Website traffic usually drops for one of five reasons: a technical problem (pages de-indexed, blocked or broken), a Google algorithm update, stronger competitors, seasonal demand, or searchers getting their answer directly from AI Overviews and assistants instead of clicking. Diagnose technical issues first, then check which queries and pages lost clicks.
- Rule out technical causes first — they’re the fastest to fix.
- Compare impressions with clicks: steady impressions but fewer clicks often points to answers on the results page.
- The response to AI answers is to become the cited source.
1. Check for technical problems
Look in Google Search Console for coverage errors, manual actions and sudden drops in indexed pages. Check robots.txt, noindex tags, redirects after any site change, and whether your site is loading slowly or failing on mobile.
2. Match the drop to a date
Did it start after a redesign, plugin update, hosting change or a known Google update? Pinpointing the date narrows the cause quickly.
3. Compare impressions and clicks
If impressions held steady but clicks fell, people still see you but click less — often because an answer now appears on the results page. If impressions fell too, you’re ranking less, which points to technical, competitive or algorithmic causes.
4. Look at competitors
Search your main terms and ask AI assistants your customers’ questions. Who appears now, and what do their pages do that yours don’t?
5. Respond to AI answers
You can’t stop answers appearing, but you can be the source they cite. Answer key questions directly, add structured data, keep your identity consistent and let AI crawlers in. See how to show up in AI Overviews.