Is Google Dancing With Me?

[Joe Pace]

I just have a basic question about one of my pages that I have been trying to rank for a very competitive term...

Some quick background on this page:

It got indexed last August, so it is almost exactly a year old.

It has some pretty powerful links from guest posts I did in this niche, along with the usual backlinking methods: article marketing, blog commenting, a little profile backlinking (which I really dislike, so I stopped doing way back in Nov).

I built steady backlinks starting after the page was about a month old, and eventually stopped building any backlinks about February (got busy with other projects)

So I haven't built any backlinks for about 4-5 months. I went to check on my ranking last week and I was on page 3 (spot 26), which was a nice surprise, as I was usually hovering much lower than that for months. I was going to start building backlinks again and really focus on getting this page into a top 3 ranking... but...

I went to check it again today and my page is nowhere to be found, I'm talking nowhere within the top 30 pages...

I can't see how it is a Google dance since I haven't been building any links for the last few months...

Does anyone have any ideas what happened here?

[PhilipSEO]

It's prerfectly normal for Google rankings to fluctuate, and your ranking will probably return before long (it may take a couple of weeks). Rankings tend to stabilize as you get more links, though even then you are not immune. For best results, link development needs to be an on-going process, otherwise your link power tends to diminish (links get deleted, blog posts move from the high PR home page deeper into the site, etc.).

[derekjansen]

Agreed - Just keep on building links. And do it on a consistent and committed basis.

Rankings will fluctuate, but building more good links will minimize the "dancing" and ultimately move you (which I would assume is what you want )

Hope that helps!

[Digital Traffic]

I'm experiencing the same thing.

I have a web site I've been working on hard since I joined this forum.

It started somewhere around position 700 I think.

I first noticed a difference when it started to hit in the page 5 range. Then it began a slow steady crawl up the rankings.

Now here is the dance part, this all has happened in the last 45 days give or take.

It started at page 2 position #13 for 3 days then disappeared for 10 days or so,

then returned at page 2 position #11 for 2 or 3 days, then again gone for a few days to a week,

then page 1 position #10 for a day, then gone again for 13 days,

then page 1 position #6 for 2 days, then again it disappeared for about 5 days,

then page 1 position #4 for 1 day, then again disappeared for a week or so,

then page 1 position #3 for 1 day,

it has now been gone for 5 days and I'm curious as to which position it will return to this time.

This is the dance as I have been experiencing it.

I do enjoy the traffic I have been getting, even if it is only for the day.

[Joe Pace]

Thx for the reply Phillip and Derek...

I have a pretty good grasp of SEO and have had success with my other projects and have seen the Google dance with my sites before... but it was while I was building links.

However, I am just confused in this instance why my page disappeared, when I wasn't building links for several months. I would of thought this page would of somewhat stabilized. I could see if I started to build links again, but I didn't...

I dont understand how it climbed so high... then dropped off... I thought massive fluctuations like this occurred when you were building links continuously?

[PhilipSEO]

@Digital Traffic: you get my thanks for sharing your data. Yes, this patten is often noticed: the site comes up a bit stronger once it comes out of the filter. In general I would say it's a healthy pattern. If you retain your high rankings, they will eventually stabilize with more links. But your CTR also plays a role. For example, if you shoot up high but searchers are not clicking on your link in the SERP, you are likely to drop. (That's another reason why the page title and great page content/description are extremely important -- Google may choose not to display your description in the results but pull snippets out of your page content instead).

[PhilipSEO]

Originally Posted by Joe Pace

Thx for the reply Phillip and Derek...

You are very welcome (but that's what the Thanks button is for!).

I have a pretty good grasp of SEO and have had success with my other projects and have seen the Google dance with my sites before... but it was while I was building links.

However, I am just confused in this instance why my page disappeared, when I wasn't building links for several months. I would of thought this page would of somewhat stabilized. I could see if I started to build links again, but I didn't...

I dont understand how it climbed so high... then dropped off... I thought massive fluctuations like this occurred when you were building links continuously?

No, it's not only connected with links. It has to do with user behavior (such as clickthrough) and with the updating of Google's numerous servers and datacenters and with crawl cycles and other things we may never find out about. You hang around Google long enough, ou develop a feel for its rhythms. Google is like an ocean, SEO is like oceanology.

[sousen]

But more and more link for the page and it's need to do regular basic if you need to be stable your rank higher

[joshgreen]

This is a google dance.It always happens with my sites,so dont worry.Keep building links.Make sure you dont do any onpage seo during this google dance or you may get sandboxed for a very long time.

