Traffic is stable? Rankings may already be slipping in Search Console.

Look for early warning signals before clicks fall: a page that loses impressions while average position stays flat; a query that drops from page 1 to page 2 but still gets some clicks; and a cluster of pages that all soften on the same device or country. Those are usually the first cracks, not the final damage.

In the Performance report, compare the same page or query across two equal periods and watch for:
• impressions down, clicks still steady
• position worse, but only by a few spots
• CTR falling on branded or high-intent terms
• one template losing many long-tail queries at once

That pattern often points to intent shift, snippet mismatch, internal linking changes, or a competitor taking a richer SERP result. If only clicks drop, the ranking may be hiding under a weaker title or meta description. If both impressions and position slip, the page is losing visibility, not just appeal.

Use page and query views together. A page-level drop tells you where to look; a query-level drop tells you which angle is failing. When the same decline appears across multiple related pages, check your topic cluster, not just one URL.

Catch the trend early, fix the weak layer, and you may recover before traffic makes the problem obvious.