The Hidden Triggers Behind Your Website’s Traffic Plunge—and How to Beat Them Fast
Set up a comparison with the period before the drop at the top, then see which channel lost the most visitors.
| Traffic Source | Possible Cause |
| Direct | A competitor may be gaining brand recognition or user loyalty, causing fewer people to navigate directly to your site (by typing your URL directly into their browser, clicking a saved bookmark, or clicking a link from a non-tracked source or messaging app). It could also mean changes to your offline marketing or email engagement. |
| Organic | This likely signals an SEO issue, such as a Google algorithm update, technical problems (like deindexed pages), or outdated or less competitive content. You can check which search engines are affected as a starting point, and we’ll provide more specific steps to analyze content performance and organic traffic dips below. |
| Referral | You may have lost a backlink from a high-traffic site. This could happen because the referring site may have shut down, changed URLs, or simply removed the link. Also consider changes in partner sites or press coverage. |
| Social | This could reflect reduced visibility on platforms like Facebook, Twitter/X, or Instagram due to their algorithm updates or posting frequency. Check which channel took a hit and whether your posting strategy, engagement, or visibility has changed. Social platforms increasingly keep users on-platform, limiting outbound traffic. |
It also makes sense to compare other metrics:
