Organic search traffic fluctuates. It’s never static due to Google algorithm updates, changes in the layout of search results, and competition.
Fluctuations have been spectacular in 2024, the biggest in years. I have corresponded with many legitimate, non-spammy companies whose sites have lost a lot of traffic. Most don’t know why.
Here’s how to identify pages with traffic losses and why.
Search Console
Google Search Console is the fastest way to identify pages that have lost organic traffic. Use the “Compare” option within the “Performance” report and set the dates before and after the losses.
Then click on the “Pages” tab and sort by number of clicks. Here is an example of a site with extreme organic traffic losses and the affected pages.
In Search Console, set the dates before and after traffic drops and compare clicks on each page. Click on the image to enlarge it.
From there, click any URL in the first column and the report will filter to that page. Click on the “Queries” tab and again sort by “Clicks” to see the search terms with the biggest drop in traffic.
These are the priorities. Search Google for each query. Note the new features of the results. Study the top pages for quality, user experience and search intent.
Click on the “Queries” tab and sort by “Clicks” to see the search terms with the biggest drop in traffic. Click on the image to enlarge it.
Google analytics
Google Analytics 4 can also identify pages with traffic losses, although it lacks easy sorting options.
Popular pages typically account for the majority of declines. In GA4, go to “Interaction” > “Landing Page”. These pages get more traffic, from all sources, not just organic search.
To isolate organic search traffic:
Click “Add a filter”. Select “Size” > “Manual Session Source/Medium”. Click “Match Type” > “Exact Match”. Select “Value” > “google / organic”.
In GA4, apply filters to isolate organic search traffic. Click on the image to enlarge.
Then, after filtering organic search, select “Compare” to analyze two periods.
Unlike Search Console, GA4 offers interaction time and thus potential recovery tactics. Improve or update pages with an average interaction of a few seconds that also lost traffic. (Use the “Search” field to find a specific page.)
Follow the same filtering steps for any traffic source beyond organic search.
GA4 provides “Average Interaction Time Per Session”, a useful recovery metric. Click on the image to enlarge it.
