Traffic drop audit
Most traffic drops have one of five causes. Tracking broke. Pages fell out of Google's index. Something changed on your site. A Google update hit. Or demand moved. This website traffic loss audit checks them in that order, cheapest first, then ranks every fix by the revenue it's likely to bring back.
I work with your data team to put a value on each fix, and with your engineers to get the right ones shipped first.
For teams who've lost organic traffic or rankings and need to know why.
Drop triage £950. Full audit from £3,950. All excluding VAT.
By Nikko. Last reviewed 22 October 2026.
The order I check things
Each check rules something in or out before the next, more expensive one.
1. Is the drop real?
Before anything else, I check the data. Google Analytics against Search Console clicks. Tag changes, consent banner changes, new cookie rules, a broken thank-you page. A surprising number of "drops" are tracking problems.
Google's own reporting can move too. Its Data anomalies page says a logging error meant Search Console didn't report impressions accurately from 13 May 2025 until 27 April 2026. Impressions, CTR and average position were affected. Clicks were not. So a fall in impressions over that period isn't on its own proof of lost visibility.
2. Indexing
Did pages fall out of Google's index? I read the Page indexing report, look for "Crawled - currently not indexed" growth, stray noindex tags, robots.txt changes and canonicals pointing the wrong way.
3. Changes on your site
Releases, redesigns, new templates, redirects, migrations, JavaScript changes. I line the drop up against your release history. If you recently migrated, this is usually where the answer is.
4. Google updates and manual actions
I line the drop up against Google's Search Status Dashboard and check the Manual Actions report. If it's a manual action, the Google penalty recovery page explains what happens next.
5. Demand and the results page
Sometimes nothing is wrong with your site. Search demand fell, the season changed, or the results page changed: AI Overviews, new features or new competitors taking clicks. I check this so you don't spend money fixing the wrong thing.
Fixes ranked by what they're worth
Most audits end with a list of problems. This one ends with a list of fixes in order of value.
For each fix you get:
- The cause it addresses and the evidence for it
- The pages or templates affected
- Revenue at stake, as a worst, base and best case, with payback
- Effort and owner
- How we'll know it worked
The values are built with your data team using your own analytics and sales data, in PAYBACK. The inputs are yours to change. They're estimates, not promises, but they tell you where to start.
Sample deliverable
Sample - fictional site sample-store.test, made-up inputs, not client data
| Finding | URL pattern | Pages | Worst / base / best per month | Payback (base) | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category template returns 200 on empty listings (soft 404) | [redacted] | 120 | £216 / £576 / £1.7k | 1.7 months | Pays back in 1.7 months (base case) |
| noindex left on product template after release | [redacted] | 80 | £144 / £384 / £1.2k | 2.6 months | Pays back in 2.6 months (base case) |
| Redirect chains after URL change | [redacted] | 45 | £81 / £216 / £648 | 4.6 months | Pays back in 4.6 months (base case) |
| Consent banner change cut GA4 sessions - reporting fix, not a traffic loss | [redacted] | - | Reporting fix | ||
| Seasonal demand fall | [redacted] | - | Monitor | ||
Values come from PAYBACK with editable assumptions. Your audit uses your own data. Open PAYBACK
What you get
- A short written answer: what dropped, when, and why
- The evidence behind it
- A fix list ranked by revenue at stake (worst, base and best)
- Developer-ready tickets for the top fixes
- A walkthrough with your product and engineering leads
- A check-in 6-8 weeks after the fixes ship (full audit only)
Core update recovery
If the drop lines up with a Google core update, there's no request to send and no switch to flip. Google's advice is to wait until the update has finished, then compare a week after it with a week before it started. Recovery comes from improving the site and letting Google's systems reassess it. Google says some changes show in a few days, but it can take several months for its systems to confirm a site as a whole has improved. The audit tells you which page types lost the most, what they have in common, and which improvements are worth making first.
