OMG! What have I done, Google page 1 to invisible?

[WhatTheFrenchToast]

I requesting some serious help from the SEO experts here at WF. I've read through several posts that have had a similar problem but none of them seem to fit my particular situation.

So here goes.

I have a site (PR3) that I've had up and running since 2000. I've not done much backlinking but over the years, we've managed to pickup <200 backlinks from various sites.

As of Oct.30, I was ranking on page one in position one for many targeted keywords. In fact, I was on page one for over 20 keywords and was receiving a decent amount of traffic from Google.

Using what I've been learning about IM for the past year, I decided to optimize my site a bit more. For example, I didn't have a sitemap so I created one and submitted it to Google. I submitted to the $299 Yahoo Directory.

My main site page seems (seemed) to be the only one that is ranking while only a couple of my inner pages rank at all. Anyways, I decided I would try to optimize a few inner pages for targeting specific keywords and to try to make my main site a little easier to navigate to get to the specific pages people might be looking for.

This is a case of "if it isn't broken, don't fix it". I changed my main page title from a bunch of keywords separated by commas to a few keywords separated by the "|" character. I added content on my main site above the content that was already there, with some links to buy my products (not affiliate products). I removed a bunch of flash from the top of the page that took forever to load and replaced it with a video...page loading much faster now.

Now here's where I think I got myself into trouble. I inadvertently deleted the Google verification code. 3 days go by and I recheck my rankings using Firefox Rank Checker Plugin and none of my keywords rank at all in Google. I still have many page 1, position 1 in Yahoo and Bing.

Needless to say, at this point I'm ill with worry. I go to the Google Webmaster's tools and check to see if the site if verified... it's not! So I add the verification code back into the main page (praying rankings will comeback.)

The other thing I did was to send an email to have my site reconsidered, explaining that I accidentally deleted the verification code...no response from Google.

I've also created 3 other WP Blogs on separate IPs with the intention of posting content there linking back to my main site specific pages but at this point, I have not done that.

I also have a /blog on my root domain installed but have not really started to work on it...got the permalink structure done and installed seo pack and some other plugins but have not put much effort into it yet. I think there's maybe 1 post.

When I discovered Google Webmaster Tools, I started really looking at my site...found there were some 404 errors that I quickly corrected and generally tried to delete unused pages of my site. These were pages I would use for testing...for example, if I was going to work on a new index page of my site, I would name it something like "indextest.htm". I had several of these types of pages for various pages of my site that weren't used so I deleted those.

Another thing, I'm using a template that I really like. The template is well optimized for SEO (as evidenced by my previous rankings) but it is CSS based. I know Jack about CSS so I simply used FrontPage to create the content on my pages and used the wysiwyg editor in FrontPage. I understand that this defeats the purpose of using CSS but it seemed like there wasn't a problem.

Anyways, I started to convert some of the content on the main page to H1 tags instead of just making the text bigger using <font> tags...figuring it can't hurt.

That's basically all I did and now my page1, pos1 rankings are gone! All except 1 keyword that I still ranks page 1, pos 1 for. A few other keywords are in page 2 and a couple others are buried in page 3 and beyond but most of the keywords I was at least ranking for are showing no positions in Google at all now.

I broke my site! Help! Expert Warriors from around the globe..what the heck did I do?

My site is still indexed...still has good Yahoo and Bing rankings but in the last week has not really come back in Google.

I've heard of people making some changes to their site and losing rankings for a short period of time...is this what this is? Or did I completely shoot myself in the foot by deleting the Google verification code from the site for 3 days? Did I bring unwanted attention to my site by Google and now they've removed my rankings because I don't have a billion backlinks?

I'm losing sleep, feeling like and idiot and am really looking for someone that knows about these matters.

I've never done any black hat methods of driving traffic. I don't link to unscrupulous sites, have any kind of linkwheel setup or anything like that. I am considering purchasing Senuke to start building backlinks to inner pages but at this point I'm freaking out a bit.

I'm also considering a whole new website design on a WordPress backbone so I can optimize all internal pages easier but I'm not sure which way to go.

Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated. I've read that people shouldn't post their domain here but I will provide the info to someone that may be able to shed light on the problem.

I read a post here recently in which WF member "Crew Chief" had some excellent advice for someone that had a similar issue though it didn't really apply to my situation.

Am I in the sandbox? Is this a Google dance? Have I been penalized? Or did I really f something up. Thank you in advance fellow Warriors!

[dburk]

Hi WhatTheFrenchToast,

Sounds like you made a lot of changes all at once. The problem in doing that is it makes it a little more difficult to determine which thing or things have resulted in your ranking change.

First I would ask if you have changed file names or directory structure in any way. If so, you may have lost the benefit of many of your backlinks.

You mentioned that you change your page titles. That can definitely have a big impact on rankings, up or down, depending on how well you wrote it.

Without the benefit of seeing the actual pages including your backup of the old version, we can only make guesses. Can you supply a link, preferably one each to the old and new pages?

[sherry_d]

Just to tell you I am in the same boat as you and have really started not to worry too much about it (hard I know) for now I have resorted to checking my rankings of friday.

