A sudden drop in organic traffic can feel like an SEO nightmare. Rankings dip, visibility declines, and conversions take a hit—leaving you scrambling for answers.
But instead of panicking, you need a structured approach to diagnose the issue, take corrective action, and restore your site’s performance.
Here’s exactly how to analyze a sudden drop in website traffic using a step-by-step process of elimination.
Grab the full SOP and template to analyze your traffic drop
This step-by-step SEO SOP walks you through everything you need to check so you can correctly identify where your traffic drop is coming from. You can also use the report to package your findings for your boss or client professionally.
Web Analytics or Google Analytics) for changes in organic performance.
Then check Search Console > Performance.
If you do not consistently see a decline in traffic between different tools, it could be a glitch in your reporting setup.
It’s also worth checking for any manual actions in Search Console.
Although rare, you can save a lot of time auditing your site by checking this upfront.
Remember that the numbers won’t align perfectly across different tools, even between GA and GSC, as they collect data differently. Instead, look for a consistent drop to verify you’re not just seeing a reporting glitch.
ranking status page. So, it’s worth checking if any dates align with your website’s ranking drops.
A faster way to align these dates against your organic traffic data is in Ahrefs Site Explorer. Enter your website, then make sure Google Updates are turned on in this menu:
You’ll see Ⓖ symbols appear at the bottom of the graphs indicating when there were Google Updates:
For instance, in this example, there were two updates on August 15th that could have been responsible for the performance decline a few days later.
You can get more information about the algorithm changes by hovering over the Ⓖ or, in this case, the “2”:
If an algorithm update has led to traffic declines, you’ll need to read any Google announcements to learn what factors were affected.
You can also check out commentary from SEO experts like Marie Haynes, who analyze hundreds of affected sites to find patterns:
Then wait for a few weeks to ensure the update has finished rolling out. Assess the damage and start addressing any big concerns once your rankings settle.
Never make changes while an algorithm update is still rolling out.
Traffic Investigation Report Template.
Then, start filling out all the sections. Take the time to:
- Tidy up each section
- Delete any instructions in pink, italic text
- Remove unnecessary headings or sections
- Attach all related documents to the Appendix
- List out your suggested action items
- Add a short and sweet summary at the top
You can use ChatGPT to help you fill it out. Just give it any insights or raw notes you have from following the process so far and ask it to populate the report template.
You may need to guide it more specifically for each section depending on how much data you have collected.
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Then check Search Console > Performance.
If you do not consistently see a decline in traffic between different tools, it could be a glitch in your reporting setup.
It’s also worth checking for any manual actions in Search Console.
Although rare, you can save a lot of time auditing your site by checking this upfront.
Remember that the numbers won’t align perfectly across different tools, even between GA and GSC, as they collect data differently. Instead, look for a consistent drop to verify you’re not just seeing a reporting glitch.
ranking status page. So, it’s worth checking if any dates align with your website’s ranking drops.
A faster way to align these dates against your organic traffic data is in Ahrefs Site Explorer. Enter your website, then make sure Google Updates are turned on in this menu:
You’ll see Ⓖ symbols appear at the bottom of the graphs indicating when there were Google Updates:
For instance, in this example, there were two updates on August 15th that could have been responsible for the performance decline a few days later.
You can get more information about the algorithm changes by hovering over the Ⓖ or, in this case, the “2”:
If an algorithm update has led to traffic declines, you’ll need to read any Google announcements to learn what factors were affected.
You can also check out commentary from SEO experts like Marie Haynes, who analyze hundreds of affected sites to find patterns:
Then wait for a few weeks to ensure the update has finished rolling out. Assess the damage and start addressing any big concerns once your rankings settle.
Never make changes while an algorithm update is still rolling out.
Traffic Investigation Report Template.
Then, start filling out all the sections. Take the time to:
- Tidy up each section
- Delete any instructions in pink, italic text
- Remove unnecessary headings or sections
- Attach all related documents to the Appendix
- List out your suggested action items
- Add a short and sweet summary at the top
You can use ChatGPT to help you fill it out. Just give it any insights or raw notes you have from following the process so far and ask it to populate the report template.
You may need to guide it more specifically for each section depending on how much data you have collected.
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A faster way to align these dates against your organic traffic data is in Ahrefs Site Explorer. Enter your website, then make sure Google Updates are turned on in this menu:
You’ll see Ⓖ symbols appear at the bottom of the graphs indicating when there were Google Updates:
For instance, in this example, there were two updates on August 15th that could have been responsible for the performance decline a few days later.
You can get more information about the algorithm changes by hovering over the Ⓖ or, in this case, the “2”:
If an algorithm update has led to traffic declines, you’ll need to read any Google announcements to learn what factors were affected.
You can also check out commentary from SEO experts like Marie Haynes, who analyze hundreds of affected sites to find patterns:
Then wait for a few weeks to ensure the update has finished rolling out. Assess the damage and start addressing any big concerns once your rankings settle.
Never make changes while an algorithm update is still rolling out.
Traffic Investigation Report Template.
Then, start filling out all the sections. Take the time to:
- Tidy up each section
- Delete any instructions in pink, italic text
- Remove unnecessary headings or sections
- Attach all related documents to the Appendix
- List out your suggested action items
- Add a short and sweet summary at the top
You can use ChatGPT to help you fill it out. Just give it any insights or raw notes you have from following the process so far and ask it to populate the report template.
You may need to guide it more specifically for each section depending on how much data you have collected.
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Then, start filling out all the sections. Take the time to:
- Tidy up each section
- Delete any instructions in pink, italic text
- Remove unnecessary headings or sections
- Attach all related documents to the Appendix
- List out your suggested action items
- Add a short and sweet summary at the top
You can use ChatGPT to help you fill it out. Just give it any insights or raw notes you have from following the process so far and ask it to populate the report template.
You may need to guide it more specifically for each section depending on how much data you have collected.
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I rigorously tested the most popular AI search engines to discover their strengths and weaknesses. I ran this test for two reasons: As a human being, I want to use the best search engine around. I spend my life on the internet. I want to find information in the fastest, most effortless way possible. As…
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