Google search volume down

[CaseyC]

Has anyone noticed a generally decrease in traffic to their sites? We have been seeing a slow decline the last month or so and cannot really attribute it to any loss of SER or anything else I have spoken with the company that manages our Google Ad campaigns and they said that there has been a decrease in overal search volume since around May and have actually been in discussions with Google about it. What they said was that Google and Yahho are attributing this decrease in search volume to high gas prices and limited disposable income. So I am wondering if maybe this is just a trend in the ecommerce sector or what.

Has anyone else noticed this effect?

[chabbs]

July and August tend to be a little slower than other months. The main reasons are people vacationing in the northern hemisphere and school being out. I always notice a slow down for these two months. This year the economy could be a factor too though.

[CaseyC]

Yeah, I am used to a little decline this time a year except for this particular site as this is normally the peak of the year. I had another person confirm with me that his site is seeing the lowest traffic in years and he too has not seen any appreciable drop in SER.

[jimbeetle]

To get a sense that traffic drops this time of year are normal take a look at traditional media. There are many more direct-response television commercials rather than national-branded campaigns, even in the prime time hours; pages in current magazines are down about half from last month; and I was able to fold this morning's New York times -- the entire five sections at once -- into 16ths (I know traffic is really going to be low when I can fold it into 32nds).