My site was doing fairly well too and I had neglected it for a wee bit. Around the 22nd of October I started adding fresh content and building backlinks and bamn it drops out of google save for a page a two....

I have decided to continue with backlinking and I am adding 5 to 10 new post weekly to keep it fresh and really thats all we can do and wait. I now have new found love...seo and backlinks...and just build those backlinks and your site should bounce back...how long that will take, no one will ever know.

I did the reinclusion request too but to be honest its not relevant if your posts are still getting indexed...All i got on the 6th of november was reinclusion request was looked at and if my site is still having problems I should refer to some guide on google. The best part I have taken from this is even with decent ranking a site need continous love otherwise it could drop off at anytime

[WhatTheFrenchToast]

Thanks for taking a look Don.
I'm considering taking a fresh index page from the original template and installing the content.

I did a w3c markup validation and both the old and new index pages have problems. (though they didn't seem to be affecting rankings 2 weeks ago)

What do you think would be best?

I sent you a pm with the pages.
Thanks

[WhatTheFrenchToast]

The best part I have taken from this is even with decent ranking a site need continous love otherwise it could drop off at anytime

Glad to know I'm not alone. Interestingly, I have not actively built backlinks to this site...ever. The rankings were truly organic I guess. I have backlinks from several places (<200) but I've never made a concerted effort to add backlinks of any kind.

Maybe the attention I brought to the site made Google reconsider my rankings? I'm checking my rankings daily now to see if there is any changes. I just bought the pro version of Traffic Travis...looks really easy to use.

Jeez the WF is full of great info and really great people.

Thanks again. It's comforting to know I'm not all alone.

[WhatTheFrenchToast]

I guess I should also mention I installed google analytics on several pages.

[sherry_d]

Originally Posted by WhatTheFrenchToast

I'm checking my rankings daily now to see if there is any changes. I just bought the pro version of Traffic Travis...looks really easy to use.

I am in rehab from my previous addiction of checking rankings and all things related every second...Be careful with that as it can damage your morale on working on the site...ermm when I started working on the site, my traffic started getting less and less everyday and everyone kept telling me to keep at it....Looking at my rankings was the most demoralising thing and now I have resorted to checking it once a week. Its great to check rankings daily but what would you do if days turns into weeks and then months in the doldrums...I know what I would do, moan about google and neglect the site...have done it in my yester years...

[turbohips]

WOW that's awesome to hear that you're trying to improve things on the site but sucks to hear what has happened.

First, W3C validation really only pertains to Bing and not Yahoo or Google so no real need to worry there.
Next, you said you played around with your keywords, title description, probably meta description, header tags etc. Make sure you know what you are doing first before changing such things. I personally have never noticed any difference from using a plain old comma instead of a | to separate the keywords so I stick to the trusted and tried comma. As for the header tags, don't use too many as this will confuse the crawlers. It should only be for real titles/keywords.
Next, if you are still using a program that hasn't been updated in like 10 years (Frontpage) stop using it immediately!!!! I learned how to do CSS in one day by searching the internet. It is very easy to do and once learned you'll love using Adobe Dreamweaver. You'll see why as soon as you try it. You've most likely killed your coding with Frontpage. Not to worry as this shouldn't affect your rankings that badly.
Next, because you've added blogs, back links, etc. it could be a simple deal with Google trying to place your site accordingly with all of this new information.
Next, you said you added a bunch of fresh content to your site. Did you ever consider doing so will affect your keyword density? This might be a reason why your site is now dancing like crazy. Try to keep your density level around 5-6% and you'll be safe.
Next, as for your 404 redirect page this is really awesome that you fixed this and you shouldn't be reporting any more errors from web master's tools. Also taking down the junk pages and updating your site map will help you get out of your dance with Google. Also make sure all webmaster tool deals on each search engine is updated not just Google. Bing and Yahoo have them too.
Next, in the past I've contacted Google only to receive some automated bull response that didn't help at all. Your best bet is to correct these errors and move on to getting your site found again. I would suggest heavy linking from blogs, bookmarking and continued link building efforts. Blogs being the most important as they seem to get your site noticed the fastest.
Good luck with your efforts and if you think this response was a good one hit the thanks button.

[WhatTheFrenchToast]

Thanks Turbo,
I think what I'm going to do is to switch the main page back to what is was before and pray to the Google powers that my rankings are miraculously restored. Also, I'll d start rebuilding my whole site at www2.domain.com with dreamweaver.

I have DW but am not super familiar with it...I understand what css is but have no clue how to use it...time to search youtube I guess Or hire an outsourcer to do it.

Then I'll start the link buidling process...sheesh, I should have left well enough alone!

Thanks again.

[LilBlackDress]

"The other thing I did was to send an email to have my site reconsidered, explaining that I accidentally deleted the verification code...no response from Google."

I have a lot of sites that I have not verified with Google and it has not made any difference. Not everyone signs up for Google webmaster tools.

