Why is the SEO performance of my custom site worse than the old WordPress site?

Just a thought: while your SEO dropped, did your conversions go up? That’s a good sign! It's not unusual for traffic to fluctuate after a big overhaul. Keep track of your key metrics beyond just SEO. If conversions are strong, it might mean your website offers better user experience, which is ultimately what's important. But do check if your old URLs properly redirect and that there aren't lingering issues preventing Google from fully reevaluating your site.

You might be facing something similar to a clean versus SQL/SEO transition situation. Check if your SvelteKit site is delivering the expected content right away to Google; sometimes JS-rendered elements can mess things up. Links and structured data also matter—an improperly set up sitemap can hinder Google from understanding the new structure. Be patient; these changes take time to settle, and often it can be a good idea to run a technical audit to spot what might be off.

It's pretty common to see a dip in SEO after a site migration like yours. When you switched to SvelteKit, Google likely paused its evaluation of your site's relevance while it adjusts to all the changes. Plus, WordPress often comes with built-in SEO features and plugins that automatically optimize things for you, which you've lost in the transition. Just keep an eye on it—initial drops are normal, and with time, your traffic should stabilize if everything's set correctly. Also, make sure you're using `` properly for your page's SEO tags.

You might find that some things you overlooked could have contributed to this drop. Internal linking is key—WordPress plugins often do a lot of this work for you. If your new site doesn't replicate the depth and quality of those links, that might be an issue. Additionally, make sure your schema markup is on point; the old WordPress site likely had this sorted. It can be a lengthy recovery process after a redesign, but if the conversions are up, you're headed in the right direction overall.

The drop in SEO performance may stem from several factors. For starters, switching URLs means you're relying heavily on 301 redirects, which can lose some link equity. You also mentioned that you changed the HTML structure; that could cause additional issues as Google reassesses your new pages. It's not that WordPress is intrinsically better for SEO, but its ecosystem provides tools that help maintain structure and optimize automatically, which can be tricky to replicate in custom builds. It might take some time to regain your rankings, especially if your old site's underlying structure had strong SEO signals.