Target Search Terms Changed - does this affect traffic?

[monique-plaw]

We spent the last 12 months targeting a particular search term (mortgage broker) and have been ranking well for it consistently for about 6 months now. We have decided to change the target search term to something else (insurance broker) but noticed that our traffic has started to decline since we started doing this.

We are still ranking well for the initial search term, and our ranking is slowly improving for the new targeted search term in SERPs but traffic is down about 60% from January. Is it normal/expected for this to happen?

[jasongmcmahon]

Sounds like normal behaviour to me, why did you change the focus & how much has Insurance Broker has gone up - has it made up for the drop?

[monique-plaw]

The business does mortgage broking and insurance broking. We focused on getting "mortgage broker" to rank first, as that is what we were predominantly known for, but now we want to get our name out there for our insurance services too.

Our ranking for "insurance broker" hasn't gone up enough to make up for the drop in traffic. In your experience, do you expect the drop in traffic to last, or will it slowly recover?

[jasongmcmahon]

In my experience, I would expect it to recover assuming that the page is optimised for that the new keyword, that the said keywords are on a new page & that some link building activities are undertaken.

Do you have the URL for me to browse?

[ClaytonJ]

Hi

On traffic decline there have been some major updates, August last year, March 12 and June 4 this year.  Do any declines or changes in rankings co-inside with those dates?  Or does the decline date within days of site changes?

Secondly, are you targetting these terms on the same page or on different pages?

Regards

[monique-plaw]

The first decline was from Jan to Feb, where traffic dropped by 33%. Feb - March, there wasn't much of a change, March to April it dropped by 56%. This was potentially seasonal due to Easter, as all our other sites also experienced a drop in April but they all recovered in May, except for this site which is still down approx 50%  from March.

We are targetting the new search terms on different pages to the original search term.

[ClaytonJ]

Ok, it is difficult without a full set of data.

But if traffic has dropped and not rankings, then it is seasonal.  Mortgage Broker is a big term, so if that is still ranking 1 then sounds ok.

What does sound concerning, is it now sounds like you have a number of sites and they could be interlinked ie a PBN.. so have to factor same in.

It is tough to advise, but my view is if rankings have remained the same and online visibility if you are tracking - then all is good.  If rankings for mortgage broker and visibility have declined then it is a problem and site audit should be undertaken asap.

Not sure that helps,  as data sets not great, but hopefully a starting point.

Regards