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Amol Ghemud Published: August 14, 2018
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It is likely to happen to every marketer out there – traffic dropping off, when you sign onto Google Analytics and see a surprising, and detectable, decrease in traffic.
Need to analyze the reason for your traffic drop? Read on and recover your web activity on track.
1. Wrong Ad text
The most relevant text, the text you want to have Ad to target,is a very important factor leading to traffic drop off. Don’t sell mangoes showing apples
Ad text is an essential part of leading vistors to your page for conversion. By the same token, you need to strike a healthy balance between ad text relevance and authenticity, engaging writing.
If you rework on your ad copy without hitting the same notes as before, it could mess with your traffic.
2. Highlight what makes you unique
Free shipping? Dazzling variety? Tell people! Showcase the products, services, or offers that make you competitive.
3. Include prices, promotions, and exclusives
People often use Google search to make a decision about something. Give them what they need to decide. If you have a limited-time discount or stock an exclusive product, say so.
4. Empower customers to take action
Are you selling something? Tell people what they can buy. Are you offering a service? Tell people how to contact you. Calls to action like purchase, call today, order, browse, sign up, or get a quote make clear what the next steps are.
5. Include at least one of your keywords
Keywords in your ad text show your ad’s relevance to what people want. For example, if you’ve included digital cameras as a keyword, your ad headline could be “Buy Digital Cameras.”
6. Match your ad to your landing page
Have a look at the page that you’re linking to from your ad (the landing page), and make sure that the promotions or products in your ad are included there. People might leave your website if they don’t find what they expect.
7. Conversion ratios analytics
A site’s conversion rate is defined as the number of successful transactions divided by the number of total unique visitors.
Any webmaster can measure the conversion rate of their website using Google Analytics. This comprises an advanced use of Google Analytics, and is not common to the majority of Google Analytics users.
Having a goal gives context to your actual number, asking your business decision makers forces them to think about where the revenue (or other outcomes) will come from causing them to really analyze their execution strategies and try to plan them ahead of time as much as possible.
You can compare relative volumes of traffic from different sources within the same dimension: for example, the traffic from different search engines, campaigns, or mediums. Overall comparisons let you make some initial determinations about which channels are most effective or offer the best return.
For example, if one campaign is delivering a lot more traffic than another, you can shift resources to make the more successful campaign even more visible. Or if one medium, like email or cpc, is outperforming the others, you can invest more heavily in that medium.
8. On site drop off
Whether it’s a technical issue, a recent website change, a Google algorithm update or poor optimization, there are many possible reasons why traffic to your website has been declining.
There is no set number, but consider common sense when determining if too many visitors are leaving the page. A small percentage is an inevitable, but if a large percentage is dropping off, the content or pages should be rearranged to make important information more prominent and more visible.
9. Targeting audience
Before you start any paid campaign it’s important you put together a set of audience of who you are marketing to. Put together a range of questions to identify your target market :
What type of device will be used?
User’s age range?
What is user’s gender?
Their interests categories?
What is their motivation to buy?
Where are they in their buyer journey?
What is their lifetime value?
When are they active online?
Their geographic location?
What sites will they visit?
Once you have put together a marketing profile you can start to target users effectively by using the range of features your paid platform gives.
10. Determine stages where visitors drop off
Depending on the purpose of your site, you may want to know how many pages users traversed after the initial page. In addition to measuring the level of engagement, you can also see the extent to which traffic diminished as users progressed through your site.
If users aren’t progressing as far as you had hoped, or if traffic is dropping off at a faster rate than you’d like, you can consider redesigning your site navigation or graphic design to allow for easier movement between pages, adding additional calls to action, like teasers for related articles or products, or reworking your site content to better address the interests of your audience.
Think about it this way–people can leave your website in one of two ways. One, they exit from a specific page, which becomes the “exit rate” from that page. When people “drop off,” they are dropping out of a funnel.
They click back, maybe go back to the previous page, etc. But then they go on to other pages on the site. “Drop off,” simply put, is the percentage of people who may not do what you want them to do on the site, but they do remain on your website and exit elsewhere.
User flow
Are there paths through your site that are more popular than others, and if so, are those the paths you want traffic to follow? You may have a path in mind for your users like
Home Page > Services Page > Contact Us > Thank You!
That unexpected path can indicate things like users not finding products they want, or your internal search not returning results that are helpful.
