SEO

Website Traffic Recovery Workflow

Losing website traffic extracts a heavy toll, especially after investing so much effort into your SEO strategy. The process of recovering lost traffic is never straightforward. Multiple factors are at hand, and pinpointing the exact cause can be daunting.

That’s why Advertronix created this easy step-by-step guide to help you diagnose the issue and restore your traffic effectively. Follow our guide steps carefully to identify the cause of traffic loss and implement a proper recovery strategy. We’ll use Google Analytics 4 (GA4), SEMRush, and Neuronwriter to analyze and recover lost traffic efficiently.

These tools are not only easily accessible but also one of the best for achieving ultimate SEO results. Let’s take a deeper dive into the guide.

1. Access GA4 and Generate Reports

First, you need to identify the exact pages that had lost traffic. You will gain insights into website performance by using Google Analytics 4 (GA4). To do so you will have to navigate to the Landing Pages reports.

1️⃣ Open Google Analytics 4.

2️⃣ Select the desired property.

3️⃣ Click on Reports.

4️⃣ Under Engagement, select Landing Pages.

5️⃣ You’ll now see all pages with key performance metrics.

Pro Tip:

Always compare traffic data to previous periods to spot declines accurately.

2. Compare Different Traffic Periods

Getting a full report is meaningless without comparing it with a previous period. For more accurate tracking and pinpointing the exact cause, you need to know when the drop happened and link it to a change or a certain event on your website.

1️⃣ Click the Calendar in the top-right corner.

2️⃣ Choose the current period.

3️⃣ Click Compare, then select the preceding period.

4️⃣ Ensure you’re comparing the same number of days.

3. Filter for Organic Traffic Only

Regarding SEO, the only metric you should be concerned about is organic traffic. Adding other metrics like paid and direct visits will obtain an inaccurate report.

1️⃣ Click Add Filter.

2️⃣ Under Dimensions, select First User Medium.

3️⃣ Choose Exactly Matches and enter Organic.

4️⃣ Click Apply.

4. Export Traffic Loss Data

After gathering the filtered data, exporting and documenting it ensures a structured approach to analysis and recovery.

✅ Sort pages by Users (descending order).

✅ Set the maximum rows to 250.

✅ Export pages with traffic losses greater than -15% to an Excel sheet for further analysis.

5. Find Out Why Traffic Dropped

Plenty of factors might be affecting the traffic loss, and it is not usually your fault. This is why it is important to rule out some reasons, like lower search volume, rather than a drop in ranking.

To get an idea of what’s happening, we analyze both aspects using SEMRush.

Check Search Volume Trends

A decline in search volume points out that fewer users are searching for that keyword.

1️⃣Open SEMRush.

2️⃣ Go to Keyword Overview.

3️⃣ Enter the main keyword for the affected page

4️⃣ Compare search volume for the selected periods.

Check Keyword Rankings

If search volume remains stable, a ranking drop might be the reason. Identifying which keywords lost position helps determine how to regain rankings.

1️⃣ Open SEMRush and go to Position Tracking.

2️⃣ Select the correct project.

3️⃣ Use the same timeframe as in GA4.

4️⃣Add the target keyword(s) in the filter.

5️⃣ Compare ranking shifts.

Pro Tip:

Do Not Forget to Log Your Findings in Excel to Determine the Next Steps!

6. Regaining Lost Traffic

Optimize On-Page SEO

SEO optimization is crucial to ensure your pages reflect the latest standards and best practices. You need to check on-page factors.

✅ Follow an On-Page SEO Checklist:

Titles, meta descriptions, and headings ✅

Content aligned with SEO best practices ✅

Fix technical issues (broken links, duplicates, etc.) ✅

Check Crawl Depth & Internal Linking

Ensuring pages are well-linked and accessible from important sections of your website helps search engines crawl and rank them effectively.

Ensure the page is not orphaned.

Link it to the homepage and main menu.

Strengthen internal linking with relevant service/area pages.

Pro Tip:

Use text-based links (not icons or images). Google values anchor text links more!

Enhance Content with NLP Optimization

Google usually ranks content with a high NLP Score. The NLP stands for Natural Language Processing. When it comes to NLP optimization, one tool stands out, which is Neuronwriter. It is the most accurate tool for estimating your NLP score. It uses advanced and up-to-date algorithms to determine and give recommendations for NLP’s.

1️⃣ Open Neuronwriter.

2️⃣ Click New Query > Optimize Content.

3️⃣ Enter the URL.

4️⃣ Click Auto Import Content.

5️⃣ Adjust the competitor list if needed.

6️⃣ If the NLP score is low, adjust:

Headings (H1, H2, H3, etc.)

Title tags & meta descriptions

Overall structure based on NLP suggestions

7. Create Supporting Blog Content

Blogs help improve page authority by linking relevant topics. The more blogs you have on a certain topic, the more likely you are to rank on relevant keywords. Ordinarily, it helps you create a stronger linking structure for your website.

✅ Check for related blogs on your site.

✅ If missing, create new ones & internally link them.

✅ Use keyword-rich anchor text linking both ways (blogs → service page → blogs).

8. Monitor and Adjust

After implementing changes, it’s important to track improvements and make further adjustments if necessary.

Wait one week, then recheck GA4 and SEMRush:

Compare rankings & organic traffic.

If there is no improvement, re-optimize content in Neuronwriter & SEMRush.

9. Check and Fix Technical SEO Errors

Technical SEO ensures search engines can properly crawl and index your site. Common issues include broken links, slow loading speed, and indexing errors.

✅ Run a technical SEO audit using Google Search Console and SEMRush

✅ Fix broken links, 404 errors, and redirect affected pages.

✅ Improve page loading speed on desktop and mobile.

✅ Ensure mobile-friendliness for better rankings and user experience.

10. Improve Off-Page SEO Strategies

Building your website’s authority is crucial for traffic recovery. Off-page SEO includes acquiring high-quality backlinks and increasing brand mentions.

✅ Earn backlinks from reputable sites through guest posts, PR outreach, and citations.

✅ Engage on social media to increase visibility and referral traffic.

✅ Leverage influencer partnerships to drive external traffic.

✅ Monitor backlinks using SEMRush or Ahrefs to disavow harmful links.