[kkchoon]

Originally Posted by WhatTheFrenchToast

Thanks Turbo,
I think what I'm going to do is to switch the main page back to what is was before and pray to the Google powers that my rankings are miraculously restored. Also, I'll d start rebuilding my whole site at www2.domain.com with dreamweaver.

I have DW but am not super familiar with it...I understand what css is but have no clue how to use it...time to search youtube I guess Or hire an outsourcer to do it.

Then I'll start the link buidling process...sheesh, I should have left well enough alone!

Thanks again.

Improving on page some time can be very annoying and causing you lost your ranking temporary.

If you change the URL, remember to do 301 redirect to your proper page or your link juice might gone!

Since your site is now dropped, mind as well just redesign it, fix the broken links and redirect whatever you deleted.

After fixing / renovating your site, continue to backlinks, push it further up!

Just get high domain PR backlinks to your site, and Don might not be agreeing this, to be safe for Don advice, get High Domain PR and relevant links to your site.

Don should be able to help you find authority sites that relate to your niche

Originally Posted by dburk

Hi WhatTheFrenchToast,

You mentioned that you change your page titles. That can definitely have a big impact on rankings, up or down, depending on how well you wrote it.

Without the benefit of seeing the actual pages including your backup of the old version, we can only make guesses. Can you supply a link, preferably one each to the old and new pages?

Sometimes if you have enough backlinks, even changing the title won't affect much, of course it must not be unrelated to your original topic, or you really need massive links to still stay for that keyword...

[TommyBoy]

Roughly the same thing happened to me. Google is just plain evil.

[steveniam]

Not to worry. Let Google dance for a while and I believe it will be back to normal in a few days time.

One of my site in the weight loss niche which has been ranking 4 to 9 on various keyphrases suddenly disappear last week for about 5 days after I activated a new plugin. My traffic plunge by at least 60 percent.

Yesterday I discover it is back to normal.

[kkchoon]

Originally Posted by TommyBoy

Roughly the same thing happened to me. Google is just plain evil.

Haha... not so serious

Google is not evil at all, but they constantly improve their algorithm to serve the user better, and they don't care about your page, you must know what Google want and give it to them!

Google love unique content, and they prefer useful information over duplicated stuff on their result.

This is not to say that it won't rank for duplicate content, Google still heavily rely on backlinks to rank for duplicated content.

If this continues to crowd Google result with duplicated content, they will change the algorithm to more user friendly result.

Google is not hard to please, just need to know the rules of the game

Originally Posted by steveniam

Not to worry. Let Google dance for a while and I believe it will be back to normal in a few days time.

One of my site in the weight loss niche which has been ranking 4 to 9 on various keyphrases suddenly disappear last week for about 5 days after I activated a new plugin. My traffic plunge by at least 60 percent.

Yesterday I discover it is back to normal.

Yes, usually Google will adjust their ranking base on few factors:

1. Renew algorithm
2. Spike of links to your site with or without you knowing it
3. Your site has some serious on page problem, check the webmaster tool.
4. Don't post same content on your site twice or more, definitely "piss off" Google

If you check your webmaster tool and everything seems ok, just relax and continue your work, it will be back!

Kok Choon

[Bishop81]

It should come back just fine. A friend's site did the same thing, dropped for about 3 weeks and then came back to the same position. Just keep doing the normal stuff to it and you should be fine, eventually. It's hard to say how long it will take, though.

[KristofferW]

You are not the only one having this happen right now. I was ranked 2nd to 9th on 3 keywords, now I'm not on the first page for any of them, even if my page rank has gone from 0 to 4 in two months time. (and only one of my competing sites has as high a PR as me)

if anyone can explain this ranking, I would love it. All I can think is "it's temporary, get over it". What do you all think?
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/4547/rankwe.png

[sashagrey]

looks like a weak category with a lot of authority sites filling in the space due to a lack of competition.

Keep doing what you've been doing and you should bounce back.

[WhatTheFrenchToast]

Thanks for the encouragement everyone...in a panic, I've switched the site back to the original content and title. I'll hope the rankings come back and start building some inner page links and rankings by backlinking etc.

Terry Kyle's WSO looks very interesting and I think I'm going to pick it up and get my head around it...then outsource the busy work!

[Jayson L]

One mistake I recently made was to post the same content twice on my site. I had something that one of my carriers didn't approve of on my homepage and was in a big hurry to make them happy again. I was in such a hurry, that I didn't realize the content that I used to replace the old was already on my site. The new content shot my rankings up for about a week, then the next cache it went to nowhere. It will come back ( I hope ) Google sure frowns on duplicate content on the same site thats for sure My bad. I guess they are punishing me for a few days.

[learningstuff]

Originally Posted by WhatTheFrenchToast

This is a case of "if it isn't broken, don't fix it". I changed my main page title from a bunch of keywords separated by commas to a few keywords separated by the "|" character. I added content on my main site above the content that was already there, with some links to buy my products (not affiliate products). I removed a bunch of flash from the top of the page that took forever to load and replaced it with a video...page loading much faster now.

This is your problem. Nothing else you did should have affected you like this. You removed a bunch of keywords from your title on the main page. What were you thinking??? And adding content above what you already had, might also have affected things.