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    4. Migrated Domain, 90% Drop in Organic Traffic, HELP!!!!

    Migrated Domain, 90% Drop in Organic Traffic, HELP!!!!

    Intermediate & Advanced SEO
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    • Kingalan1
      Kingalan1 @Andrew-SEO last edited by

      Hi Andrew:

      Thanks for your response. Yes, something went terribly wrong!! Response to your questions:

      -Comprehensive redirects were done to the domain. Please see attached Search Console form for the permanent redirect. 
      -The new domain is fully crawled.
      -2 or 3 404s were detected. They are in the process of being fixed.
      -As of April 10th, the average position of the old domain (NYC) was 28.2. As of April 10th average position of the new domain is 35.1.

      Real problem is the drop in clicks. New domain only got 5 or 6 yesterday. Normally, in March we would receive 80-90 visitors. Average position of the old domain in March was 26.8.

      -I have attached several images showing the problem. One, labelled "Inconsistencies" shows some strange results. Indexation for the old domain dropped for a few days after the permanent redirect (301) but then climbed again. Seems very abnormal.

      Another anomally: entering "site: www.metro-manhattan.com" does not bring up the URL in search results.

      Any ideas or suggestions???????????????????

      jCNP9 pdVav Q832M pnWr9

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • Andrew-SEO
        Andrew-SEO last edited by

        Hello

        Just to clarify this bit

        "-Comprehensive redirects were done to the domain. Please see attached Search Console form for the permanent redirect. "

        Is this the only redirect measure you have taken? (this is not sufficient)

        You need to contact your domain name provider, online or on phone. Ask them to forward the old domain to the new domain.

        If the new website structure is the same then all the URLs will connect up. Any that don't need redirects put in place done on the server of the new domain.

        Kingalan1 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • Kingalan1
          Kingalan1 @Andrew-SEO last edited by

          Hi Andrew:

          The redirects from all pages on the old URL redirect perfectly to the new domain. Any other ideas?

          Thanks, Alan

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • Andrew-SEO
            Andrew-SEO last edited by

            Is it basically the same site but with a different domain name?

            i.e. all content / titles and meta descriptions the same?

            Kingalan1 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • Kingalan1
              Kingalan1 @Andrew-SEO last edited by

              Exactly the same site.

              Note that the only thing changes was the move to a new domain with an SSL certificate.

              Andrew-SEO 3 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • Andrew-SEO
                Andrew-SEO @Kingalan1 last edited by

                Your average position used to be page 3. You're now averaging on page 4. This is part of the reason.

                Have you lost a lot of referral traffic when you lost the backlinks.

                Or is the traffic missing from organic?

                Check analytics > acquisition > all traffic > channels

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • Andrew-SEO
                  Andrew-SEO @Kingalan1 last edited by

                  Going HTTPS and a new domain name is quite a big change.

                  You will defiantly experience a drop in traffic but this should recover. But as you've changed domain names this could take 3 months.

                  A 90% drop is still big, but as your now averaging page 4 this is somewhat understandable.

                  Kingalan1 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • Andrew-SEO
                    Andrew-SEO @Kingalan1 last edited by

                    p.s. you've checked your google analytics installation?

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • Kingalan1
                      Kingalan1 @Andrew-SEO last edited by

                      Hi Andrew:
                      I expected to take a hit, but I don't understand why the old domain remains indexed. Also, the extent of the drop in traffic. Is it abnormal that the old domain pages have not yet been removed 9 days after the move. Indexation for them dropped for a few days and then climbed. Is this a red flag for a fundamental problem?

                      Andrew-SEO 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • Andrew-SEO
                        Andrew-SEO @Kingalan1 last edited by

                        No this is ok. The old site will stay in the index for a few more weeks.

                        Can you identify if the missing traffic is all organic?

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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