The article discusses how to diagnose drops in organic traffic using Google Search Console, especially for those still using the previous version of Google Analytics or experiencing discrepancies in their GA4 reports. Google has provided a helpful guide on this topic, offering high-level approaches to diagnose traffic drops.
The guide highlights some key Search Console reports to analyze drops in organic traffic, including date-based comparisons, search type breakdown (web, images, video, news), average position trends, and page reports. It advises looking at trend data to determine if a drop in traffic is due to a decrease in demand rather than specific to the website.
The article goes on to explain additional Search Console reports that can be leveraged to diagnose traffic issues. One such report is device segmentation, emphasizing the importance of understanding how rankings vary between mobile and desktop devices due to different search features and ads displayed. By examining the performance by device type within GSC, marketers can identify where traffic drops are most significant.
Another useful report discussed is the Search Appearance report, which helps understand if specific search features are affecting clicks and impressions. By monitoring how listings appear within different SERP features, marketers can determine if changes in SERP layout are impacting traffic. Additionally, tracking featured snippets across primary keywords using third-party tools can provide valuable insights.
Lastly, the article mentions utilizing the Crawl Stats report within GSC to diagnose crawl issues. This report offers insights into errors, redirected URLs, URLs crawled by subdomain, and specific URLs crawled. By analyzing trend data within this report, marketers can identify technical issues such as broken links, redirects, or crawl budget allocation problems.
In conclusion, the article provides a comprehensive overview of using Google Search Console reports to diagnose drops in organic traffic. By examining various reports and trends within GSC, marketers can pinpoint the root causes of traffic drops and implement strategies to address them effectively.
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