Traffic Drop Checklist: Start with the Obvious


4 Comments
  1. If it’s a recently redesigned/designed WordPress site that’s running WordPress SEO by Yoast that’s the victim of a sitewide no-indexing, chances are it’s because someone working on the site got tired of seeing:

    “Huge SEO Issue: You’re blocking access to robots. You must go to your Reading Settings and uncheck the box for Search Engine Visibility. I know, don’t bug me.”

    They misguidedly pressed the “don’t bug me” button and didn’t go back and change the status once the site was moved from development to production. I’ve seen it too many times! Getting the site re-indexed quickly after this is not fun, but can be done for critical pages using manual page submissions.

    Love your checklist!

    • Excellent point Karie. Thanks for sharing!

      In addition to dev mode, this has happened on my client sites randomly not around any redesign or launch. Probably a good follow up would be to take screenshots of different plugins and share with clients on what not to do, check or uncheck.

  2. In “Check the Obvious” (Step 1) we should also look –
    1. if someone had removed URL’s in webmaster tool.
    2. Used URL parameter option of the webmaster tool incorrectly.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

About The Author

A photograph of Kent Barton holding a guitar.

Kent Barton (Alumni)

Kent Barton is contributor for the Inflow blog.

View Author’s Profile

Request a Proposal

Let us build a personalized strategy with the best eCommerce marketing services for your needs. Contact us below to get started.

Send this to a friend