Search
No page has lost a significant share of its search traffic
seo.gsc-declining-pages
Why this matters
A page quietly losing the traffic it used to get is the hardest kind of problem to notice, because nothing breaks and no error appears anywhere. Comparing two equal periods against each other is the only way it shows up. The causes are usually external — a competitor moving above you, a change in what Google shows for that query — or a change you made and did not connect to the outcome.
Who fixes it
You can, usually
Roughly how long
an hour per page
Care needed
Low risk to change
How to fix it
Start with the position change on each page, because it separates the two explanations. A page that has fallen has been overtaken — look at what now ranks above it and what that page covers that yours does not. A page holding its position while its appearances fall has not been overtaken: the searches themselves have moved, or Google has changed what it shows for them, and there may be nothing to fix. A page that stopped appearing entirely is a different problem again and usually an indexing one — check it in Search Console's URL inspection before assuming it is about content.
How we score it
Failing this check takes up to 18 points off your search score. This one is a measurement rather than a fact about your markup, so two scans of an unchanged site can legitimately differ a little.
Does your site pass this one?
This check runs on every scan, along with the other 106. Free, no account, and you see the evidence for each result.
Check my siteOther search checks
- Canonical tags point somewhere validA canonical tag tells Google which address is the real one for a page. When it points somewhere wrong — another domain, a dead page, or the wrong protocol — Google follows it anyway, and the page you wanted indexed can be dropped in favour of one that does not exist.
- Content has been updated recentlySome content is meant to sit still, and age alone is not a fault. But prices, opening hours and staff pages that have not been touched in over a year are usually wrong by now — and a visitor who acts on the wrong opening hours does not come back to check whether the rest was right.
- Descriptions are a sensible lengthLong descriptions get truncated mid-sentence; very short ones waste the space you are given.
- Each page has exactly one title tagA page can only have one title. When there are several, the browser and Google each pick one — and they do not always pick the same one, so what you see in the tab may not be what appears in search.
- Each page has one main headingSeveral top-level headings makes the structure of the page ambiguous. Worth checking rather than urgent — modern HTML permits it, and Google handles it, but it usually signals that headings are being chosen for their size.
- Every page has a main headingThe h1 is the headline of the page. Without one, both visitors skimming and search engines parsing the page have nothing telling them what it is about.