Migrated my website and traffic dropped in half, is this normal or did I break something?

[s666chez]

It’s been about 3-4 weeks since I launched the new site (for my lodging business, I will call it "xyz") and I’m seeing a pretty worrying drop. We were getting around 130 monthly visits before, last month was 60 and the trend is still going down in GSC.

Context: the old site was on Amenitiz, a rural accommodation management platform. The new one is on WordPress with the same domain.

The issue is that Amenitiz used a language subfolder structure for everything: /es/, /fr/. The homepage was xyz.com/es, rooms were xyz.com/es/rooms, and so on. The new site drops all of that, everything sits directly under the root domain.

I set up 301 redirects for all the old URLs using the Redirection plugin. GSC shows zero 404s on the new URLs, and when I inspect each one they come back as indexed. The new sitemap is submitted and Google crawled it two days ago. I also noticed yesterday that I still had the old sitemap submitted from 2023, so I removed it.

The weirdest symptom: if I Google “xyz”, the first result shows xyz.com/es. That URL has an active 301 pointing to the new homepage, so it technically works, but Google is still showing the old one in the results. I assume it just hasn’t processed the redirect yet but I’m not 100% sure.

My question is whether what I’m seeing is normal post-migration re-indexation or if there’s something I’m missing. How long is reasonable to wait before actually worrying?

Thanks for taking the time to read!

 

[itsworth]

Did you changed the layout as well, or just the url structure? Because the best case scenario is not changing nothing, since you could set this up with a seo plugin. When you change the url structure, google will need to index your site again, and it takes some time, so it's quite usual do see this drop. But if you changed the layout, then make sure that it's as user friendly as possible, because it's quite a hit for users that were used to the old layout.

 

[Starblazer]

130 monthly visits is insignificant for most niches. Google takes time to index new URLs. You need to check if redirects properly work. Try clicking on a few Google search results to see if they take you to correct pages. If everything seems fine, you should focus on growing the traffic as your site is still new and there could be a sandbox period.

 

[bargainbed]

It’s been about 3-4 weeks since I launched the new site (for my lodging business, I will call it "xyz") and I’m seeing a pretty worrying drop. We were getting around 130 monthly visits before, last month was 60 and the trend is still going down in GSC.

Context: the old site was on Amenitiz, a rural accommodation management platform. The new one is on WordPress with the same domain.

The issue is that Amenitiz used a language subfolder structure for everything: /es/, /fr/. The homepage was xyz.com/es, rooms were xyz.com/es/rooms, and so on. The new site drops all of that, everything sits directly under the root domain.

I set up 301 redirects for all the old URLs using the Redirection plugin. GSC shows zero 404s on the new URLs, and when I inspect each one they come back as indexed. The new sitemap is submitted and Google crawled it two days ago. I also noticed yesterday that I still had the old sitemap submitted from 2023, so I removed it.

The weirdest symptom: if I Google “xyz”, the first result shows xyz.com/es. That URL has an active 301 pointing to the new homepage, so it technically works, but Google is still showing the old one in the results. I assume it just hasn’t processed the redirect yet but I’m not 100% sure.

My question is whether what I’m seeing is normal post-migration re-indexation or if there’s something I’m missing. How long is reasonable to wait before actually worrying?

Thanks for taking the time to read!

I will not wait for another month without checking whether the migration happened properly.

The biggest red flag here is the removal of ES and FR. Is the Spanish and French pages now direct to the same root landing page? I think you have lost the language relevance for the URLs already ranked well.

Try screaming frog software and run the list mode with all old URLs and check redirect chains, final status codes, canonicals, and the destination content.

Then compare your GSC impressions by country before and after the migration.

Also check whether WordPress has changed titles, H1s, description, interlinking for any structural data.

Technically, successful migration can still lose ranking if the content on URL structure actually change.

The old ES appearing in Google is not the problem.

My important question is whether the actual traffic are transferring to the new homepage.

Did you actually migrate the Spanish, French content alone, or did you direct both language folders to one English homepage?

 

[EadsSeo1]

Yes, this traffic drop is normal after changing your Url structure, as Google takes 6 to 8 weeks to transfer ranking signal and replaced the cached URL with your new page.

 

[tiiberius]

The issue is that Amenitiz used a language subfolder structure for everything: /es/, /fr/. The homepage was xyz.com/es, rooms were xyz.com/es/rooms, and so on. The new site drops all of that, everything sits directly under the root domain.

This is the main issue.

Not only did URL structure change, the localization changes as well.

Search engines don't just replace old URLs in their index with new ones as if nothing happened.
They go through rigorous checks as any other URL/document.
And these new ones don't match the same qualifications as old ones.

This also wasn't the best timing because there is new update brewing.

 

[sharifawan]

Three or four weeks is normal for a dip, but one thing in your post stands out. You had /es/ and /fr/ folders and now everything sits under the root. Where do the old Spanish and French URLs redirect to?

If they all go to English pages or the homepage, that's your drop. Most of a rural accommodation site's traffic is usually in those languages, and a 301 to a page in the wrong language loses the visitor and eventually the ranking.

Check Search Console by country for the months before the move. If Spain and France carried most of it, that's your answer.

The old /es/ homepage still showing for the brand search fits that. Google hasn't found an equivalent page for it.

Do you still have language versions on the new site, or is it English only now?

 

[watchingthefray]

dropping from 130 to 60 visits after dropping the /es/ and /fr/ folders is pretty common, google has to relearn which page serves which language. I would check that the spanish and french pages still have their own urls or at least hreflang, otherwise they all collapse into one page and you lose the language relevance. Also keep an eye on the old /es url in the results, if it is still showing after another few weeks then the redirect is'nt being picked up and id inspect it in GSC.

