A Cautionary Tale: The Case of the Vanishing Website Traffic

A good friend of ours (let’s call him Tom) is a business owner who takes great pride in managing his own website. We built it for him a few years ago, and he has done an excellent job keeping it updated.

But then something unexpected happened.

In April, Tom made a major update to his site. Everything looked great, and he was happy with the changes. But by June, his website traffic had started dropping—slowly at first, then dramatically.

Confused and concerned, Tom reached out to us. “Why is no one visiting my site anymore?” he asked.

After digging into the issue, we discovered the problem: the April update had unintentionally removed all the carefully crafted SEO work we had originally implemented. Over time, the site became harder to find on Google, leading to the sharp decline in traffic.

The good news? We stepped in and revitalised the SEO in September, and sure enough, the traffic started climbing again.

The Lesson

Keeping your website fresh and updated is essential, but major changes without considering SEO can have unintended consequences. Many small tweaks can gradually impact your site’s search rankings, making it harder for potential customers to find you.

We always encourage business owners to take control of their websites—we love seeing people confidently manage their own online presence. But when it comes to big updates, having an expert in your corner can ensure that your hard work doesn’t accidentally disappear from search results.

If you're planning significant changes to your website, let’s chat. A little SEO strategy now can save you a lot of stress later.