Work · Marketing systems
Tracking broke after a website redesign
Reported traffic fell. The cause was often how the consent banner and tags loaded—not the audience.
If reported traffic fell after a redesign, start by checking consent and tag loading—not the audience. Fixing measurement usually means restoring a reliable consent and tag sequence so analytics matches what is happening on the site.
Problem
After a site rebuild, reported traffic or conversions can plunge even when visitors keep coming. Consent prompts, tag managers, and analytics properties often load in a new order on new templates. Measurement breaks; the audience may not have left.
How it is diagnosed
We trace how consent and tags fire before and after the change, check whether key events still reach the places you use for decisions, and separate a tagging or consent problem from a real audience drop.
What fixing looks like
Consent and tags loading in a reliable sequence again, with events reaching analytics and ad platforms the way your team expects—so reported traffic and conversions match what is actually happening on the site.
Questions we hear
Why did my GA4 traffic drop after a website redesign?
Reported GA4 traffic can drop after a redesign when consent prompts or tags load differently on new templates, so visits never reach analytics even if people still come. Compare consent and tag firing before and after the change, and check whether key events still arrive where you make decisions.
Can a cookie consent banner break Google Analytics tracking?
Yes. If the consent banner blocks or delays tags until a choice is made—or loads in a new order after a rebuild—Google Analytics may undercount users and events. Auditing how consent and tags interact on key pages is how you tell a banner issue from a real traffic drop.
My analytics traffic crashed after a website redesign but search demand looks fine — what should I check first?
Start with measurement plumbing: consent banner behavior, tag loading order, and whether key events still fire on the new templates. Reported drops often come from tags that never load, not from visitors who left.
We turned on a consent banner and active users dropped hard. Is that real traffic loss or measurement?
It can be either. Compare how consent and tags fire before and after the change, then check whether events still reach the places you use for decisions. If Search Console or server logs look steady while analytics fell, measurement is the first suspect.
How do you tell a consent or tag bug from an actual traffic drop?
We compare consent and tag sequences across the rebuild, verify tags on key templates, and reconcile analytics against independent signals. If the plumbing changed and the audience did not, the charts recover when measurement does.
Who should audit tagging after a rebuild when the build team says analytics is not their problem?
Someone who can read consent, tag managers, analytics properties, and the rebuilt templates together. That forensic pass is the work—put measurement back on solid ground so reported traffic and conversions match what is happening on the site.
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