 

[zaichi]

Even with 301s in place Google needs time to recrawl the old URLs and compare signals so seeing the old homepage in results isn’t necessarily a problem early on.

 

[RocketRank]

Never looked at it this way, but zaichi's point about Google needing time to recrawl the old URLs makes sense. I'd have assumed the redirects meant the job was done. Waiting sounds painful but right.

 

[HostingBaba]

if the /fr/ pages now go to spanish content you lost that traffic, rest is normal, give it 4-6 weeks

 

[SEO Executive]

Old URLs can linger for weeks. Check Google-selected canonicals and whether Spanish/French pages redirect to equivalent content; indexing alone doesn’t confirm a successful migration.

 

[OnlineProxy]

Honestly a dip after moving a smal site isnt unusual since Google takes forever to recrawl low traffic urls , especially with the old sitemap left in gsc. Still if both language folders were getting clicks and you merged into one, losing that seperate traffic explains the drop right there , Id just make sure old urls redirect to matching new pages instead of the homepage and update your Google BP link

 

[s666chez]

Did you changed the layout as well, or just the url structure? Because the best case scenario is not changing nothing, since you could set this up with a seo plugin. When you change the url structure, google will need to index your site again, and it takes some time, so it's quite usual do see this drop. But if you changed the layout, then make sure that it's as user friendly as possible, because it's quite a hit for users that were used to the old layout.

New layout is cleaner and simple. Dont think users are having any type of issue with it.

Old URL structure was a mess so I had to 301 lots of them, hence the homepage being /es.

Anyway, Ill be good if there is nothing else to mention here!

 

[s666chez]

130 monthly visits is insignificant for most niches. Google takes time to index new URLs. You need to check if redirects properly work. Try clicking on a few Google search results to see if they take you to correct pages. If everything seems fine, you should focus on growing the traffic as your site is still new and there could be a sandbox period.

Thanks for your reply, really appreciate it.

130 monthly visits are not insignificant in the lodging business as they equal about 2 - 3 tenants per month.

My main issue is that whenever I look for my business name, the first link appearing is xyz.com/es, and as you click on it you get a 301 to the home page, but it STILL says "This page does no longer exist" next to a "go back home" button, so Im afraid this affects conversion and bounce rate.

Will Google eventually change this URL to the new homepage URL? Can I make it so xyz.com/es automatically redirects to the new home page instead of having to go through the 301 screen?

New URLs are indexed BTW

 

[BlackVillage]

It is possible for a traffic drop to take place after the migration but i will review the redirects internal links canonical tags and language configurations since the old URLs included /es/ and /fr/ the processing of Google may require additional time but i would not count solely on that have you ensured the language targeting remains the same on the new pages?

 

[s666chez]

Three or four weeks is normal for a dip, but one thing in your post stands out. You had /es/ and /fr/ folders and now everything sits under the root. Where do the old Spanish and French URLs redirect to?

If they all go to English pages or the homepage, that's your drop. Most of a rural accommodation site's traffic is usually in those languages, and a 301 to a page in the wrong language loses the visitor and eventually the ranking.

Check Search Console by country for the months before the move. If Spain and France carried most of it, that's your answer.

The old /es/ homepage still showing for the brand search fits that. Google hasn't found an equivalent page for it.

Do you still have language versions on the new site, or is it English only now?

Site is in spanish anyway but for some reason homepage was /es instead of /.

FR does redirect to the home as of now but we didnt get no french traffic anyway.

Is it okay if I make it so the zyx.com/es 301 automatically redirects to the homepage instead of first going through the 301 screen? Feel like that is affecting traffic and bounce rate.

 

[s666chez]

dropping from 130 to 60 visits after dropping the /es/ and /fr/ folders is pretty common, google has to relearn which page serves which language. I would check that the spanish and french pages still have their own urls or at least hreflang, otherwise they all collapse into one page and you lose the language relevance. Also keep an eye on the old /es url in the results, if it is still showing after another few weeks then the redirect is'nt being picked up and id inspect it in GSC.

xyz.com/es is NOT indexed but still shows as 1st result.

Didnt have FR language relevance, page is spanish so IDK why I had a /es homepage.

 

[s666chez]

Even with 301s in place Google needs time to recrawl the old URLs and compare signals so seeing the old homepage in results isn’t necessarily a problem early on.

Is it okay if I make it so the zyx.com/es 301 automatically redirects to the homepage instead of first going through the 301 screen? Feel like that is affecting traffic and bounce rate.

 

[s666chez]

I will not wait for another month without checking whether the migration happened properly.

The biggest red flag here is the removal of ES and FR. Is the Spanish and French pages now direct to the same root landing page? I think you have lost the language relevance for the URLs already ranked well.

Try screaming frog software and run the list mode with all old URLs and check redirect chains, final status codes, canonicals, and the destination content.

Then compare your GSC impressions by country before and after the migration.

Also check whether WordPress has changed titles, H1s, description, interlinking for any structural data.

Technically, successful migration can still lose ranking if the content on URL structure actually change.

The old ES appearing in Google is not the problem.

My important question is whether the actual traffic are transferring to the new homepage.

Did you actually migrate the Spanish, French content alone, or did you direct both language folders to one English homepage?

First of all, thanks for taking the time to read and reply!

My business is in Spain and the site is originally in spanish. I had it translated to french too because it was cost free but it did not rank for french queries.

As I mentioned in the post, impressions have been decreasing after the migration, titles, descriptions and interlinks are good too.

I just ran screaming frog but honestly IDK tf Im looking at lol