Technical SEO
Traffic Drop Diagnosis Worksheet
A worksheet for documenting SEO traffic drops by date range, page group, query type, technical checks, SERP changes, and recovery actions.
Use this worksheet when organic traffic drops and the team needs a structured diagnosis before changing pages.
The goal is to identify the affected segment and likely cause, not to react to the sitewide chart.
Download the working file: Traffic drop diagnosis worksheet Markdown.
Drop summary
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Date discovered | When the drop was noticed. |
| Drop window | The first date range where the decline appears. |
| Comparison window | Previous period, year-over-year, or same weekday comparison. |
| Primary source | GSC, analytics, rank tracking, CRM, or another source. |
| Main symptom | Clicks down, impressions down, rankings down, leads down, revenue down, or tracking gap. |
| Affected page group | Service pages, guides, products, categories, locations, or whole site. |
| Affected query type | Brand, non-brand, local, informational, commercial, comparison, product. |
| Business impact | Leads, calls, bookings, purchases, pipeline, or support. |
First-pass checks
| Check | Status | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Analytics tracking changed | Yes / No / Unknown | |
| GSC clicks changed | Yes / No / Unknown | |
| GSC impressions changed | Yes / No / Unknown | |
| Average position changed | Yes / No / Unknown | |
| Indexing changed | Yes / No / Unknown | |
| Site release or migration happened | Yes / No / Unknown | |
| SERP layout changed | Yes / No / Unknown | |
| Competitors changed | Yes / No / Unknown | |
| Seasonality or demand changed | Yes / No / Unknown |
Segment table
| Segment | Click Change | Impression Change | Position Change | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand queries | ||||
| Non-brand commercial queries | ||||
| Informational guides | ||||
| Product or service pages | ||||
| Local pages | ||||
| Mobile | ||||
| Desktop | ||||
| Priority country or city |
Diagnosis statement
Use this format:
Organic traffic declined for [page group/query type] between [date range].
The strongest evidence points to [likely cause].
The first action is [fix or investigation].
We will validate by tracking [metrics] over [time window].Recovery action log
| Date | Action | Page Group | Owner | Expected Signal | Validation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Keep this worksheet attached to the audit summary so future reporting can distinguish what changed from what was guessed.