Easter 2015 traffic for USA, increase or decrease?

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Easter 2015 traffic for USA, increase or decrease?

Kratos

2:59 pm on Apr 4, 2015 (gmt 0)

We don't have enough data to compare with Easter 2014 as our traffic is many times more these days than what it was in Easter 2014. We are currently (Easter 2015) seeing some sites gain traffic while others have reduced traffic.

My question is, should a webmaster expect less or more traffic during Easter 2015? I am talking of United Stats traffic specifically. Do Americans take Easter as a huge holiday period similar to Christmas or the 4th of July when almost everyone is outdoors and traveling? (reduced traffic)

Or do people take Easter to simply take a day or two off work and chill at home? (increased traffic)

What are your thoughts? Perhaps with the increase in smartphone use in this yearly period between Easter 2014 to Easter 2015 we would actually expect increased traffic from mobile as people are traveling but still glued to the internet?

Thanks

samwest

8:43 pm on Apr 4, 2015 (gmt 0)

@kratos - I guess it really depend upon your niche. If you sell Easter candy or baskets or fuzzy bunny pajamas, you probably get a ton of traffic, but I would have expected that in mid to late March.

From my own records (going back 10+ years) I have always seen very slight drops around Easter. My niche is DIY woodworking & home improvement and I always see a season drop that starts like clockwork about tax time, lasts through the summer but starts to pick up in fall.

This year however, it was a huge drop in traffic and a complete cessation of orders. Considering the values on algoroo and mozcast, it appears another beast has been released. Can't confirm anything though, as they want it to be.

Moz shows the 30th and 31st or march at 80' - that's when we got nailed.
Algoroo shows a spike the 1st of April. Not huge, but must have hit my vertical hard.

EditorialGuy

11:30 pm on Apr 4, 2015 (gmt 0)

I think it depends on your topic, your audience, whether you've got an information or e-commerce site, and any number of other variables.

Just today, my son was in the Seattle airport, and it was mobbed. When he got off his plane a few hours later at a major hub airport in the Midwest, the terminal was almost deserted--he said it was the quietest he'd ever seen it in the daytime. Two different big-city airports, two different Easter weekend experiences. In the online world, the "Easter effect" is likely to be just as varied .

RedBar

10:52 am on Apr 5, 2015 (gmt 0)

US PVs at 57.1% for me Saturday, today will be even lower.

Europe, for example, was even lower with an overall of about 25%, that's -75%, not -25%!

Next year I'm going to have an Easter holiday:-)

Kratos

1:30 pm on Apr 5, 2015 (gmt 0)

Right. I say this because I'm seeing drops in some of our sites and rises in some of our other sites, yet the target population is very similar if not the same.

I would still have thought that in this Easter, webmasters would receive more mobile traffic compared to Easter 2014 considering how much internet mobile use has increased in the last year. Incidentally the increase hasn't been as high as expected by pundits, with the expected amount being astronomically high and pumped out of thin air by so called "market research" companies.

I love it when they hype their forecasts to sell more of their research/statistics, only to land on their faces when it's time to see if the forecasts were indeed correct.

RedBar

2:35 pm on Apr 5, 2015 (gmt 0)

Wow, after nearly 7 hours of a Googleday I have less than 5% PVs of an average day...either it's Easter or something new has rolled out and I've been obliterated across all sites!

Kratos

3:04 pm on Apr 5, 2015 (gmt 0)

@RedBar if it helps, I have noticed too that today Sunday the traffic is about 10% to 30% lower from the usual. I was actually thinking that today would be the lowest day out of all Easter so I wasn't particularly worried and I still aren't. I am seeing this in sites that had a 30% increase in the 3rd week of March (remember when we were exchanging posts like crazy during that week) and those sites are at about 70% of its usual traffic today.

I say 99% it's because it's Sunday and people are just doing family stuff. Or at least I hope so.

EditorialGuy

3:24 pm on Apr 5, 2015 (gmt 0)

So far today, our overall traffic and U.S. traffic are almost exactly the same as they were last Sunday (maybe even up a tiny bit).

Maybe our U.S. readers aren't what were called "Christmas and Easter Christians" back at the missionary school.

RedBar

3:26 pm on Apr 5, 2015 (gmt 0)

I have many years of my own data along with 11 years of Google's AdSense metrics however today so far is breaking all previous lows. My email is also at an all-time low as well and judging by the lack of inactivity here one can only assume that everyone, except us, is having time off?

Kratos

6:30 pm on Apr 5, 2015 (gmt 0)

@RedBar I would be happy to have a quick look at one of your sites if you need a second opinion. I've read your other posts and it looks like you're going through a situation, so if you need help or a second opinion, feel free to let me know of your site and I'll have a quick look (not that I'm an expert, but I know a thing or two).

Cheers

dethfire

8:27 pm on Apr 5, 2015 (gmt 0)

Traffic very low this weekend