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Google Search Console and inaccurate queries?
We have a WordPress website which is the main way that we obtain inquiries from our clients. Additionally, whenever we do receive inquiries, they mostly say that Google is how they found us. Also, we are always searching different terms on Google to see where we come up, as a partial way of seeing how the average client might be seeing us on Google.
However, our SEO has taken a nose dive since something like December 8th, 2019. We’ve gotten some inquiries here and there, but I suspect that people are actually finding us on our My Business page. We’ve gone through our site’s content and Yoast settings to see what the problem is, but I can’t identify any changes that would’ve resulted in our SEO tanking so hard.
I went on Google Search Console to see how people were previously finding us…but the data seems incorrect there. I see some search terms, but in a period of a few months, it’s only showing clicks in the single digits. However, we were booking 3-5 clients a month, and all of them said they were finding us on Google. ALSO, I don’t even see the search terms on GSC that we ourselves use to find our website, so the information I’m seeing on GSC is definitely inaccurate.
Could there be something set up improperly that is telling GSC that we only have a few clicks on our website across several months? I don’t have any crawl errors or anything. I just don’t understand why it’s not even reporting the search queries that we ourselves are making (even on different devices, IP addresses, etc).
If GSC isn’t a reliable way of seeing how people are finding (or found) us on Google, what is? I’m under the impression that Google Analytics isn’t helpful with this, nor is the data on our WordPress site. Thanks for any help in advance.
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2 Replies
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Have you checked any of these tools?
SEMrush, ahrefs, ubersuggest?I use a mix of them to get an indication of our incoming traffic. GA is useful if you wanna see behavior from under the hood, like which page they are landing on / time on them, etc ( eg if you have a blog). GA also helps you see how they navigate thru your website
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Google recently went through an update during the time frame you are referring to. your site may have been one of those affected. Also, remember search results are an average position in GSC. So when searching your own keywords and looking for yourself, you may yield different results then what google is actually showing you for in other results.
Google Analytics should be synced up with your Google Search console to get insightful data and make analytics a valuable tool in diagnosing SEO issues.
As for troubleshooting, would you feel comfortable sharing a snapshot of your search performance? As well as some keywords you were showing up for originally, but are not showing up for now? Feel free to direct DM if you rather talk off the post, but it would help identify any obvious issues.
**Edit I forgot to also add**
If you are a service-based type of business. For example, something like a fitness gym, cafe, or other business websites where people may meet in person, many of these websites are seeing huge dramatic declines in search volume because of the Coronavirus.
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