Ranking Loss Riddle after subdomain>subfolder>https move

[TVape]

This post is deleted!

[ClaytonJ]

A bit of a puzzle.

The https move for the main domain sounds likely. But before you go there.  On the blog traffic drop.  Why has it dropped ? Is it referrals, search, display ads etc.? What has been hit hardest.  Can you define that? Which pages have dropped traffic? Then isolate why. Have you not changed your mail out process, ie re-directed to wrong page? Backlinks were all captured?

Can you share a bit more user experience side?

[TVape]

It is all from organic search drop. Our blog used to rank first page on most things we wrote and we were among the first to write about our niche. So it all made sense. Now we get lucky to be in second page.

There are no specific pages that dropped but it is rather an accross the board drop.

The blog had minimal links coming in, but we still did the 301. The purpose was to let the subdomain benefit from all the link authority of the domain as a subfilder, which is the core of this riddle.

[ClaytonJ]

As it is a puzzle need to ask more q's sorry? Did the date change coincide at all with panda 4.2. Can that be eliminated as a factor? circa weekend 19 July 2015.

Also internal link structure retained? http://www.bruceclay.com/seo/silo.htm

[TVape]

The internal link structure was changed and i am pretty sure it is not panda.

we had a hunch that it may be penguin from back in the day that was keeping the domain back (but not impacting the subdomain) without us noticing because we still ranked first page, despite having much more authoritative backlinks and quality content. maybe the posts were moved onto a "penalized" domain due to some link/garbage building back in the day. So we are conducting a link audit right now.

Ask as much questions as you have. You are doing me a favour by sharing your opinion and i appreciate that.

[ClaytonJ]

I am thinking DA is the issue and somehow that has not been translated across. Backlinks and Internal link structure etc. need to be reviewed.  The potential penguin issue you have raised is a concern.. but that will take a long time to come out, if not fixed already. Effectively you are suggesting you may have migrated the site onto a penguin effected site.

However I would like to knock off panda 4.2.  I have only seen it on one site so far.  On WMT's can you click pages and then, country if country specific and then on Comparison.  Divide the dates into pre - 20 July & post 20 July.  Then check if there is page position variance. Compare the page positions. Is there a variation above .2 to the negative?

Really after that it will be all about reviewing link structures both internal and external.  Are you using all the same social media to post your blogs? Nothing has changed there?

[TVape]

Sorry for the late reply John, Its crunch time around here because stuff is falling apart LOL and I am getting married in 10 days.

Anyway, so I checked before and after July 20th but there is no difference in the curve noticable. It is a slightly downward trending curve. What i discovered is that around april 19 and before the move, a sudden spike in traffic happened. at the same time our bounce rates went from 50% to 80%. The bounce rates stayed there and that is when the downward trend started (but i only have 17 days of data before the move). After the move we were hit with a 50% fall and a continuous downward trend from there.

Our external link profile is being audited and disevow being prepared. The internal link structure did change as well, I wonder how internal link structure can create this much havoc though?

Did I give you any useful bits of info?

[Christy-Correll]

John: Did you see TorontoV's most recent response?

TorontoV: Thanks for your question, and congrats!