Weird traffic fluctuations
- SEO |
I debated how to categorize this because it's wide-ranging, but at it's heart it is about traffic, which I think would tie in more closely with adsense and SEO than with the other categories. Anywho...
Here's the situation. Last week (Tues-Wed), the pageviews for my site theghostdiaries.com dropped to its lowest levels in a year and the bounce rate surged from 4% to 60%.
After culling answers from around the web, I at first thought it was duplicate Google Analytics code. And I am prepared to accept that for the last year I have been in a state of disillusionment about my site, I am aware that 4% is very low. However there are other factors here...
1. On Tuesday, I added google adsense test code, ads weren't even showing up but perhaps that affected user experience?
2. Early last week my Page Rank went from 1 to 2. Perhaps this could now be ushering in a different kind of traffic that's not into paranormal/horror movies.
3. Again, the Google Analytics duplicate code may very well be it--BUT here's the deal, I don't think it has been duplicate this entire time. I didn't start messing with the GA codes until after the traffic started going haywire, well after the spike increase.
4. I stupidly messed around with the source code of some php files (WP theme Organic Structure). I've gone back and restored some footer code, but I still think I may have messed up the index.php
Currently, the bounce rate has settled down to about 16%; pageviews are still down by 2/3rds while duration on page is up 4 times what it used to be. Makes me think certain pages aren't registering, leading to high duration time on some pages and less overall pageviews.
One last clue that makes me think this is more than just GA--we're getting close to the same number of visitors but they're only going to 2 pages instead of the average 4....
Godspeed to anyone who can help me with this....
Here's the situation. Last week (Tues-Wed), the pageviews for my site theghostdiaries.com dropped to its lowest levels in a year and the bounce rate surged from 4% to 60%.
After culling answers from around the web, I at first thought it was duplicate Google Analytics code. And I am prepared to accept that for the last year I have been in a state of disillusionment about my site, I am aware that 4% is very low. However there are other factors here...
1. On Tuesday, I added google adsense test code, ads weren't even showing up but perhaps that affected user experience?
2. Early last week my Page Rank went from 1 to 2. Perhaps this could now be ushering in a different kind of traffic that's not into paranormal/horror movies.
3. Again, the Google Analytics duplicate code may very well be it--BUT here's the deal, I don't think it has been duplicate this entire time. I didn't start messing with the GA codes until after the traffic started going haywire, well after the spike increase.
4. I stupidly messed around with the source code of some php files (WP theme Organic Structure). I've gone back and restored some footer code, but I still think I may have messed up the index.php
Currently, the bounce rate has settled down to about 16%; pageviews are still down by 2/3rds while duration on page is up 4 times what it used to be. Makes me think certain pages aren't registering, leading to high duration time on some pages and less overall pageviews.
One last clue that makes me think this is more than just GA--we're getting close to the same number of visitors but they're only going to 2 pages instead of the average 4....
Godspeed to anyone who can help me with this....