Disappeared from 1 Google Keyword

[rckpapergrenade]

Hey guys, anyone got any advice or know what's going on...

I was ranking on page 2 for a keyword for a while, then just before the weekend I got to 9th position page 1 on google.com then the next day and as it still stands now I do not appear in the top at least 500 results at all for this keyword.

I still appear in all countries (as far as I can see) for every other keyword as I did before, it's just this one keyword I've been obliterated from.

I bought 1 link on a completely related site with this keyword as the link text. Surely this can't be why I'm wiped out? Or can it...

My sites traffic also rely on tumblr reblogs/retweets and facebook posts could massives of these caused me to be penalized for gaining backlinks too quickly? (All user generated, no spamming going on)

I have 3-4 sites that do the same thing (user reblogs, retweets etc) so surely if one site is penalized because of this the others would be too... after all one of the others probably has far more backlinks from this than the penalized one.

Baffled.

[NicolasSuccarieh]

In my experience, it may happen without any obvious reason. Wait 3 or 4 days to see if u appear again on google page 1 or 2 for the keyword.

[nicktyler]

Strange... To dissapear from just the 1 KW is weird. 1 link can have a dramatic effect on your rankings but It is evry unlikely and even more in this case from what you haev said.

The reblogs etc should not have affected your rankings negatively as you state they are natural and user generated so they should be having a positive effect. Also again to dissapear for 1 word???

Probably a temporary glitch. Give a week or 2 and you might come back even stronger.

[rckpapergrenade]

Thanks for the replies guys. I found it really strange too, just to disappear entirely from 1 term (my best term too).

I'll wait it out I guess. Bummer.

[nicktyler]

I have experienced this before. It's called the "Google dance" but never with 1 keyword. Maybe it is just a glitch or a very minor dance. Hopefully this is the case and it is not the start of a full bump and grind type dance (which is what I got, site gone for 2 weeks, no natural traffic, and then as if by magic, back again).

[ThereIsAlwaysHOPE]

I too experienced the dreaded Google dance. My list was still indexed but it wasn't rank for anything at all. Even the domain name. A week later it came back but it was nearly around the 100th position! (my site was original in the top 10).

A few weeks went by and say my site steadily regained its rankings and surprise, surprise, it ended up in the top 5!

Needless to say I was happy for it to have ended up in a better position!

I know it may be alarming, but try and sit it out for a few weeks and see what happens. Good luck!

[rckpapergrenade]

I check Google fairly often to see if I'm back and sometimes I see the site on page 2, sometimes I don't see it at all. Then I use a Google Position checker tool and it says I'm not in the top 300 or not anywhere in the results.

Hopefully I end up in a better position too AlwaysHOPE, that would make it ...worth it.

[vjslav]

Mine disappeared on June 7th, same symptoms as you, went to page 70+ for all of my keywords though. And it's dancing like crazy, sometimes page 75, 76, sometimes in the 50+, I really don't know what's up as my other sites don't experience this.

Still hoping that it will bounce back this month though.

[sgoerger]

I'd just chalk it up to the "google dance" too. Had you been engaging in any super-huge linkbuilding practices just before this happened? Sometimes this will kick the 'dance' into action....

Good thing is though, as others have said, the dance is usually followed by your rankings returning, and being even better than they had been previously. So good luck!

[vjslav]

Originally Posted by sgoerger

I'd just chalk it up to the "google dance" too. Had you been engaging in any super-huge linkbuilding practices just before this happened? Sometimes this will kick the 'dance' into action....

Good thing is though, as others have said, the dance is usually followed by your rankings returning, and being even better than they had been previously. So good luck!

I am constantly building backlinks, but I've never experience such a long dance, been almost month, maybe I am penalized? Do you know how to tell if I am?

[O0o0O]

Continue to build backlinks consistently. Also, try to diversify your backlink sources more and then you should pop back to the top.

[rckpapergrenade]

Uhh, I just found I have 184,646 back links on tumblr (Google Webmaster Tools says so), for the keyword I disappeared from. Is that a problem? It feels like a problem...

Coupled with the site being fairly new, I'd say I got those 184,646 links in about 2 months.

[otensilnoel]

I think I just got bite by the "google dance" bug too. My site completely gone for all the keywords I previously ranked for and I was on the top 10 for a bunch of them.