I’m experiencing a significant drop in my website’s active users, according to Google Analytics. The issue began approximately two weeks after I changed my website’s theme, which initially caused a major spike in active users. My goal is to understand the root cause of this decline and find a solution to get my traffic back up.
During the traffic spike, new users reached a peak of over 3,000 per day. During the drop, new users have fallen to less than 500 per day.
Troubleshooting Steps I’ve Already Taken:
I reinstalled my SEO plugin (Rank Math) to address a loss of SEO configurations.
I ran a site audit and have begun fixing 404 errors and broken links.
I have compressed my website’s images and activated preloading in WP Rocket to improve site speed.
I have submitted my sitemap to Google Search Console for re-indexing.
I would appreciate any insights into what might be causing this sudden decline and what steps I should take next.
Thank you.
Be sure to install the IndexNow plugin also.
And, be aware Google has started “whacking” a lot of news sites in search, when you don’t have “first origin” stories, such as sites with too many cloned press releases, or follow on content from major sources like AP, NYTimes, etc.
We have run into this issue recently after updating our version of Newsmag theme earlier this year, and several sites dropped out of Google News as well, but it’s not just us. Just weird timing.
We’re also suddenly, recently, started getting a lot of the “not indexed as not found in any sitemaps” even though in the Yoast sitemap. 20 year old website!
We have been doing some house cleaning on old content, also optimizing and retiring images, and also doing some “manually request indexing” on some pages which should be in results, and are not since the revamp.
I can only chaulk this up to Google trying to roll out AI snippets vs actual links to news sites — providing AI summary of your content vs your actual content, which some publishers have now sued Google over.
It’s a Google thing, as one site having “trouble” with Google since revamp, is still showing up top of all *other* search engines, so it’s a unique thing with Google.
Pardon the epic poem — just thought I’d give you a supportive “it’s not just you” support note.
(I don’t work here.)
Hi,
Here are some suggestions for what to check:
– Google Search Console: look for coverage errors, mobile usability issues, or indexing problems.
– SEO settings: ensure Rank Math meta titles, descriptions, and schema are applied correctly to all pages.
– Analytics: confirm GA tracking code is present on every page and post.
– Technical issues: fix broken links, redirects, or JS conflicts that may affect page speed and UX.
– Re-index key pages: resubmit your sitemap and important URLs to Google to speed up re-crawling.
Once these technical and SEO adjustments are in place and Google has re-indexed your site, traffic should begin to recover.
