There is a natural tango of sorts going on in every SERP, with various brands competing for visibility, rankings and ultimately traffic. How well a brand is positioned in a given SERP often determines its long-term fate, resulting in either a plethora of traffic or an existence relegated to the dust-bin of history.

Most brands are very sensitive to the amount of traffic they receive, whether it originates from search engines or not. As such, it can be very disconcerting whenever traffic suddenly takes a plunge.

If you’ve noticed that your organic or search engine traffic has recently dropped off, then fixing the problem is imperative. Below, we’ll look at some of the most common reasons why this may be happening.

Assess Your Traffic Versus Rankings

Before you can accurately determine what is happening, you must first determine whether there is a direct or inverse relationship between movement in traffic and movement in rankings. Are you rankings in key SERPs slipping at the same time traffic is slipping? Are your rankings holding steady? Are they actually improving? Knowing the answer to this simple dynamic dramatically reduces the number of possibilities for traffic loss, and can easily be done by pinging your website and Google for analytics information.

Better Rankings, Less Traffic

If you see improvements or relative steadiness in your rankings – but a noticeable loss in traffic – then there are a few potential contributors.

Google, Bing and other search engines are constantly reforming how search results look, adding new feature info boxes and snippets. These could be tapping into your traffic and reducing it, despite no change in rankings.

Another possibility is that your brand has taken a hit reputation-wise recently. This could be due to bad reviews or a scandal of some sort.

It’s also possible that there is just simply less demand for the content you’re offering. Especially true for seasonal brands, there could be less interest overall in the niche and that will obviously lead to less traffic.

Last but not least, more effective ad campaigns targeting search engine users could be snatching up traffic that would otherwise go to your brand via organic links. If this is the case, then you may need to compete via paid advertising to level the playing field.

Worse Rankings, Less Traffic

There are many reasons why traffic and rankings alike could decrease. Some relate to how search engines perceive your brand, while others are caused by user perception.

A sudden surge of low-quality content or duplicated content may be causing issue, leading to penalties.

Competitors may be gaining ground through effective marketing and SEO strategies, siphoning off people who would otherwise be your visitors.

Another common reason is that the angle or style in which your content is offered is no longer as desirable within the niche. Perhaps a competitor is offering a new format or style that appeals to more people, leading to an abandoning of your brand.

There are many reasons why traffic can suddenly drop. If people are pinging your website less than usual, then evaluate your content, SEO campaigns, competitor actions – and of course, your rankings and overall niche performance. With these elements considered, it should be simple enough to determine what is the true cause, and whether or not it is something you can easily correct.