[PhilipSEO]

Originally Posted by joshgreen

Make sure you dont do any onpage seo during this google dance or you may get sandboxed for a very long time.

This is nonsense and bad advice.

[Digital Traffic]

Just wanted to update this thread in case anybody was following.

My site that has been dancing came back to the first page of Google again today, it has been 29 days since it dropped from the first page.

I couldn't even find it in the top 1000 search results, then today, back to page 1 position 5.

I'll update with how long it stays this time.

Originally Posted by Digital Traffic

I'm experiencing the same thing.

I have a web site I've been working on hard since I joined this forum.

It started somewhere around position 700 I think.

I first noticed a difference when it started to hit in the page 5 range. Then it began a slow steady crawl up the rankings.

Now here is the dance part, this all has happened in the last 45 days give or take.

It started at page 2 position #13 for 3 days then disappeared for 10 days or so,

then returned at page 2 position #11 for 2 or 3 days, then again gone for a few days to a week,

then page 1 position #10 for a day, then gone again for 13 days,

then page 1 position #6 for 2 days, then again it disappeared for about 5 days,

then page 1 position #4 for 1 day, then again disappeared for a week or so,

then page 1 position #3 for 1 day,

it has now been gone for 5 days and I'm curious as to which position it will return to this time.

This is the dance as I have been experiencing it.

I do enjoy the traffic I have been getting, even if it is only for the day.

[talbrice]

Originally Posted by Digital Traffic

Just wanted to update this thread in case anybody was following.

My site that has been dancing came back to the first page of Google again today, it has been 29 days since it dropped from the first page.

I couldn't even find it in the top 1000 search results, then today, back to page 1 position 5.

I'll update with how long it stays this time.

Thanks for the update.
I have a question, during this 29 days your site was dropped, had you keep building a backlinks/made any on-page optimization or you just waited for it to appear again on the 1st page?
had you get any traffic those 29 days?

[Digital Traffic]

Yes, I have been adding backlinks to this site everyday since March I believe.

It gets Social Bookmarked everyday and I submit it to 25 directories at least once every two weeks. Plus forum profiles, blog postings, and article marketing.

I was never in the top 1000 on Google for the entire 29 days for this web site, I did however receive some traffic from google, maybe 13 hits a day from the long tail keyword pages on the site, the balance of traffic came from Yahoo and Bing.

I did add three pages to the site, and I rewrote the text on two others.

I was going to change my meta description to make it a little more keyword rich, but I wanted to wait until it came back, if at all. Now that I have a little more experience writing text copy and building pages, I can see just how lame my first pages were, both in on page optimization and keyword usage.

Now I'm going to add H2, H3 Header Tags to the home page, the keywords are already there I'm just going to make them header tagged as well, and add a video to the web site.

This web site is in the insurance field, so it pays well, but it's awful hard to get them to rank.

I have several other noninsurance domains that are on the 1st page of Google and are much easier to rank for, but this was my very first web site, so I just keep working at it.

[Digital Traffic]

Ok,

48 hours at page 1 number 4, now gone again.

Let's see when it returns this time.

I wanted to add that the first day it was at number five below a video, then the next day it was at number four above the video.

[Digital Traffic]

Update

48 hours later

Back on page 1 position 5

[PhilipSEO]

Originally Posted by Digital Traffic

Update

48 hours later

Back on page 1 position 5

And what did I say?

[taffcasinofuller2010]

Yes only updated and continues new and fresh google like to index and it loves to crawl new ideas something new that wasn't the same from your old. From their the more you update it the greater chances you could get up from other sites.

[mattlaclear]

When you're only running a campaigns on a couple of keywords it's easy as heck to panic when your site disappears from the serps. Especially if you're checking your rankings every day. Glad it all worked out quickly for you!

[Digital Traffic]

Update

48 hours later

It has disappeared from the top 1000 again.

I will update when it comes back.

Normally, I don't watch my sites everyday, but I thought it would be nice to see someone document an actual google dance for those who wonder how the process works.

[talbrice]

Originally Posted by Digital Traffic

Update

48 hours later

It has disappeared from the top 1000 again.

I will update when it comes back.

Normally, I don't watch my sites everyday, but I thought it would be nice to see someone document an actual google dance for those who wonder how the process works.

Thanks a lot for updating.
It's very interesting because I'm going through the same process with my site.
Keep up the good work!

