1

Can GWT search impressions drop because I haven't published new articles for a while?

Both my traffic and search impressions have dropped over christmas, but now it is the 29th and it still keeps dropping.

Can this be because I have stopped publishing new articles for a couple of weeks?

Improve this question

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
2

I would no bet on that! Traffic for all sites drop during certain times especially over the Christmas and New Year holidays. For example, my site traffic drops over the week end and for most major holidays. Because this time of year is shared by people of three major faiths throughout the world, I would say you are just like the rest of us.

But I would try and freshen up your site. Consistency in adding content is more important than how often you add content short of barely adding content at all. For some reason, search engines like consistency. So even a smaller blog that only posts once or twice each week can perform rather well.

Improve this answer
1
  • Thank you. This is a very important point that I didn't know before. About consistency.
    – CHR
    Commented Dec 29, 2014 at 20:06
2

Yes. But I doubt you'll notice a rapid decline for that. Don't forget that these days a lot of people take some free days, maybe go on vacation during New Years Eve, etc. I suggest you wait a week or two.

Fresh content helps a lot, or updating old content with new information. This is because your site has new content, thus could be more appealing for regular users. Not posting new content is the opposite.

Improve this answer
5
  • Thanks Martijn, you say: "this is because your site has new content, thus could be more appealing for regular users"... However, regular users usually don't come through Google search so how come the search result impressions would be affected by them?
    – CHR
    Commented Dec 29, 2014 at 13:54
  • 2
    Regular users might be coming through google. Have you checked this? A lot of people are lazy or simply don't know better. Still, your users might not come through google, Google can still see it's worth to send people because there might be new content
    – Martijn
    Commented Dec 29, 2014 at 13:57
  • Ok, so Google can put search impressions up because the site has new content? That would make sense.
    – CHR
    Commented Dec 29, 2014 at 13:59
  • 1
    @CHR One weird little secret I have is to take these natural down times for holidays and so on and add content when no-one is looking. That way, when users come back there is something to see. I know this sounds strange, but I like to hold some updates for these days so that users are satisfied when returning and Google will oddly reward these updates when no-one else is updating their sites. During the holidays, Google seems to be busier spidering my new content than during normal times. I suspect that is because there is less new content to spider across the board.
    – closetnoc
    Commented Dec 29, 2014 at 18:11
  • Thanks, in fact I noticed that the first year of working on my site - the traffic went up a lot over xmas holidays when I kept working while I should have been relaxing. But it seemed to pay off. Was hoping for the same this year but the traffic dropped instead. Makes sense though since I wasn't writing. Until now I wasn't sure if the first year's traffic spike was a coincidence but judging from what you say, it wasn't...
    – CHR
    Commented Dec 29, 2014 at 20:04
0

Impression rate of your website only increases or decreases based upon your click through rate. Publishing a new article, url makes Google to give impressions on that newly created article/URL.

only your website's overall impression rate will increase when you submit a new article/URL. Impression rate of each page will be carried by Google based on your index position and your click through rate.

Improve this answer
1
  • Not sure I understand this answer... I guess a list of things that can increase the impression rate would be useful... Apart from specific keyword targeting which of course can increase impressions a lot.
    – CHR
    Commented Jan 3, 2015 at 21:31

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.