It's never fun to see your traffic suddenly fall, but rest assured, this is not uncommon! The internet is always evolving, and it can be hard to keep up on all the latest changes, we usually only notice once it directly affects us.
First let's be clear, EWS does not sell traffic nor can we do anything to increase or decrease your traffic. Traffic is the direct result of your efforts in promoting your website addresses online. Sometimes you get lucky, with very little promotion, and a nice stream of traffic; but don't think that'll last forever, the internet will go through changes and poof its gone!
What we do at EWS is make sure that your websites have the HIGHEST CHANCES of getting picked up by search engines and social media networks. We do it really well because most people know "replicated websites do not get indexed", which is a rule we have been breaking since 2003. We're always on top of it, feel good that on our side, we're solid!
So why then did your traffic fall? It's impossible to say without doing a full analyzation of your traffic, your domains, your websites, and all your marketing over the last 2 years. But we can at least give you some things to think about:
SSL / HTTPS?
Google forced the internet into SSL by pushing "not secure" notices in their browser "Google Chrome". It's quite unfair of them to exert their monopoly like that, especially when MOST websites do not NEED to be secure! The only reason we need HTTPS is for when we are transferring sensitive data like credit cards (which your sites do not do).
Nonetheless, here we are. When visitors see "not secure", studies show they have a high chance of just leaving the website without even looking. This affects whats called your "bounce rate". A high bounce rate lowers your overall ranking in search engines. Add to that a bonus rank you get when you DO have SSL, and you get a good reason to have it. It is an added business expense.
EWS was ahead of the curve and offered SSL before Google even implemented its changes, so all you have to do is upgrade your membership to get it! We take all the hassle and extra fees out of SSL for you! If you want to know why SSL isn't free, see this article.
WHERE ARE YOUR LINKS?
It's important to know where your website links are on the internet. It is these links that ultimately get you ranked in search engines. If you hire some shady company to "blast" your links out, don't be surprised when your google traffic dies. Google doesn't want you trying to trick the system, they want you doing whats natural. If your website link gets into a blacklisted website, it can down rank you OR get you blacklisted as well!
Make sure you are doing quality links out there. For some tips on SEO, check out our video on the topic! If you aren't proactively getting new fresh quality links out there, don't be surprised when your traffic drops!
RANK HIGH BUT TRAFFIC LOW?
Maybe you still are ranked high, but traffic has dropped considerably? Usually this is because of ads. If other people have decided to put up ads on your keywords, they'll be in the top 3 above your natural organic rank. Maybe it's seasonal and they are advertising temporarily, either way, this could cause your organic reach to drop because people are clicking the ad links first.
Another reason is back to #1, if you don't have HTTPS, you'll be recommended less even if your rank is high.
YOUR OWN ADS ARE NOT GIVING YOU SAME TRAFFIC?
This is likely also because of #3 above. When you put out ads on your keywords, you might see a great consistent flow of traffic for months on the budget you set. Then all the sudden POOF, what happened? Its possible some other advertisers also bid on your keywords and so Google is giving THEM the ad spot more frequently than you. Once their budget runs out, Google goes down the list to lower budget people until there's no one left to sell ad space to. You might need to increase your bid and budget, but data in your Google Adwords account will reveal that to you, just have to analyze it!
SEO TRAINING VIDEO SERIES
We held a 5 part training series on how to effectively build SEO for your EWS websites, so if you are looking for more ideas and want some solid direction, watch the series! We did the training a few years ago, but the information we shared is solid and timeless!
