus on creating content that's relevant and valuable, improving user experience, and fixing any technical issues.

Lastly, keep a close eye on your progress and tweak your SEO strategy as necessary. Recovery won’t happen overnight, so stay consistent with your updates and improvements. Patience and persistence are key to climbing back up the rankings.

How can I tell if a drop in organic traffic is caused by technical issues or external factors like competitors?

To figure out why your organic traffic is dropping, start by investigating technical issues on your website. These might include crawl errors, slow loading times, broken links, or mobile usability problems. Any of these can negatively impact your site's visibility in search results.

Then, take a closer look at external factors. Shifts in search engine algorithms, seasonal fluctuations, or a surge in competitor activity could also be affecting your traffic. Keeping tabs on algorithm updates and analysing what your competitors are doing can provide valuable insights into whether external elements are at play.

By regularly conducting technical audits and keeping an eye on market trends and competitors, you’ll be better equipped to determine if the root cause is within your site or driven by outside influences.