You might also discover something like an unusually high drop-off from a new page you’ve introduced, like a new home page or new product page. Investigate whether the design of the new page might be obscuring the links or controls that lets traffic flow to the pages you want them to see next.
No. of clicks
Clicks represent the actual number of clicks that you paid for and the number of clicks your campaign ad actually received.
It is normal for click and visit numbers to vary, as visitors sometimes click on ads in their first session and then re-visit the site in later sessions from other sources – e.g. directly by typing the address into their browser, resulting in 1 click and several visits, as the referral data from the original visit was retained.
If the situation is reversed, and you have fewer visits than you have clicks, there may well be a tracking issue involved, i.e. Analytics tracking code may not be added to every page on your website.
Page load time
If pages aren’t loading, ain’t nobody converting. Yes, your headline is important. The value prop needs to be clear. A beautiful page is nice to have. Social proof critical to adding credibility.
But if fast loading times aren’t happening, then landing page conversions aren’t either.
Clean up your code
Minimise HTML & CSS
Minimize redirects
Limit WordPress plugins
Upgrade hosting
Compress images
Single page checkout
Single-page checkout is faster and easier so that more customers convert. Single-page checkout forms, particularly those that use JavaScript to march shoppers through the process, also provide better step-by-step visibility. Shoppers know what they must do and where they are in the process.
Doorway pages
Doorways are sites or pages created to rank highly for specific search queries. They are bad for users because they can lead to multiple similar pages in user search results, where each result ends up taking the user to essentially the same destination. They can also lead users to intermediate pages that are not as useful as the final destination. Here are some examples of doorways:
Having multiple domain names or pages targeted at specific regions or cities that funnel users to one page
Pages generated to funnel visitors into the actual usable or relevant portion of your site(s)
Substantially similar pages that are closer to search results than a clearly defined, browsable hierarchy
Call To Action
Just as important as your headline is your CTA. Ensure you are clear and direct about the desired outcome. What is it that you want your visitors to do? The copy and design of your CTA can make a big difference to your conversions.
If you have a text link CTA, consider using a button to make it stand out more. Creating a sense of urgency in your copy will also go a long way.
Focus on creating insanely compelling landing pages. If not you’re wasting your traffic. Understand your web visitors. Create action-oriented, standalone web pages to move people through every stage of the buyer’s journey.
Conclusion
In the end you have to practice. And test. evaluate And test more. Keep Learning and Keep implementing.
Misaligned ad text is a primary cause of traffic decline because it breaks the promise made to a user in the search results. When your ad sells one idea but the landing page delivers another, visitors leave, signaling to ad platforms that your page is not a good match. This mismatch harms your quality score and increases costs, directly affecting traffic volume.
To maintain a healthy flow of qualified visitors, you must master ad-to-landing-page consistency. This involves a disciplined approach:
Keyword Integration: Ensure your primary keywords, such as "Buy Digital Cameras," are present in both your ad headline and the corresponding landing page content.
Offer Matching: If your ad mentions a limited-time discount or free shipping, that exact offer must be immediately visible on the landing page.
Problem-Solution Alignment: The ad should address the user's problem, and the page should present a clear, immediate solution, reinforcing their decision to click.
Analyzing traffic source reports in Google Analytics will reveal which campaigns suffer from high bounce rates, often pointing directly to this relevance issue. A deeper look at the full article reveals methods for systematically auditing this connection.
Focusing only on visitor counts can be misleading; a high volume of unqualified traffic that doesn't convert is a wasted investment. A site’s conversion rate provides the essential context, showing what percentage of your visitors are taking valuable actions. Analyzing this metric helps you understand not just how many people arrive, but how effective your site is at guiding them toward a goal.
By setting up goals in Google Analytics, you force a strategic evaluation of your execution. You can then identify which channels deliver the most valuable users. For instance, you might discover that a CPC campaign drives less traffic than an email campaign but has a significantly higher conversion rate. This insight allows you to reallocate resources effectively, investing more in channels that provide the best return instead of just chasing empty clicks. The full text offers a closer look at using these advanced analytics to transform your strategy.
Comparing campaigns and mediums requires looking at distinct layers of performance to make smart budget decisions. You should evaluate channels with a focus on both volume and value to get a complete picture of your return on investment. This dual analysis prevents you from cutting a low-traffic, high-converting source or overfunding a high-traffic, low-value one.
