Will I Loose My No.1 Google Ranking?

[Pete223]

Hi All,

I've been ranking no.1 in Google (+/- 6 months) for the keyphrase "XXXX Review"
for a popular product. When I first wrote the review, the landing pages I was
sending my traffic to had specific videos which are no longer there... it's a more
"generic" sales page type deal...

I've been wanting to change my review because my visitors probably expect to
see these videos (which I do talk about in the review) but I don't want to loose
my no.1 ranking...

So, with that said...

Can I change the page copy if I don't touch, the file name, the target keywords (with
+/- same density), the title (it's on a blog) and expect to keep my no.1 ranking?

I just want to edit the text to reflect the landing page changes.

Your Thoughts...

Regards, Pete

[Jerry Mcvictor]

Very smart of you to ask this!

Definitely don't touch the title. If you do minor changes to the page copy you might loose your #1 spot for a while but if the changes don't alter the keyword density and relevancy you should be able to re-gain your top spot fairly quickly. You might not even loose it but I expect you'll see a temporary drop though.

[Pete223]

Originally Posted by johan

Very smart of you to ask this!

Definitely don't touch the title. If you do minor changes to the page copy you might loose your #1 spot for a while but if the changes don't alter the keyword density and relevancy you should be able to re-gain your top spot fairly quickly. You might not even loose it but I expect you'll see a temporary drop though.

Hi Johan, thanks for the response.

I would think the relevancy would be better as I wouldn't be talking about videos that are
not on the landing page anymore... but I'm still very hesitant, as I get hits to it every day
and still see some conversions...

Would I be better off creating another "updated" review post and linking them together?

Regards, Pete

[Jerry Mcvictor]

Why not add an "update" at the bottom of the blog post. Having two posts, one outdated, doesn't seem a good idea to me. But if the changes are minor you can probably just do the edits in the page copy. Even if you drop a few spots it should be fairly easy to get to #1 again.

[tiger325]

change nothing...just keep the backlinks coming in from forum posting, articles, blogs and even ppc

[Pete223]

Originally Posted by johan

Why not add an "update" at the bottom of the blog post. Having two posts, one outdated, doesn't seem a good idea to me. But if the changes are minor you can probably just do the edits in the page copy. Even if you drop a few spots it should be fairly easy to get to #1 again.

I agree, this makes more sense!

Originally Posted by tiger325

change nothing...just keep the backlinks coming in from forum posting, articles, blogs and even ppc

I realized the landing page had changed almost 3 months ago... and I was expecting my
no.1 ranking to disappear but it hasn't... and I didn't do anything, just kept what I had
written originally.

But lately, I seemed to have a drop in conversions and that's what got me thinking that
maybe people getting to the sales page from my review are not getting what
they expected and just keep searching for their answer...

I like Johan's "update" idea at the bottom of the post, I think I'll try that!

Thanks guys!

Regards, Pete

[aboutalhah]

It depends. You need to know that Google may "eject" you from your first position at anytime... even if you don't change anything.

on the other hands, Google like fresh, updated content.

I was on the first page for the keyword affiliate marketing for more than one year, and now, I'm on page two.

Bottom line do not let Google dictate you your monthly income, diversication is the key.

Franck.

[Pete223]

Originally Posted by aboutalhah

It depends. You need to know that Google may "eject" you from your first position at anytime... even if you don't change anything.

on the other hands, Google like fresh, updated content.

I was on the first page for the keyword affiliate marketing for more than one year, and now, I'm on page two.

Bottom line do not let Google dictate you your monthly income, diversication is the key.

Franck.

Hi Franck, thanks for responding...

I understand, and actually didn't think of staying up there that long as I did nothing
to "help" my position, I just don't want to be the one "forcing" myself to the last page !

Regards, Pete

[cktan]

I think simply adding/editing some contents in it won't hurt your ranking (provided you didn't change your title tag). In fact, I do this all the time to some of my sites/pages in order to get better conversion and I didn't see any bad effects on the ranking.

Just keep in mind that SEO is an ongoing process.