72% Drop in Ecom Stores SEO Traffic – Why?

A sudden 72% drop in SEO traffic for ecommerce stores is alarming, but it’s a scenario many online retailers have faced in recent months. Understanding the root causes is essential for recovery and future-proofing your digital storefront. Here’s a breakdown of the most common reasons behind such a dramatic decline.

1. Major Google Algorithm Updates

Recent Google core updates have significantly reshaped search engine results pages (SERPs), particularly for ecommerce. In 2024 and 2025, updates focused on penalizing low-value, thin, or AI-generated content and rewarding original, user-focused material. These changes hit many ecommerce sites that relied on generic product descriptions or mass-produced content123.

Key impacts:

• Pages with duplicate or shallow content lost rankings.

• Sites using AI-generated content without human oversight saw sharp declines.

• Product and category pages with little added value were deprioritized.

2. SERP Layout Changes and Zero-Click Searches

Google’s evolving SERP features—like product carousels, “People Also Ask” boxes, and AI-powered overviews—have pushed organic listings further down the page. Even if your rankings remain steady, fewer users are clicking through, leading to a drop in organic traffic42.

Notable shifts:

• AI summaries and answer boxes provide instant information, reducing click-through rates.

• Paid ads and shopping carousels dominate above-the-fold space, overshadowing organic results.

3. Technical SEO Issues

Technical missteps remain a leading cause of traffic drops:

• Site migrations or URL changes without proper redirects can instantly wipe out rankings56.

• Crawling and indexation problems, such as accidental “noindex” tags or robots.txt blocks, can make key pages invisible to search engines.

• Schema markup errors may cause loss of rich snippets, further reducing visibility5.

4. Increased Competition and Content Saturation

The ecommerce space is more crowded than ever. Competitors may replicate your strategies, invest in better content, or secure higher-quality backlinks. Additionally, user-generated content and forums now outrank traditional store pages for many queries74.

5. User Experience and Core Web Vitals

Google’s focus on user experience means slow, unresponsive, or poorly designed sites are penalized. Core Web Vitals—metrics for load time, interactivity, and visual stability—are now key ranking factors1.

In summary:
A 72% drop in ecommerce SEO traffic is rarely caused by a single factor. It’s usually the result of Google’s algorithm updates, SERP changes, technical SEO errors, stiffer competition, and evolving user behavior. Recovery requires a holistic approach: improve content quality, fix technical issues, optimize for user experience, and adapt to new search realities124.

Please take a LOOK at this blog post by Larry Kim :

        New Post:  My SEO Traffic Dropped 72% in the Last 6 Months

Larry Kim's simpler solution is to kill SEO and content marketing investments - that's not nice.

P.S. My solution is to obtain the e-commerce leads from another, more affordable traffic source - yes!

Citations:

1. https://www.intuitsolutions.net/blog/google-updates-ecommerce-seo/
2. https://www.immwit.com/news/june-2025-google-algorithm-update-seo-rankings/
3. https://www.practicalecommerce.com/seo-managing-modern-algorithm-updates
4. https://www.stanventures.com/news/e-commerces-organic-traffic-crisis-1339/
5. https://prerender.io/blog/sudden-drop-in-traffic/
6. https://hallam.agency/blog/why-your-organic-traffic-has-dropped/
7. https://www.reddit.com/r/SEO/comments/1fjwyan/from_150_to_37k_75_traffic_drop_since_march_what/
8. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/larrykim_my-seo-traffic-has-dropped-72-in-the-activity-7340767387350183939-yUMV
9. https://crocoblock.com/blog/ways-online-stores-can-attract-organic-traffic/
10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfOPJRLKATc
11. https://magecomp.com/blog/organic-traffic-drop-causes-solutions/
12. https://content-whale.com/blog/impact-of-google-algorithm-updates-on-seo/
13. https://www.oncrawl.com/technical-seo/seo-crisis-management-how-respond-sudden-drop-website-traffic/
14. https://sgd.com.au/common-reasons-for-drop-in-website-traffic/
15. https://www.cloudflight.io/en/blog/a-sudden-drop-in-ecommerce-website-traffic-7-common-scenarios-explaining-why/
16. https://www.highervisibility.com/seo/learn/reasons-organic-traffic-dropping/
17. https://www.charleagency.com/articles/ecommerce-seo-statistics/
18. https://digitalcommerce.com/sudden-drop-in-website-traffic/
19. https://www.venditan.com/blog/what-does-googles-algorithm-update-mean-for-ecommerce
20. https://www.clickslice.co.uk/shopify-seo-services/

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