# How to triage organic traffic losses with an AI agent

> Tier: deep. Full contract: quantified decision rules and evidence requirements.

Where organic clicks went, page by page and query cluster by query cluster: decay, cannibalisation, or SERP change, each with its own fix.

**Intent.** Separate the three causes of organic loss that get confused, because each has a different owner and fix.

## When to use

- Organic clicks down month over month and nobody knows where.
- A content refresh cycle needs a priority list.
- Before blaming paid changes for blended traffic loss.

## When not to use

- Right after a site migration: everything moves at once; wait for indexation to settle and run indexation-health first.
- Sites too young for Search Console history to hold a baseline.

## Sources

Required: Search Console
Optional: Google Analytics 4

## Preconditions

- The property ticked, with at least two comparable periods of data.

## Inputs

- `window`: Comparison window. Default: last 28 days vs previous 28.

## Procedure

1. Run the losses and gains comparison over queries and pages. — tools: `gsc_find_losses_gains`
2. On the top losers, check for cannibalisation: several pages competing on one query. — tools: `gsc_detect_cannibalization`
3. Cluster the losing queries by intent to find thematic decay. — tools: `gsc_cluster_queries`
4. Check whether the loss is clicks-per-impression rather than rank: SERP feature changes. — tools: `gsc_analyze_search_appearance_trends`, `gsc_compare_search_types`
5. If GA4 is connected, confirm the traffic loss lands where Search Console says. — tools: `ga4_run_report`

## Decision rules

- **When** Position held but CTR fell on a losing query → **conclude** SERP change, not content decay: the result looks the same, the page around it changed. Fix is snippet and feature work.
- **When** Two or more of the site's pages alternate on one losing query → **conclude** Cannibalisation: consolidation decision, name the pages and the winner candidate.
- **When** Position fell with content untouched for months → **conclude** Decay or competitor gain: refresh candidate, ranked by lost clicks.
- **When** The losses concentrate in one cluster while others hold → **conclude** Thematic, not sitewide: scope the fix to the cluster and say so.

## Evidence requirements

- Every finding carries both periods' clicks, impressions, CTR and position.
- Data freshness is checked and quoted: Search Console lags days.
- gsc_get_data_freshness

## Human approval boundary

- Content consolidation and rewrites are editorial decisions; the skill delivers the ranked triage.

## Failure modes

- Seasonality read as decay: compare year over year on seasonal clusters before concluding.
- Search Console samples long-tail queries; small losses on huge sites need the sampling plan.
- A tracking change on the site moves GA4 while Search Console holds; disagreement between them is itself a finding.

## Output

- **Triage**: Losses bucketed: decay, cannibalisation, SERP change, seasonal.
- **Fix list**: Per bucket, ranked by recoverable clicks, with owners.
- **Confirmations**: Clusters that held, so wins are visible too.

## Related

- Skill: [paid-organic-overlap](https://www.getmcpads.com/skills/paid-organic-overlap.md)
- Skill: [indexation-health](https://www.getmcpads.com/skills/indexation-health.md)
- Guide: [search-console-analysis](https://www.getmcpads.com/guides/search-console-analysis.md)