When reallocating your budget, weigh these key factors:
Traffic Volume vs. Conversion Rate: Compare the total visitors from a source (e.g., a specific search engine) against its conversion rate. A medium like CPC might deliver more traffic, but email may produce more loyal, high-value customers.
Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): Analyze which channels deliver conversions at the lowest cost. A successful campaign is not just about driving traffic but about acquiring customers profitably.
User Engagement: Look at metrics like bounce rate and session duration within Google Analytics to determine if a channel is bringing engaged, interested visitors or just fleeting clicks.
Shifting resources based on this multi-faceted view ensures you are investing in what truly grows your business. Discover more about building this analytical framework in the complete guide.
Effective ad copy counteracts traffic decline by directly answering the user's core question: "Why should I click this ad?" Highlighting unique value propositions is a proven strategy because it provides a clear, compelling reason to choose you over competitors. When users are actively searching, they are looking for differentiators to make a decision.
By showcasing what makes you unique, you connect with motivated buyers and improve click-through rates. You can implement this by featuring:
Competitive Advantages: Clearly state offers like "Free Shipping" or "Dazzling Variety" in your ad text.
Urgency and Exclusivity: Use phrases like "Limited-Time Discount" or mention an "Exclusive Product" to create a sense of urgency and scarcity.
Transparent Pricing: Including prices directly in the ad helps pre-qualify clicks, ensuring the traffic you receive is from users who are comfortable with your price point.
This approach not only drives more clicks but also improves the quality of your traffic, which you can verify by monitoring your conversion rate in Google Analytics. Learn how to weave these elements into your ads by exploring the full article.
Successful advertisers use calls to action (CTAs) to eliminate ambiguity and guide the user to the next logical step. A clear, action-oriented CTA like "Order Now" or "Sign Up" transforms a passive visitor into an active participant. This small change has a massive impact because it sets a clear expectation and makes the path to conversion obvious.
Data from Google Analytics consistently shows that pages with prominent, clear CTAs have lower bounce rates and higher conversion rates. This is because users are told exactly what to do. Without a CTA, visitors are often left wondering what the next step is and are more likely to leave. For example, a landing page that simply describes a service will underperform one that tells the user to "Call Today" for a consultation. Effective CTAs are the critical link between attracting traffic and achieving business goals. The full content provides further examples of how to craft compelling CTAs for different business models.
A sudden traffic drop for an e-commerce store often signals a disconnect in the user journey, which you can fix with a systematic audit. This process ensures the user's expectation, set by your ad, is perfectly met on your landing page. A breakdown at any point in this chain can cause visitors to leave immediately, hurting your performance metrics.
You should follow this three-step audit process:
Keyword-to-Ad Alignment: Review your ad groups. Does your ad headline, like "Buy Digital Cameras," directly reflect the keywords you are bidding on? If there's a mismatch, users won't see your ad as relevant.
Ad-to-Landing-Page Messaging: Does the promise in your ad copy (e.g., "20% Off All Cameras") appear prominently on the landing page? The user shouldn't have to search for the offer they clicked on.
Landing Page Product Availability: Ensure the specific products or categories mentioned in the ad are featured on the landing page. Linking a specific product ad to a generic category page creates friction and leads to drop-off.
Use Google Analytics to identify pages with the highest exit rates to prioritize your audit. The complete text explores how to automate parts of this process.
When ad campaigns appear healthy but traffic is dropping, the problem often lies on your website itself. On-site issues can create a poor user experience that drives visitors away, regardless of how compelling your ads are. Common culprits include technical glitches, confusing navigation from a recent redesign, or slow page load times.
A high percentage of visitors leaving a specific page is a clear indicator of an on-site problem. To diagnose the cause, you should investigate these areas:
Technical Errors: Check for broken links, malfunctioning forms, or 404 errors, especially on key landing pages.
Website Changes: Did the traffic drop coincide with a recent update to your website's design, content, or structure? The new layout might be confusing or hide important information.
Page Content: If a large percentage of visitors are dropping off, the page content may not align with what they expected from the ad, or critical information might not be visible enough.
Using Google Analytics to pinpoint pages with a sudden spike in exit or bounce rates is the first step to identifying where the problem is. The complete guide offers more diagnostic techniques for uncovering these hidden issues.
The failure to match ads to landing pages is a frequent and costly mistake that directly increases bounce rates. You can solve this by creating a disciplined workflow that treats the ad and landing page as a single, cohesive unit. This system ensures the user experience is seamless, from the initial click to the final conversion.