Pricing
Fixed fees, agreed before work starts. All prices excluding VAT. No success fees.
| Option | What's included | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Drop triage | Search Console, analytics and crawl read. What dropped, when, and which templates and queries. Likely causes matched to update dates and site changes. The top 5 fixes, each with revenue at stake as a worst, base and best case. A 45-minute call. Credited in full against the full audit if you book it within 30 days. | £950 fixed |
| Revenue-ranked traffic drop audit | Full cause analysis. Every fix ranked by revenue at stake (worst, base, best and payback), built with your data team. Developer-ready tickets. A walkthrough with product and engineering. One check-in 6-8 weeks after release. For sites up to around 20,000 URLs. | From £3,950 fixed |
| Larger sites | Same audit, for sites above around 20,000 URLs. Scope agreed after a short call. | From £6,500 fixed |
Where it leads
- If it's a manual action: Google penalty recovery
- If it's technical: the fixes go straight into tickets. For a wider check, see the technical SEO audit.
- If a migration caused it: the fixes go into tickets, and next time, SEO migration services can help you avoid it.
Traffic drop audit FAQs
- Why has my Google ranking suddenly dropped?
The usual causes are a tracking change that only looks like a drop, pages falling out of the index, a change on your site, a Google update or a manual action, or a change in what people search for. The audit checks each in turn.
- Why is my organic search traffic down?
Same list, but check demand too. If fewer people search for what you sell, or the results page now answers the question without a click, traffic can fall while your rankings hold.
- Do I need a traffic drop audit?
If traffic fell and you can't say why within a day or two, yes. That's especially true when the pages that lost bring in leads or sales. If you already know the cause, say a launch that broke redirects, start with the fix. If you're not sure, the drop triage is the cheaper first step.
- How much does a traffic drop audit cost?
Drop triage is £950 fixed, credited in full against the full audit if you book it within 30 days. The full audit starts from £3,950 fixed, for sites up to around 20,000 URLs. Larger sites start from £6,500 fixed, with the scope agreed after a short call. All prices excluding VAT, no success fees.
- What's included in a traffic drop audit?
A short written answer on what dropped, when and why, with the evidence behind it. A fix list ranked by revenue at stake. Developer-ready tickets for the top fixes. A walkthrough with your product and engineering leads. The full audit also includes a check-in 6-8 weeks after the fixes ship.
- Is an audit worth it?
It's worth it when the fixes it finds are worth more than it costs. That's why every fix is ranked by revenue at stake, with worst, base and best cases, so you can see the trade-off before you spend on the work. An audit on its own changes nothing. The fixes have to ship.
- How do I get Google rankings back if my positions dropped?
Find the real cause first. Fixing the wrong thing wastes months. Once the cause is clear, fix the pages or templates that carry the most value first, then measure.
- How do I recover from a Google algorithm penalty or update?
An algorithm drop isn't a penalty in Google's sense. There's no notice and nothing to appeal. Work out which pages lost and why, improve them, and give Google time to reassess. The core update recovery section above covers it.
- What is an algorithmic penalty?
It's the name people give to a drop caused by Google's ranking systems, not by a person at Google. Nothing in Search Console tells you about it. You find it by lining up the dates of the drop with Google's update dates and your own site changes, then looking at which pages and queries lost.
- How fast will traffic come back?
It depends on the cause. Tracking and indexing fixes can show up quickly. Recovery from an update usually takes longer. I won't promise a timeline I don't control.
- Is it a Google penalty?
Only if there's a notice in the Manual Actions report in Search Console. Most drops aren't penalties.
- What's a website rankings loss audit?
Another name for this audit. It finds why rankings fell and what to fix first.
- Do you need Google Analytics and Search Console access?
Yes, read access to both, plus a way to crawl the site and, for the full audit, revenue or lead data by page.
- Can you work with our developers?
Yes. The tickets are written for them, and I check each fix on the live site after release.
- We migrated and lost traffic. Is this the right audit?
Yes. Migrations are one of the most common causes, and the third check covers them in detail.
Who does the work
Nikko Nanji, independent technical SEO consultant. You work with me directly, not a junior team.
Lost traffic and not sure why? Tell me when it started and what changed around then. I'll tell you where I'd look first.
Related services: Google penalty recovery, Technical SEO audit, SEO migration services.