Why Google traffic could fall even if SEO is improving

Luke Meredith

For years, one of the simplest ways to judge whether SEO (search engine optimisation) was working was to look at organic traffic.

If more people were arriving at your website through Google, everything was probably moving in the right direction. If traffic dropped, it was usually a sign that rankings had fallen, demand had changed or something needed investigating.

This relationship isn’t quite as straightforward anymore. It is now entirely possible for SEO visibility to improve, rankings to increase and the business to appear more prominently in Google, while the number of people actually clicking through to your website falls.

This might sound contradictory, but it comes down to how Google itself has changed, as search results are no longer simply a list of websites.

Depending on what somebody searches for, they could now be presented with maps, products, videos, featured snippets, business profiles, FAQs (frequently asked questions) and AI (artificial intelligence)-generated answers before they ever reach a traditional organic result.

In some cases, Google can give somebody the information they’re looking for without them needing to visit another website at all. This is particularly noticeable with informational searches.

Someone searching for a straightforward question might previously have clicked through to a website to find the answer. Today, that answer could appear directly within the search results. Your website might even have helped Google provide it.

This means your content could be performing extremely well from an SEO perspective. Google understands it, considers it relevant and may even use information from it within its search features, but fewer people need to click through to your website. This is why looking at organic traffic in isolation can give you the wrong impression about how an SEO campaign is performing.

Imagine your website received 10,000 organic visits last year and 9,000 this year. At first glance, that looks like a 10% decline.

What if your important service pages are now ranking higher, though? What if more people are finding your business through Google Maps? What if your website is appearing within Google’s AI-generated results?

Most importantly, what if those 9,000 visitors are generating more enquiries than the 10,000 visitors did?

In this situation, lower traffic doesn’t necessarily mean worse SEO.

The type of traffic you’re losing is important too. A website could lose thousands of visits to informational blog posts from people who were never particularly likely to become customers. At the same time, it could gain visibility for searches such as “accountant near me”, “commercial roofing company Chester” or “SEO agency”, where somebody is much closer to making an enquiry.

From a business perspective, this can be a very good trade, and it’s why SEO reporting needs to go beyond simply showing how many organic users visited a website.

Rankings are still important, as is traffic. Neither should be ignored. However, they need to be considered alongside the searches you’re appearing for, the pages people are landing on and, crucially, what those visitors do once they arrive.

Are people submitting contact forms? Are they clicking your phone number? Are they purchasing products? Are your commercially important pages attracting more visibility? Those numbers tell you far more about whether SEO is contributing to the business than traffic alone.

There is another important change happening too. SEO is increasingly about visibility across the search journey, rather than simply winning a click from a traditional Google result.

A potential customer could discover your company through an AI answer, see you again in the map results, search for your brand a few days later and finally make contact through your website. Looking only at the original organic click misses much of that journey.

At Engage Web, we don’t judge SEO success purely by whether a traffic graph is pointing upwards. We look at rankings, visibility, search intent and, most importantly, the actions that are most important to the business, such as enquiries, calls and sales.

Traffic can still be a useful measure, but the way people use Google is changing. If your organic traffic has fallen, it doesn’t automatically mean your SEO isn’t working. The more important question is whether the people finding your business through search are the right people, and whether more of them are becoming customers.

If you’d like a clearer picture of how your website is performing in Google, get in touch with our team at Engage Web today.

About
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Luke Meredith

Content Editor at Engage Web

At home in both the digital sector and the world of communications, Luke thrives on deadlines and has held roles in healthcare, retail and digital marketing, gaining a sound knowledge of a wide range of sectors. He’s a massive swot as well, holding a first-class degree in BA Communication and Media, and now uses his writing skills and keen editorial eye in his role as Content Editor here. Luke helps to oversee our clients’ content requirements, while also looking after a pool of freelance writers across three continents.