Traffic dropped to nothing after Google's change to canonical URL... what can I do?

Hello SEO experts,

Please, forgive me for how naive my question that will sound to professionals

I've been blogging for 15 years. Traffic was always steady or increasing, but it dropped to almost nothing in August 2018. This aligns with the following:

"
Google Search Update
An event has occurred in Google Search that might affect your site's data."

And when I look up the event, I get to:

All metrics are now assigned to the Google-selected canonical URL of the page linked to in search results. This means that if a user clicks a search result with a URL that is non-canonical (for example, an AMP or a non-canonical mobile or desktop version), the canonical URL is credited with the impression and click rather than the non-canonical URL that actually appeared in search results. This change should make it easier to see search data for a single piece of content in a single property. You can learn more about this change in our blog post.

I'm struggling to understand what it means and how it affects me... and what I can do to "please Google".

Any advice? Explanation for dummies like me?

 

Why you waited this much long to tell?

 

Might be time for an updated website. Essentially canonical URLs are shortened or streamlined urls so Google knows which one to display in search engines, AND so it knows duplicate content might be for a reason. For instance:

www.domain.com
http://www.domain.com/home.php
http://m.domain.com/home.php

Code (markup):

I believe WP likely handles this on its own, but maybe needs newer themes or could be a result of your hosting or PHP (although I don't know for sure, sorry). It can messier and more relevant as the url gets longer, whether via a blog or ecommerce. (Target.com/shirts/mens/black/under$20/sale/results?)

 

Frankly, because I had other priorities and because I don't understand anything about SEO

 

My urls are pretty "clean", partially because it's handled by WO and because I make sure to use short, descriptive urls. For instance

www.domain.com/story-today.

Code (markup):

 

I am guessing this is your site which is in the signature link. It seems that you are having trouble with your SSL as well, the homepage isn't encrypted correctly.

 

While checking some analytics on my site, I saw the website also has a canonical url. Can someone tell me what this means and if it hurts my chance of ranking in the search engines.