{"id":4634,"date":"2019-02-06T08:35:28","date_gmt":"2019-02-06T08:35:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.capitalnumbers.com\/blog\/?p=4634"},"modified":"2026-04-06T07:40:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T07:40:58","slug":"five-steps-to-fixing-your-seo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.capitalnumbers.com\/blog\/five-steps-to-fixing-your-seo\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Steps to Fixing Your SEO"},"content":{"rendered":"

If your site recently experienced a big drop in search engine traffic, you probably don\u2019t want to waste any time. The opportunity cost is just too high. Sure, you don\u2019t pay for organic traffic the same way you do for paid traffic, but in terms of missed opportunity and losing out on sales, an SEO malfunction is pretty costly.<\/p>\n

Getting back on top should be your first priority. If it is, then don\u2019t worry. You\u2019ve come to the right place. A drop in the rankings is fixable, even if it seems really bad at first.<\/p>\n

Now, search rankings are notoriously difficult and slow to pull off\u2026 so the sooner you get started, the better. However, if you don\u2019t have an SEO expert on hand to deliver results, you might have to do it yourself.<\/p>\n

Because doing it all yourself is slow, tedious, and unrewarding if you have to learn on the go, we put together this 5-step guide to speed things along.<\/p>\n

So if you need to fix your SEO right now, keep reading\u2026<\/p>\n

Step One: Check Your Website<\/h2>\n
\"Step<\/div>\n

First, go to your website and just make sure it\u2019s working correctly. This may seem basic, but if you skip this step and it turns out the problem IS your website, you\u2019ll have wasted a lot of time & effort focusing on other things. If your site isn\u2019t working properly, nothing else is going to work, either.<\/p>\n

If your website is down, check with the webhost first. A lot of the time, the webhost has simply experienced a malfunction and doesn\u2019t display your site. So that\u2019s a good first place to check. Also, check to make sure the pages are loading, the domain hasn\u2019t expired, or something similar.<\/p>\n

Changes to the backend may make the site less attractive to the algorithms. New plugins or plugin updates, a change in theme, and URL structure changes can all affect your SEO score<\/a> and cause your rankings to fluctuate. For example, something as simple as accidentally checking\/unchecking the box for search engine visibility will lead to nonexistent rankings.<\/p>\n

Step Two: Check Your SEO Tools<\/h2>\n
\"Step<\/div>\n

Is traffic actually dropping, meaning your SEO is broken\u2026 or are your tools simply under-reporting? There are plenty of good SEO tools on the market, but they aren\u2019t all 100% accurate all the time.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time to hop over to Google analytics and see if the traffic is actually dropping or if it\u2019s being underreported. Remember: consistent fluctuations are okay\u2026 but a steep drop that bottoms out is not.<\/p>\n

If you have Google analytics hooked up properly, it will also notify you if something is wrong or if someone has reported\/flagged any of your site\u2019s pages.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also good to stay current on Google\u2019s constant updates. When the search engine updates, it might change the way it indexes your site, leading to drops\u2014 or possible rises \u2014 invisibility.<\/p>\n

Step 3: Get Clear About the Problem<\/h2>\n
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Once you\u2019ve identified that it isn\u2019t a fluke or a glitch or one of your tools not working, it\u2019s time to narrow down the specific cause. Figure out what dropped exactly\u2026 was it a certain page or multiple pages? Did you suddenly stop ranking for a certain keyword? What time did your ranking start to drop? Did you make any significant changes to your backend during that time? Were there any Google updates?<\/p>\n

Sometimes what appears to be a \u201cdrop\u201d is really just the result of a competitor outranking you on Google. They may be outperforming you in terms of backlinks, in terms of content, or in terms of the quality of their pages. If you know that a competitor has recently \u201cramped up\u201d their SEO efforts, they might be taking all your traffic. That\u2019s okay\u2026 it just means it\u2019s time to get serious about your SEO and start consulting with dedicated SEO teams.<\/p>\n

Finally, don\u2019t forget the business cycle \u2014 seasonal businesses like gyms will experience an explosion of interest around the New Year due to everyone\u2019s resolutions, followed by a steep drop in interest afterward.<\/p>\n

Step 4: Fix The Problem<\/h2>\n
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