Implement a system with these core principles:
Create Dedicated Landing Pages: For any significant campaign or promotion, build a specific landing page that mirrors the ad's language, imagery, and offer. Avoid sending paid traffic to your generic homepage.
Use a Pre-Launch Checklist: Before any campaign goes live, use a checklist to verify that the ad's headline, promotional details, and call to action are all present and clear on the destination page.
Regularly Audit Live Campaigns: At least once a month, review your top-performing ads in Google Analytics and click through to the landing pages to ensure the offers are still valid and the links are not broken.
This message-matching discipline builds trust and guides users smoothly toward their goal. The full article explains how to scale this system across multiple campaigns.
A service-based company can dramatically improve campaign performance by moving from broad targeting to a precise audience profile. This involves creating a detailed persona of your ideal client, which allows you to tailor ad copy and targeting to attract genuinely interested leads. A poorly defined audience is often the root cause of low-quality traffic and a poor conversion rate.
To build this profile, ask a range of structured questions:
Demographics: What is the ideal age range and gender of your client?
Technology Usage: What type of device (mobile vs. desktop) are they likely to use when searching for your services?
Interests and Motivations: What are their related interests? What core problem is your service solving for them?
Buyer Journey Stage: Are you targeting users who are just becoming aware of a problem or those who are ready to buy now?
Answering these questions allows you to refine your targeting in platforms like Google Ads and write copy that speaks directly to your ideal client's needs. Dive deeper into building these audience personas in the full article.
As users become more accustomed to personalized digital experiences, their tolerance for generic or disconnected ad journeys is shrinking. In the near future, failing to maintain a high degree of message match between your ad and landing page will be a primary driver of high bounce rates and wasted ad spend. Users expect a seamless transition; any friction or confusion upon landing will cause them to leave instantly.
To stay ahead of this trend, marketers must shift their strategy from broad campaigns to highly segmented ones. The key adjustments include:
Dynamic Keyword Insertion: Use ad features that automatically update ad copy to reflect a user's specific search query.
Micro-Targeted Landing Pages: Develop multiple landing page variations for a single offer, each tailored to a different audience segment or keyword theme.
Lifecycle-Aware Advertising: Show different ads to users based on their stage in the buyer journey, from initial awareness to final decision.
Monitoring these segments within Google Analytics will be essential for continuous improvement. The full article explores how to prepare your marketing for this hyper-personalized future.
Understanding the buyer journey allows you to align your marketing message with a user's current mindset, which is essential for efficient ad spending. The journey typically includes awareness, consideration, and decision stages; targeting everyone with a hard-sell "buy now" message is ineffective because most users are not yet at the decision stage. This mismatch leads to low engagement and a poor conversion rate.
By mapping your keywords and ad copy to each stage, you can nurture leads more effectively:
Awareness Stage: Target broad, informational keywords and provide educational content. Your goal is to help, not sell.
Consideration Stage: Focus on users comparing options. Your ads should highlight unique features, benefits, and differentiators.
Decision Stage: Use high-intent keywords like "buy" or "quote" and present clear calls to action with specific offers.
This segmented approach ensures your budget is spent on the right message for the right person at the right time. Explore more on mapping content to the buyer journey in the full text.
Including prices and exclusive offers in your ads acts as a powerful filter, pre-qualifying clicks before you ever pay for them. When a user is in the decision-making phase, they are actively seeking concrete details to compare options. By providing this information upfront, you attract users who are genuinely interested and aligned with your offering, which inherently improves your traffic quality.
This strategy boosts your return on investment in several ways. It helps you:
Reduce Wasted Clicks: Users who find your price too high will self-select out before clicking, saving you money.
Increase Conversion Rates: The visitors who do click are more likely to convert because their expectations about price and value have already been set.
Improve Ad Relevance: Ads with specific details are often perceived as more relevant and useful by both users and search engines.
By pairing these details with a strong call to action like "Order Today," you create a direct path for decisive customers. Analyzing your conversion rate in Google Analytics before and after this change can prove its effectiveness.
Amol has helped catalyse business growth with his strategic & data-driven methodologies. With a decade of experience in the field of marketing, he has donned multiple hats, from channel optimization, data analytics and creative brand positioning to growth engineering and sales.
Growth Strategy and Planning
