Why Did Traffic To My Website Stop?
There is a huge amount of frustration each time Google does an algorithm update.
Online Entrepreneurs who have worked hard creating content and building website traffic suddenly find traffic has stopped.
It’s like the website fell off a cliff
In this blog we take a look at what happens and what you can do about it.
Google Algorithm Updates
Google is the largest search engine which is why so many online entrepreneurs spend so much time trying to get Google to send traffic to their websites by creating content that they believe will rank highly.
Google on the other hand, find that many of the websites are not offering the type of information it’s clients require with around 80% of search queries not answered and Google having to find something else, as close as possible to the query.
In the image below I put in the query “why has traffic to my website stopped”. The quotation marks lets Google know I want a specific answer. There were zero results.
When I removed the quotation marks and let Google present the closest it could find most of the results were about recovering websites.
They did not answer my specific question.
So, the algorithm updates are there to help Google find more content that will answer a search-specific question.
How to Get More Traffic to Your Website?
In a way, content creators have become complacent about driving traffic to their websites.
Everything that is created is based on getting better SEO rankings so websites are higher up the rankings and get shown on the first page of searches.
Searchers have become complacent as they will only look at websites on the first page of results. (SERPs)
However, there are more ways to drive traffic to your website other than Google.
If any lessons are to be learned from Google Algorithm updates it’s that having alternative sources of website traffic is essential for a business to survive.
So, let’s take a look at how to create alternative traffic sources for a website.
YouTube
YouTube is the third-largest search engine and one that is underused.
Most people think about creating videos and reels but YouTube has developed so much so, that you can now link podcasts to your website and written content.
It is becoming a more visual search engine. This is where it is beneficial to the website.
Use the description box to provide links to your products, services and/or website.
When I suggested this to a coaching group, one client linked her YouTube channel to her website and saw an increase of 2000 visitors to her website.
With 2.49 billion active users can you afford not to be on YouTube?
Pinterest is a visual search engine where users create pins and link them to websites, articles or videos.
On my Pinterest site, I create pins for specific blogs.
Although, I don’t use Pinterest as much as I should and have a very small following, it is still surprising how frequently someone will click on a link and go to a website.
If you are a visual person, remember there are plenty of other visual people who will find the pins interesting. They are potential clients for your website, your products and services.
Data from March 2024, shows that Pinterest has 498 million active users per month.
How much traffic are you losing by not being on Pinterest?
3.05 billion active users are on Facebook each month. That is just under a quarter of 8 billion people in the world are on Facebook.
As a business owner, the best strategy is to have a Facebook page with a Facebook group.
Think of a Facebook page as your shop window and the FB group as the inside of your shop.
It is a great way of sharing products and services with 3.05 billion users.
There are some do’s and don’ts for Facebook.
- Don’t try running your business using a personal profile. Create a separate business profile so you can access the business tools available
- Do, use the business tools available as they are there to help you grow your online presence and attract new visitors to your page and ultimately your website.
- Don’t try sharing content from your business page directly to your personal timeline. Instead, do it the other way around. Using your personal timeline, follow your business page and share content to your personal followers. It is a slight variation but one that Facebook prefers. They often delete content and threaten to discontinue your business. But if you share business stuff using your personal timeline that is more acceptable.
- Don’t load YouTube videos as Facebook tends not to share the post. Instead use reels that can be uploaded to FB or created in FB for best practices.
- Do use the scheduling and planner features in Meta Business Suite to plan out content and how often you’ll post to the FB business page.
Facebook has plenty of tips and analytics to check your business is getting the best results possible from an FB business profile. Ultimately, this will lead to more traffic to your website.
Social Media
While I’ve mentioned sites like YouTube, Pinterest and Facebook many other social media platforms can be used to drive traffic to your website.
Data from March 2024 shows how many monthly active users are on social media platforms
- WhatsApp – 2.78 billion monthly active users
- Instagram – 2.04 billion monthly active users
- WeChat – 1.32 billion monthly active users
- TikTok – 1.22 billion monthly active users
- Telegram – 800 million active users
- Snapchat – 750 million active users
- X – 550 million active users
- Reddit – 430 million active users
- LinkedIn – 424 million active users
- Quora – 300 million active users
- Instagram Threads – 100 million active users
There are many other social media platforms. If you are active on some of these then your website should benefit from it with more traffic if you are promoting it properly.
Why Did Traffic to My Website Stop
Google algorithms are constantly changing and going through updates which can affect rankings and the amount of traffic sent to websites.
However, Google is only one way to drive traffic to a website. Social media platforms can be used.
The more traffic driven to websites from alternative sites the more Google will look at the website and rank it better.
Relying on one source of traffic can be terminal for a business. Having multiple traffic sources increases organic growth but also sends a message to Google that this website is worth ranking higher.
The next time there is a Google Algorithm update the less likelihood that traffic to your website will stop.
