Key Takeaways

• Declining traffic is now common across retail, building materials, and automotive sectors due to AI answers, zero-click results, and changing search behavior.
• Strengthening product information, improving structured content, and enriching attributes help brands stand out in search and feed emerging AI-driven engines.
• PIM platforms like Pimberly help teams produce cleaner, more complete product content — which directly improves search visibility and conversions.

What Is Declining Traffic?

‘Declining traffic’ refers to a measurable drop in the number of users visiting your website from organic search, paid campaigns, or referral channels. Most companies focus on organic traffic because it reflects how visible their product pages and content are on Google, Bing, and now AI-driven search tools.

A decline can look like:

• Fewer organic sessions month over month
• Lower impressions or declining clicks in Google Search Console
• Less engagement on key revenue-driving product pages
• A drop in ranking for category and SKU-level keywords

In 2024–2025, many brands saw traffic decreases even when rankings stayed steady. According to multiple industry analyses (including HubSpot and Search Engine Journal), zero-click searches now represent more than half of all Google queries, meaning users get answers without clicking through.

This trend heavily impacts retailers and suppliers with thousands of SKUs, because their product pages compete with richer SERP features.

Use Cases: When Businesses Typically See a Drop

Different industries see traffic declines for different reasons:

Retailers

• Seasonal fluctuations (e.g., post-holiday slowdowns)
• Google replacing product listings with “Popular Products” or AI Overviews

• Declining clicks because users compare right in the SERP

Construction & Building Products Suppliers

• Technical spec searches answered directly by AI
• Distributors competing with marketplaces like Grainger, Home Depot, and Lowe’s
• Limited attribute data holding back long-tail search queries

Automotive Parts Brands

• Fitment searches being answered in zero-click formats
• Marketplaces outranking independent retailers due to richer product content
• Users relying on AI chatbots for compatibility answers instead of clicking through

Across every category, the cause is the same: search engines reward structured, complete, and contextual product data, while brands with fragmented data fall behind.

Why Declining Traffic Matters for Retailers, Manufacturers, and Distributors

Challenge #1: Your Customers Compare Faster Than Ever

When organic traffic goes down, conversions usually follow. Customers don’t browse the way they used to. They expect fast results and clear answers — especially in B2B settings.

For example:

• Retail shoppers compare products using SERP filters and AI summaries.
• HVAC or construction buyers expect detailed specs, certifications, and compatibility data before clicking anything.
• Automotive customers want immediate fitment confirmation.

If your product pages lack complete data, rich media, or structured attributes, Google and AI crawlers have less to work with. That results in fewer impressions, fewer rankings, and declining clicks — even when demand remains stable.

Solution via Product Information Management (PIM)

A PIM platform helps fix this at the source.

Instead of scattered spreadsheets, outdated PDFs, and inconsistent product descriptions, a PIM centralizes everything. That allows teams to:

• Enrich products with more attributes
• Improve accuracy and consistency across channels
• Create structured descriptions and spec tables
• Add stronger metadata for search engines
• Automate updates to thousands of SKUs at once

When search algorithms favor detailed and trustworthy data, PIM provides the foundation you need to stay visible.

If you want an overview of how PIM works, you can learn what a Product Information Management system does here:

How Better Product Data Protects You From Traffic Declines

Key Feature #1: Centralized, Complete, and Enriched Product Content

Search engines reward product pages that answer customer questions clearly. Whether you sell furniture, HVAC components, apparel, or brake pads, the more complete your content is, the more visible you become.

A PIM helps teams:

• Enrich SKUs with detailed specs
• Add structured metadata (colors, materials, certifications, compatibility)
• Generate richer titles and descriptions using AI
• Standardize data across channels
• Ensure every product has consistent, accurate information

When search demand shifts, enriched products stay resilient.

Use Case Example: Construction Supplier

A building materials supplier selling thousands of SKUs noticed declining organic traffic for long-tail keywords like “fire-rated drywall thickness” and “HVAC vent size chart.” After moving product data into Pimberly and enriching attributes, impressions rebounded because Google better understood the catalog. Product spec tables also improved, which helped category pages regain rank.

Declining Traffic and PIM: Why Product Information Matters

Search engines have become far more selective about which pages earn visibility. Google’s updates prioritise:

• Accuracy
• Authority
• Depth of product detail
• Clean structured data

For retailers, distributors, and manufacturers, this is a challenge only if your product content isn’t centralised. A PIM turns fragmented data into structured, trustworthy content — which helps you win back traffic in several ways:

1. More complete attributes → more keywords → more impressions

2. Consistent product pages → stronger rankings across categories

3. Better metadata → richer SERP features

4. AI-ready content → improved visibility in LLM search engines

This last point matters more each month. LLMs evaluate product information very differently than traditional search engines. They pull data, not web design. That means brands with complete, highly structured product information will outperform competitors in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Bing AI, and future LLM commerce tools.

When your data is centralized in a PIM, you’re ready for that shift.

If you want deeper context on how PIM helps teams integrate with downstream systems like ERP, ecommerce, and DAM platforms, you can learn how Pimberly supports those workflows here:

FAQs

Q: Why is my organic traffic declining even though my rankings look stable?

A: Because search behavior has changed. Even if rankings don’t fall, users are clicking less due to AI answers, zero-click summaries, and SERP features like product carousels. This means impressions and rankings may stay flat while clicks decline. Structured and enriched product content helps you reclaim attention.

Q: Does declining traffic always mean a loss in revenue?

A: Not always. Some brands experience lower traffic but higher-quality visitors. But if you rely heavily on organic sessions to drive eCommerce sales, a meaningful decline can impact conversions. Strengthening product content, improving category structure, and enriching attribute data help you attract more qualified traffic.

Q: How long does it take to recover from declining traffic?

A: Most brands see early improvements within 30–90 days if they address the root issue quickly — typically messy product information, thin content, missing metadata, or outdated category pages. Search engines respond faster when updates are comprehensive and structured, which is where a PIM provides a major advantage.

Key Takeaways for eCommerce Teams Working to Reverse Declining Traffic

To summarize: declining traffic is becoming common across retailers, distributors, construction suppliers, and automotive brands. The shift is driven by AI answers, changing SERPs, and rising expectations around product accuracy.

But companies with clean, complete product data consistently recover faster.

A PIM helps your team:

• Enrich product detail at scale
• Improve category-level SEO
• Generate more searchable attributes
• Publish stronger product pages that outperform competitors
• Position your content for AI-driven discovery

If your brand is experiencing a dip in organic traffic or declining clicks, strengthening product information is one of the most impactful steps you can take.