The dreaded drop

[StewMcG]

Hello all,

So a sister site has contacted me about their drop in traffic, around January they created a page, (and I kid you not), with a title of "Banner Link Exchange", it took me about ten minutes to stop laughing. Around the 16th of July their traffic dropped like a stone (see image).

Obviously I've had them remove the page and we've contacted the sites that they swapped links with, there are 20+). I'm going to give them a week then I'm going to disavow the links. Interestingly the brand keywords are all still at position one, but it's decimated any product and broad search links. I've had them create a blog and they're going to contact the sites they were linking with and write some proper articles. We'll clean up their backlink profile and any site issues they have. It's an ecommerce site so the projected take is down around 40%

My question is are there any indications after fixing as much as possible that the traffic will return, and in what period of time? (i'm seeing conflicting ideas about this)

We can't change the site domain as there's a physical store as well... the domain was first used in 1996...

Cheers

Stew

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[ProductPearson]

As this is an aged domain as you noted, there is always a chance to make a decent recovery and strive in the future.

You need to ensure that all issues are taken care of. Have you received any notices from Google about a penalty or have you just noticed the stats drops? Either way, its a very sudden drop and indicates something rapidly changed.

Lots of fresh new content and not something which clearly focuses on gaining back links is the way to go, whilst getting a few high authority links will help even out your link profile.

[KempRugeLawGroup]

How much traffic can return is dependent on how much traffic the link exchange brought in. Your best case scenario for the immediate future would be to get back to around the same levels before they implemented the page...assuming you get all the bad links removed.

Sidenote, sending a few emails and waiting a week may not be enough for google to move on your disavow request, but it's a start.

Good luck,

Ruben

[PrintPlace.com]

I would suggest you certainly take the steps to have the link removed. Disavowing links would be my next immediate step in this process. I have seen sites recover within 4-6 months and others take up to 12 months.

Malcom

[StewMcG]

Thanks both, there wasn't any notice from Google, but i can't see anything more egregious than that page

We're working on a content strategy, fortunately it's a niche market and the store has a good reputation so we can leverage that.

The link exchange did boost the traffic, although it wasn't particularly good in boosting the revenue, i guess it's best endeavours and see what happens!

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[StewMcG]

Thanks Malcolm, I need to talk to our board tomorrow and want to manage their expectations...

[BruceA]

What might be interesting to check out is this: Is this now the genuine real traffic that the site generated and therefore is now realistic?

Often when problems are fixed, what you start to see is the real figures behind the site.

Check GWT and also GA to see if the two are matching trends.  Often impression are only that, impressions and what matters is the real bottom line. Those who engaged and purchased might be found to be equal to that of before, although you mention that take is down 40%.  Although if keywords are still at No1, then somethiing appears to be not quite right in the numbers.

Without knowing the industry, seasonal flutation can be that dramatic, due to rain, snow, sun etc.

Validate the data from all sources and cross match to get more evidence

Just a few thoughts.

Bruce

[StewMcG]

Thanks Bruce, I am looking at it from as many angles as possible

It's an ecomms site for a bricks and mortar store, the keywords that are still at number one are all brand keywords that bring up their local result page and their homepage, the 40% drop in revenue is directly from the search channel, everything else is as effective as before. Funnily enough I'd just been nosey and started to track their keywords just before they dropped, you can see the change point...

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[BruceA]

Hi

Are you running Adwords and Google Products?

Have you switched to the new Google Shopping in Adwords?  If so this could be the problem. If you have switched (as everyone has too during August) a significant drop in sales coming from the new shopping campaigns in Adwords might be the source.  We have noticed this too and spoken to Google Adwords about it.

Worth checking this out, as this might help?  Check GA to see conversions by channel

Bruce

[StewMcG]

Hi Bruce, thanks for responding again, no we're not running adwords, we have some products that google doesn't like.

I've looked through the sources, it's literally just the google traffic that's died a death, although in general the conversion rate on the traffic is abysmal, circa 1% when my site is more like 3% for very similar products..