If your tract has mislaid traffic, it’s earthy to wonderment what you’re doing wrong. But what if it’s not your fault?

Let’s beryllium real. Most of the time, it’s apt that it is your responsibility successful immoderate way. You whitethorn person tract oregon contented prime issues you were unaware of oregon low-quality links dragging down performance.

However, assuming it’s ever your responsibility tin beryllium harmful. If you effort to “fix” issues that aren’t truly there, it tin backfire and bash much harm than good. Sometimes, losing postulation is genuinely not your responsibility and is genuinely retired of your control.

Here are the apical 3 reasons for postulation losses that aren’t your responsibility and however you tin respond to them.

If your apical competitors are each experiencing akin postulation losses to you, past this is your archetypal hint Google mightiness beryllium stealing your traffic.

To spot if this is happening, plug your website into Site Explorer and adhd your main competitors to the integrated hunt postulation graph successful the Overview report.

If the graph looks similar this, past Google is favoring an emerging competitor:

If this is what you’re seeing, Google is not stealing your traffic. You request to bash immoderate competitive intelligence and fig retired what your rival is doing amended than you.

But if you spot a graph similar this wherever most, if not all, competitors’ postulation drops astatine the aforesaid clip arsenic yours, that’s a bully motion Google is stealing your traffic:

To double-check that this is the case, you request to excavation a small deeper by asking these questions:

• Has Google changed the visibility of ads supra the fold?
• Has Google introduced a caller integrated SERP diagnostic supra integrated results?
• Has Google pushed integrated results further down connected mobile searches?
• Has Google changed the plan of integrated results which whitethorn impact click-throughs?

If you answered yes to immoderate of these, past Google is apt pinching your traffic.

If you’re not definite if immoderate of these whitethorn beryllium astatine play, here’s however to find out. Start by entering your main keyword into Ahrefs’ Keyword Explorer. Let’s usage “gardening” arsenic the illustration keyword.

Then, scroll to the SERP examination view. Enter 2 dates to compare, ideally from a fewer days earlier the driblet vs a fewer days after, though you tin take immoderate timeframe that makes consciousness for your analysis.

Here’s an illustration with a year-over-year comparison:

Make enactment of immoderate changes to the SERP features contiguous and the bid they look in. For instance, from the supra example, you tin observe each of the pursuing UI changes Google has made:

• Removal of the section hunt pack
• “Top stories” bumped down to presumption 3
• “People besides ask” bumped down to presumption 4
• Shopping results taking up above-the-fold existent estate
• Prominence of much images successful the SERPs

You tin besides spell a small deeper present by checking the ocular layout of the SERPs.

For instance, you tin bash immoderate sleuthing successful Wayback Machine to get a consciousness for what the hunt results looked similar with the local pack:

Admittedly, determination volition beryllium immoderate information gaps present arsenic not each keyword hunt is recorded by the Wayback Machine, but galore popular, evergreen presumption should person immoderate humanities snapshots.

You tin past comparison these to the unrecorded SERPs, particularly the above-the-fold region, which for the “gardening” illustration present looks like this:

What’s adjacent much absorbing is that alternatively of each merchandise tile linking disconnected to the website it displays, Google opens up a sheet successful its ain interface instead:

If your tract ranked successful section results for this keyword, that’s a postulation nonaccomplishment you won’t beryllium capable to recover, nary substance however overmuch effort you enactment into it.

Likewise, if you diagnostic successful the “Top stories” oregon “People besides ask” sections, it’s apt hard to reclaim your postulation since they’ve been bumped truthful overmuch little connected the leafage (which correlates to a little click-through rate).

And adjacent for the expected “winners” successful this situation—the ecommerce brands with products featured successful the caller SERP results—Google is inserting itself successful the conversion process and directing little postulation to their merchandise pages to support much radical connected its platform.

So if you’re losing postulation to Google, it’s apt to beryllium hard for you to reclaim this postulation because:

• It’s hard to amusement up for each caller diagnostic Google releases.
• Many times, caller features won’t marque consciousness for your concern model.
• Google is progressively inserting itself successful the mediate of much conversion journeys.

Rather, you whitethorn beryllium amended disconnected looking astatine Google’s bigger-picture nonsubjective and aligning with that. In the gardening example, it would beryllium a lawsuit of accepting postulation losses for this circumstantial keyword but past uncovering the topics and contented formats wherever determination is caller maturation imaginable instead.

To bash this, you tin cheque retired the keyword forecasts for topics successful Keywords Explorer and isolate contented angles that are a bully acceptable for your business.

Many radical usage the aforesaid phrases but are looking for antithetic things. When this happens en masse, it could trigger an intent power wherever Google changes the layout and types of results returned.

For example, let’s look astatine the taxable of “conservatorship.” Before Britney Spears’ ineligible play became a fashionable taxable for gossip magazines, radical chiefly searched for this word looking for ineligible definitions and advice.

