11% drop in visits

[richkoi]

Since early October one of my clients websites (Bamboo Headquarters | Bamboo Plants Specialty Nursery, Southern California, Buy Bamboo Online!) has been experiencing a steady decline in visits. I compared this month to last year and we have experienced an 11% decrease in hits, where for years we have seen nothing but increase. What's going on with Google? Are we doing anything wrong? Any advice is appreciated.

One keyword we have seen a page one ranking to a page three is the keyword "bamboo"

Other info that may be of use: We revamped the website in June. I just recently submitted a new sitemap.

[jrdorkin]

Google had a major update this week and it has been affecting tons of sites out there. Many major sites had huge reductions in PR and traffic.

[richkoi]

Has this update been named? Where can I find out more info on it?

[jrdorkin]

Read some of the other posts in this forum. Even many of the top sites online have been affected.

[Webnauts]

Originally Posted by richkoi

Has this update been named? Where can I find out more info on it?

I think you should search for the problem on the site and not at Google.

[mjtaylor]

Originally Posted by Webnauts

I think you should search for the problem on the site and not at Google.

He did ask what they (not Google) might be doing wrong:

Originally Posted by richkoi

Are we doing anything wrong? Any advice is appreciated.

[Ann]

Even I saw a decrease in Visitors in September 2007. After analyzing the statistics of one of my client website, I found spider hits has decreased majorly. And, the fact was that it didn't happen to one or two website, I saw the decline in hits & visitors for most of the my client website.

Also, there was a decline in Google referrals. So this proved that some sought of updates was happening in Google.

[nipplecharms1]

We have noticed a drop also.

here is a thought? Can it be the economy? Is discretionary income so used up that people are not buying like they used to buy?

Just talking outloud.

Michael

[mryang]

Is that a drop of 11% just from Google?? As I have seen my site drop out of MSN in September - check the site is still in all the search engines.

[tamecrow]

The word 'Bamboo' appears a LOT on your site - three times in the title tag alone. You need to be careful not to overdo this as you can go over the line and make your site appear spammy.

[incrediblehelp]

Here are a few threads to read on the recent update in toolbar PR:

Google's PageRank Update Goes After Paid Links?
Source: Google PageRank Update October 2007 | Andy Beard - Niche Marketing
Google Drops PageRank For Many Sites : Paid Links or New Algorithm?
SEOmoz | Google Toolbar PageRank Losses For Hundreds of Websites
Top Websites Lose TBPR….Um Who Cares? - Jaan’s Search Marketing and SEO Blog from Cincinnati, Ohio
Google's Paid-link Smack in the Face - Search Engine Guide Blog

I really don't feel the drop is related to the current update. 11% percent is really not that much and could be one or many reasons for it:

1. If your URLs changed in the recent revamp, did you 301 redirect the old to to the new? if not that could be the reason in its self.
2. Competition is ranking better
3. Weather, world events? You target California, maybe the recent fires have something to do with it?
4. Maybe the niche your in is simply not getting as much traffic as it did last year.
5. Customers buying less in your niche.
6. Content changes during revamp?

[richkoi]

Thanks everyone for the advice and info.

Jaan, one major mistake I did make is forgetting about the 301 redirects. I just recently updated my htaccess file to include all of this info, but it may be too little to late.

[incrediblehelp]

Yup then that can account for the 11% easily.

[jg123]

11% drop is not such a big deal, maybe you have new competition?