Website Traffic Loss? Don’t Forget SSL for SEO

Just realized my site is not secure. Website traffic is down 86.6%. I inadvertently ditched my SSL plugin!

SSL — Secure Socket Layer —is standard technology that secures an internet connection. It encrypts data sent between a browser and a website. It should be activated by anyone operating a website to prevent hackers from stealing information exchanged between their users and the website — particularly personal and financial data.

I’ve been wondering for the past two months why web traffic in my WordPress blog is losing a significant amount of traffic. All the while, I thought the website performs well, loading in less than a second in GTMetrix.

Bent on regaining the web traffic lost, I did the following:

1. analyzed the performance of the top 10 articles,
2. read SEO tips online thus got more conscious of Google updates,
3. reviewed site performance using Hypestat,
4. redesigned the front page to make it a more attractive but fast loading page,
5. purged the cache of slow-loading pages, and
6. reduced the number of WordPress plugins.

Results of the Analysis and Corresponding Interventions

The top 10 articles in my site are still the same evergreen articles the blog has had for many years. Although the search engine results page (SERP) rank of the articles change places, they still remain at the top of the optimized keyword they were designed to rank.

But then… virtually all of these articles get significantly low traffic than usual.

Oh my. What’s wrong?

Google’s series of updates

I turned my attention to Google updates knowing that changes in algorithm could significantly impact web traffic in about 1.13 billion websites on the internet as of 2023. There will be winners and losers due to the series of updates, and I thought my blog might be one of those significantly affected.

Unfortunately, in a negative way.

However, looking at the analytics output of Hypestat almost every day, my website’s traffic rank remains the same, although web traffic has gone down.

Redesigning the home page

Worried that there might be something wrong with the website’s design that caused the plunge in web traffic, I redesigned the front page. I removed not so vital graphics and simplified the interface.

Zap⚡⚡⚡!!!

There goes a blazing, fast website, like Superman on steroids flying faster than a bullet: 646ms. Google could not resist to rank it.

Fig. 1. Lightspeed portrayal in an urban setting (Photo by Marc-Olivier Jodoin on Unsplash).

That’s what I thought.

Back to analytics again. Did it work?

Nada… It’s as if there’s an invisible string pulling the traffic stats down, down, down.

Redesigning the front page doesn’t work.

Is blogging really dead?

Two months passed since that fateful day in September, when summer is gone. It sounds like a song.

A few days ago, my website lost about 86.6% of its traffic. And it’s approaching zero.

My, oh my. Is blogging dead?

That prompted me to write that blogging is dead. I blamed it on the popularity of ChatGPT. And even thought Google updates are irrational, particularly the last rollout in November, empathizing with other bloggers whining away in reddit that their online businesses are approaching bankruptcy. Some complain that they can no longer pay their employees.

Hmm, I might be wrong. Google has thrived through the years because of their excellent algorithm that made them popular. Instead, it could be indicative of the looming recession.

Many other thoughts clouded my sensibility, mostly attributing the undesirable state of my website to factors beyond my control.

Troubleshooting cache issues

Now, I turned my attention to purging the cache of slow-loading pages. That’s because I noticed that some of my popular posts are not loading properly.

I want to be selective so I looked for cache plugin features that will allow me to purge specific pages. But poring through WP Rocket’s cache settings, I could not see the same functionality as that found in Ezoic, where a particular page can be purged. Purging the files of the whole website can significantly affect page loading in general.

I wouldn’t want that to happen.

I asked Co-Pilot with Bing Chat what I should do. Amazingly, the chatbot provided me with tips where I can purge specific files using File Transfer Protocol or FTP. It’s simply deleting the cache of a particular post on a specific date in File Manager.

It works! AI here is definitely a PLUS.

But still the web traffic’s downward trend didn’t change.

Finally, the culprit — SSL not installed

While browsing through WordPress settings page in my web host, I noticed that there’s something wrong with the website’s security. There’s a notice that the SSL has not been installed. It’s still in progress.

Fig. 2. Basic SSL installation in progress.

But then I remembered I saw this notice a week back. I thought it’s time to contact my web host.

I did.

Sachin, the hosting provider’s representative, told me that the website’s SSL installation is in progress. I should receive an email notifying me if there’s anything I should do.

No email to that effect arrived, I said, hoping he will take remedial steps.

He suggested that I wait further, and the issue will resolve by itself. I took his advice.

But only for a few minutes because when I happened to look at the SSL installation at cPanel, there’s an error notification with a long note that says SSL could not be installed because the IP address of the domain name is in another hosting provider.

Hah!!!

My web hosting facility has not informed me about this backend notice.

This situation calls for immediate action.

I felt a bit exasperated because had I known this problem earlier, I could have done something about it.

Anyhow, I’m resilient.

The Task: Manually Install SSL

Given that I could not wait for my current hosting company representative’s advice to resolve the SSL problem automatically (actually they didn’t for eons), instinctively I logged into the domain name company’s website thinking I could do something about the SSL.

I discovered that indeed, SSL is not installed. But there are several options to install it with their corresponding prices.

Then I remembered the time I reduced the number of WordPress plugins to streamline my website two months back. I INADVERTENTLY and UNWITTINGLY removed the Really Simple SSL plugin that’s been working for my site! It must have been the culprit that led to the website’s traffic decline.

Given the 5+ million active users of Really Simple SSL plugin, it’s easy to decide — I installed and activated it. I decided to pay for the Pro Version as I already enjoyed the free version for a while. I’m also wary of the prevalence of cybersecurity threats nowadays.

You can see the outcome of installing SSL below (Figure 3). Right off the bat, the website traffic suddenly increased and became stable.

Fig. 3. Obvious effect of SSL installation within a 15-hour period.

Notice that web traffic has become stable, and higher, immediately after SSL installation. In fact, SSL for SEO is important for improving your Google ranking; thus, increased website traffic.

There are still many plugin settings to attend to as I have not maximized its features, but website security is much better than before. And I got what I aimed for — more web traffic.

It’s time to regain the lost traffic and revenue. Fingers crossed. 🤞

Key Takeaway

Website developers not only should ensure that their websites load fast, but must be secure, to ensure the welfare of its users as well as increase web traffic.

I hope you both enjoyed and learned from my story. Do you have a similar experience?

Note: Although I leverage AI in my writing, this piece was written entirely from scratch. A newcomer here (as member) in Medium, it would be great to know your response after reading this. Am I doing fine?

Thanks in advance.