The apical of the SERPs looked like this:

But erstwhile Britney was going done her ineligible play successful 2021, the apical of the SERPs looked similar this with the Top Stories diagnostic taking priority:

The Query Deserves Freshness (QDF) exemplary is liable for this. It’s a re-ranking exemplary that changes SERPs astatine the past infinitesimal to present the astir existent information.

In situations similar this, if your tract remains connected the SERPs and the contented is applicable to the caller intent, you whitethorn spot a impermanent postulation spike. However, if your contented is not applicable to the caller intent oregon it’s dropped from results altogether, that’s wherever you whitethorn acquisition postulation losses.

So, however bash you respond if there’s an intent power connected your keywords?

• If you deliberation it’s a QDF lawsuit that volition pass: You could conscionable hold it retired until the rankings re-stabilize.
• If it’s a insignificant intent alteration oregon thing that inactive aligns with your brand: You could update your contented to bespeak the shift.
• If the caller intent does not align with your brand: There isn’t overmuch enactment you tin take. It’s champion to beryllium transparent with stakeholders astir wherefore postulation was mislaid and however reclaiming it is beyond your control. Instead, amusement wherever the caller strategical benefits prevarication and however you’ll beryllium pivoting the strategy.

Here’s different crushed intent switches tin happen: Google’s knowing of what users privation improves

This is really what happened successful the gardening illustration I utilized above. Between some dates I checked, there’s been a predominant informational intent successful the integrated listings. However, Google shifted the features supra the fold from prioritizing section services and gardening quality to showcasing ecommerce products instead.

As Google gets amended astatine knowing what radical want, it volition proceed to marque changes like this.

In this scenario, arsenic it isn’t a QDF lawsuit that volition pass, you either request to update your contented to bespeak the displacement oregon admit decision and pass reasons for your postulation nonaccomplishment to stakeholders.

As users go much tech-literate and adept astatine utilizing different platforms, their hunt behaviors and expectations change.

More radical these days are bypassing Google and turning straight to different platforms like:

• ChatGPT for conversational searches
• YouTube for video content
• Reddit for user-generated responses
• TikTok for snackable, entertaining content
• Amazon for merchandise searches

If Google wants to enactment relevant, it needs to marque changes that support younger audiences engaged. As such, these changes tin besides pb to postulation declines that are beyond your control.

A prevalent illustration of this, taking spot successful SERPs close now, is however Google includes user-generated contented and forum sites successful premier integrated positions. There was an announcement successful 2022 launching the “Forums and Discussions” feature, but galore changes person since been made to see much UGC contented in SERPs.

Sites similar Reddit and Quora are present pinching postulation from integer publishers and niche tract owners successful millions of SERPs wherever they were not featured before.

Let’s look astatine Reddit’s postulation inclination for the past 2 years successful Ahrefs:

Overall, Reddit has seen a:

• 24.5% assistance successful integrated keywords
• 81.5% assistance successful integrated traffic
• 47% assistance successful its Top 3 keywords
• 87.2% assistance successful Traffic Value (this 1 blew my mind)

And Quora’s show follows a akin pattern:

Quora has seen a:

• 16.7% assistance successful integrated keywords
• 72.3% assistance successful integrated traffic
• 26.7% assistance successful its Top 3 keywords
• 85.5% assistance successful Traffic Value

Unless Google makes a change, there’s nary accidental that publishers and brands that mislaid postulation volition beryllium capable to reclaim it easily.

Now, it’s not ever going to beryllium the lawsuit that perfectly thing tin beryllium done. I promote you to deliberation extracurricular the container present and find originative ways to marque winning contented successful the look of specified changes.

For example, galore SEOs are present posting connected Reddit and leveraging Reddit’s existing rankings to get much eyeballs connected their content.

Changes successful idiosyncratic behaviour tin besides often bring astir opportunities for caller contented formats that are untapped and person precise small competition. The purpose of the crippled present is to accommodate and amusement up wherever your assemblage is searching, adjacent if that’s beyond Google.

SEO successful its purest signifier is level agnostic; it’s not conscionable astir Google, and I deliberation galore SEOs person forgotten this.

Final thoughts

In general, it’s champion to clasp disconnected taking enactment until you’re definite of the basal origin of your website’s postulation loss.

Tweaking your contented oregon throwing links astatine a tract seldom helps retrieve postulation you mislaid for immoderate of the supra reasons.

But if you consciousness similar there’s much you tin beryllium doing, cheque retired our usher connected how to retrieve if your postulation has dropped dramatically.

If you’ve got immoderate questions oregon person examples of different reasons wherefore sites person mislaid integrated postulation erstwhile it’s not their fault, consciousness escaped to stock them with maine connected X oregon LinkedIn.