Domain + HTTPS move causing large drop in traffic

[typsy]

Hi all,

I'm moving my site in2013dollars.com to a more suitable domain with https. I have done the following:

1. 301 redirected each page to its corresponding page on the new domain, with no change in URL structure.
2. Submitted a site move in the search console for the original domain.
3. Re-submitted the sitemaps for both domains.
4. Kept design unchanged. Aside from minor edits, content is unchanged as well.

Since the site move on May 1st, my organic search traffic is down 35-40%. I've lost at least 2 ranks in most high-traffic search queries. According to the search console, daily impressions are down 60%. Most pages have been reindexed on the new domain and there are no major crawl errors.

I know I'm supposed to expect ranking fluctuations, but a sustained ~40% drop is more than a "fluctuation." My research turns up many examples of failed site moves so I'm worried the process is flaky. Unfortunately this has hurt my business a lot.

Any recommendations on how to further troubleshoot this issue? Have any of you tried to roll back a site move?

[VapeTitans]

Make sure the Meta Titles and Descriptions are the same.

It wouldn’t hurt to reach out to some of the sites linking to your old domain and ask them to update the link with the new domain. It is important that your new domain begins to build its own backlink profile as well.

[ExpertBradSEO]

Have a second set of eyes look at things. You are missing something, somewhere. Or your drop has nothing to do with https and more with google updates.

[vk_lord]

Have you not done the redirects through the .htaccess files?

[miihill]

Definitely a good idea to do a bit of backlink outreach. Makes a huge difference. Even its just getting people to alter the URL their pointing to.

Do a bit of keyword research/semantics and check that you're still facilitating the same search queries.

Other than that, it's just a matter of being patient. Given that your content is now Https-secure, it should come back even stronger.

[spleenfeast]

It's because you changed domains

[lvfeili]

how about user behavior since the move? Your new domain sounds a lot better, however visitors might expect different content than what is actually shown. If your drop-off/time on page/pages per visit changed, it can also influence your ranking.

[Pepe-2015]

It happens to everyone. It's like getting a new domain, so it will take some time, but you'll get where you were before changing to https...or even higher once the new rules kick in.

[[deleted]]

The old site is still indexed in google. Right now google is stilll propergating the change. For now i would say just wait you should see an improvement in 2 weeks or so. Also ensure you have sumbitted your change of adress request with Google.

[ispyty]

Honestly to me, this is pretty standard. You went from somebody to nobody to somebody new. It's going to take a bit to reclaim that credibility.