[socialbookmark]

Your case is exactly Google dance dance. You should make a little backlinks for your website again as maybe some of your links deleted or removed. But don't be worry at all about it. Its a normal problem and many webmasters face this problem.

[rubyseo]

Anyone can tell me,when scheduling execution of google dancing ? everyday or weekly ?

[Digital Traffic]

Update

Today the web site came back to page 1 position 5

This time it was 13 days before it returned.

All I did during the 13 days this time was some social bookmarking.

Waiting to add the video I had made, and then to redo the H1 H2 H3 H4 tags.

I hope it stays for longer than 48 hours this time.

[seoforu]

The strategy should be "Build links on a consistent basis and increase it month by month".

[Digital Traffic]

Update

Well, this time it lasted 5 days at page 1 position #5.

It is now gone from the top 1000 again.

This time I spent 16 hours rebuilding every page, deleted some pages that had little content, but were built for adding future articles.

Rewrote the meta descriptions and meta title to make them more keyword rich.

I added a video to the web site. Created H1, H2, and H3 tags.

I also bolded, italicized each H1 keyword that appears is the first sentence or paragraph of every page.

Still continue to do the usual backlinking.

Will post again when it returns.

[TG2011]

Your site will eventually stabalize, I wouldn't worry too much.

[talbrice]

Originally Posted by TG2011

Your site will eventually stabalize, I wouldn't worry too much.

I hope you right...but when?
I'm also suffering from this "dance" for almost 3 months....goes on and off and doesn't stabilized...
The only thing that cheers me up is when is go back on it go back stronger (better position).

[mayorlan]

I am experiencing the same thing here.A month old site jump to no 41 the next week after indexing with 27 links,it begin dancing arount no 39 to 60 for 2 weeks and now in no 140 sometimes and even disappearing competely another time.But is this all normal for all new sites if I may ask.

[jhonsean]

In general it is usually happen mostly in SEO, it will takes time to google indexing the sites this will generate an update that will surely reflects your page rankings.

[Fun to Write]

Google dances with all of us with websites at some point.

Google can be a fickle dance partner at times.

ha...ha...I couldn't resist.

[robertransey]

Google page rating keeps on changing state. It alters for some time but as you start earning more incoming links it will place your site on a higher place.

[Digital Traffic]

Update

Site came back last night.

Page one position #6

This time the site was gone for 34 days.

Did nothing over these 30 days other than social bookmarking daily.

Wanted to give the new makeover a chance to settle. I did do one article distribution two days ago that will be drip fed over 300 blogs at the rate of 25 posts per week.

Lets see how long it stays at page one this time.

[Digital Traffic]

Update

Well, this time it lasted 2 days on page one position #6.

Gone again, I will update when it returns.

[Digital Traffic]

Update

Site came back today.

Page one position #6.

10 days since it last dropped from the top 1000.

[Digital Traffic]

Update

Lasted 2 days again on page one #6 this time.

You would think by now that this process would have run it's course.

Oh well.

Will post again when it returns.

[Eyetrap]

@Digital Traffic
I have 6 sites that dance around just as your site does, but all 6 dance AT THE EXACT SAME TIME. That's right, they all go up or down at the same time. Although last week I had 1 site at page 1 position #5 on google and the other 5 sites on pages 4+. Then, on Monday and Tuesday of this week the one site that was on page 1 #5 dropped to page 10 and all the other 5 sites shot to the top 5 spots in google, but for only for two days. Now all 6 sites are on pages 4+

They're all about 3 months old, all different niches. When they're on top they're all within the top 5 spots on google, but then they drop to pages 4+++.

Very frustrating and I don't understand why they all go up or down at the same time, same day. They're all hosted on same server, in google analytics too.

[FamilyFrugal]

This has been fascinating. I hope you continue to update us.

[mkpoway]

Excellent thread, I have thanked you.

Quick question: why don't you like profile backlinking?

Thanks!

[Digital Traffic]

Update

Web site came back to page one position #6 on 11-16.

Only gone for 7 days this time, it stayed there for 5 days, then vanished again.

One of my long tail keywords for the site occupied the positions #1 #2 and #3 on page one of google this time as well.

It feels like the site may be starting to reach it's regular place in google soon. This time when it disapeared on 11-21, it came back 3 days later on the 24th, then stayed for 3 days until it disapeared on the 27th.

Hasn't been back yet since the 27th.

I will update when it does.

I still do the social bookmaring of the site everyday, and now I'm going to restart the article marketing and signature links again next week as I haven't done any of that for better than a month or so now.