Every business wants to be the best it can be. That is why they often invest in SEO strategies designed to increase visibility on search engines like Google and Bing. However, many businesses don’t know when their strategy has stopped working or how to fix it if it does. If you notice any of the following 9 signs that your SEO strategy isn’t working anymore, then you need to take action!
Your website traffic has decreased by more than 20% over six months: The primary job of any SEO strategy is to help you improve visibility and increase organic rankings over time. So, if your organic rankings and website traffic have decreased over time, something is seriously wrong. As a rule of thumb, map out the overall percentage decrease in your website traffic. If you notice a more than 20% decrease in search engine traffic over six months, then it’s likely that your SEO strategy is no longer working. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to change your approach or hire a new agency, but it does indicate the need for an update.
Your organic rankings are slipping: If you can see that your website has slipped down several pages on Google (or any other major search engines) over the past six months, then this is another sign of poor performance. However, there could be multiple reasons why this happened – such as increased competition or changes made to algorithms by Google or Bing. The important thing is not to panic and instead take action quickly! You might want to check how often people are clicking through from SERPs into your website. If you notice a significant decrease in CTR, this could indicate poor performance and the need for an SEO update.
Your competitors have been ranking higher than you: This is perhaps one of the strongest signs that your SEO strategy isn’t working anymore! In general terms, it’s rare to see several businesses on Google with similar products competing head-to-head. For example, if three local hotels are offering similar services within five miles of each other – yet only two appear at the top of SERPs – then the chances are that something fishy is going on. The business occupying third place will likely struggle over time because they’re missing out on valuable search traffic from users who would’ve clicked through had their page been displayed. Furthermore, these users will likely head to the top two businesses and spend more money there because they don’t have an alternative.
You are not ranking for industry-relevant keywords: A strong SEO strategy should help businesses rank for various keywords relevant to their industry. However, when they stop working correctly, you will see your rankings slip or disappear altogether in some cases. If this is happening to your business and it’s a relatively new development, there could be an issue with content quality on your website – especially with the amount of ‘inbound links’ pointing back towards pages from other websites.
Your conversion rate is nothing to boast of: The primary goal of any SEO strategy is to help businesses increase visibility and attract more leads. However, if you’ve been noticing a decrease in the number of leads generated over time, then this could be an indication that your SEO campaign has stopped working correctly. You should always track conversions as closely as possible because they provide valuable insight into how effective your marketing campaigns are. If you’re not generating enough leads or customers through organic search traffic – even though you used to do so with relative ease – then it’s likely that something is wrong with your current approach!
Your content isn’t what it used to be: Content quality can make or break the success of any business’ online presence these days, which makes investing in high-quality copywriters essential. If you see your content quality slipping over time, then this could be a sign that something is wrong with your SEO strategy – either because it’s not working anymore or because of low-quality links pointing back to specific pages. You might want to check out where most inbound links are coming from by using the ‘site:’ operator on Google and looking at the results for each URL individually.
The bounce rates are off the roof: Bounce rates indicate how many people leave your website after just a one-page load. If you’re noticing that bounce rates are increasing or staying consistent over time – especially if they were previously relatively low (less than 60% is considered normal) – this could indicate poor performance and the need to improve SEO strategy.
You have too-many low-quality backlinks: As a rule of thumb, you should only have a handful of backlinks from other websites pointing to your content. If there are too many low-quality links, this could negatively affect your rankings over time as Google views them as spammy or manipulative.
You have been using the same SEO strategy for the last five years: If you’re not sure whether your SEO strategy is working anymore, then it might be time to look at how long ago you last made changes. If five years have passed since the last change was implemented on your website, then the chances are that something has happened, which means that either individual pages or entire sections of content need some attention to improve visibility and rankings!
An SEO strategy will require continuous work to remain effective. The simplest way of avoiding this issue altogether is by making regular changes so that your website stays up-to-date with current trends and best practices! If you don’t want to do all of this yourself, consider hiring a professional agency you can trust.
