My website traffic has suddenly dropped… what should I do?

Seeking Advice
1

I recently redesigned my website and switched hosting, but now my traffic has dropped by 90%. Is this normal? Should I wait for a few days to see if it comes back, or is something wrong?

2

Did you change any of your content or links? Sometimes traffic drops after a design change, but if it lasts longer than a week, you might want to switch back. Maybe your visitors preferred the old design.

3

@Kenn
Yeah, I did change the links.

4

Unclewaffl3s said:
@Kenn
Yeah, I did change the links.

That’s probably why. You need to set up 301 redirects from the old URLs to the new ones. Try Googling ‘how to set up 301 redirects after a website redesign’—you’ll find plenty of guides.

5

@letstalkaboutit
I spoke to my developer, and he said the redirects are already set. Should I just wait for traffic to recover then?

6

Unclewaffl3s said:
@letstalkaboutit
I spoke to my developer, and he said the redirects are already set. Should I just wait for traffic to recover then?

Go to Google and type site:yourwebsite.com. Check if your pages are linking to the right content or if they’re leading to a 404 error page.

7

Unclewaffl3s said:
@letstalkaboutit
I spoke to my developer, and he said the redirects are already set. Should I just wait for traffic to recover then?

There are so many factors involved. What exactly do you mean by ‘redesign’? Was it a complete rebuild?

Also, how are you tracking your traffic?

Are you using Google Search Console? Without more details, it’s hard to give a clear answer.

8

Unclewaffl3s said:
@Kenn
Yeah, I did change the links.

I found a simple tutorial on how to set up 301 redirects here: how to set up 301 redirects. Redirects will help, but traffic might recover slowly because Google has already crawled your old pages and marked them as missing.

9

Unclewaffl3s said:
@Kenn
Yeah, I did change the links.

It’s like moving to a new house and not telling anyone the new address. Do a 301 redirect!

10

Yeah, redirects are key. For example, someone might search on Google and click an old link to your site. If it doesn’t redirect, they’ll just end up at a dead page.

11

Have you added the site to Google Search Console? It’ll show you indexing issues, and even though we’ve figured out the problem, it’s good to keep track.

12

Make sure to forward all popular old URLs to your new ones.

13

MonicaSaidIt said:
Make sure to forward all popular old URLs to your new ones.

How can I do that?

14

Unclewaffl3s said:

MonicaSaidIt said:
Make sure to forward all popular old URLs to your new ones.

How can I do that?

Here’s a plugin that can help: Redirection – WordPress plugin | WordPress.org

15

Did you set up redirects for all the old URLs that changed?

16

Here are some things to check:

  • URL changes: If URLs changed, make sure you’ve got 301 redirects in place.
  • Robots.txt and noindex tags: Ensure key pages aren’t blocked from crawling or indexing.
  • Hosting downtime: Check if there was any downtime when you switched hosting, as it can affect rankings.
  • Site speed: Did the redesign slow down your site? Slow loading can hurt traffic.
  • Content/structure changes: Make sure you didn’t remove important pages or SEO elements.
  • Resubmit sitemap: Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console for reindexing.
  • Analytics tracking: Double-check that your analytics tracking is still working.
17

Have you checked for malware on your site?