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Possible reason Google rank drifts down slightly over time?

by lexilexi
5 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I've often read people saying that if a page is "neglected" i.e. not updated or with no fresh links added, that it will gradually "slide" down the Google ranking.

Some have concluded that this is because the big G likes fresh content - but there may be other reasons.

One is that if you have incoming links from blog comments, the "juice" sent to you from those pages can become more diluted as more comments get added. This of course is somewhat counterbalanced by the fact that the page hosting your incoming link may be acquiring greater authority / link juice of its own as time goes on.

Another possible reason of course is that competing pages may be acquiring greater numbers of links.
#drifts #google #rank #reason #slightly #time
  • Profile picture of the author Bertil Jenner
    I agree with all that you have said.

    Personally, I think that any potential sliding is caused by competitors improving their game. I see many niches where sites with unchanged content dominate the top 5 sites for years. I see this with my sites as well. This leads me to think that fresh content matters less than relevance and links.

    But people also forget that quite often, some of your ignored sites will also suddenly rise to the top rankings. I think this other phenomenon is caused by some of your incoming links "maturing".
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    • Profile picture of the author lexilexi
      Originally Posted by Bertil Jenner View Post

      I agree with all that you have said.

      Personally, I think that any potential sliding is caused by competitors improving their game. I see many niches where sites with unchanged content dominate the top 5 sites for years. I see this with my sites as well. This leads me to think that fresh content matters less than relevance and links.

      But people also forget that quite often, some of your ignored sites will also suddenly rise to the top rankings. I think this other phenomenon is caused by some of your incoming links "maturing".
      Agreed - I have seen the same phenom of sites continuing to dominate with unchanged content. I think visitor interest depends on the niche, and whether it is "evergreen content" or "news", which quickly becomes old news. I work in evergreen content. I don't even have a blog at the moment - I can't justify to myself writing posts that hardly anyone will see in a year's time.

      Do you think the links maturing is due to the "link age", or to the fact of other incoming links building to the pages that link to you?

      Another reason for drops in placement I just thought of - some people allow domains to expire and if they had links pointing to you, you lose that juice.
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  • Profile picture of the author Groovystar
    ...I have an ad for one of my sites, outranking my site itself for one of our main keywords--we are #10 it is #3 XD And the ad is a low quality video thrown up onto a video sharing site like a month ago XD Go figure!!

    There just is no way to know.
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  • Profile picture of the author jazbo
    If nobody else comes in and pushes you down the SERPs then you will stay there forever.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jacob Martus
      Originally Posted by jazbo View Post

      If nobody else comes in and pushes you down the SERPs then you will stay there forever.
      I wouldn't go that far. My understanding is that maintaining link velocity is important. So if you built 20 links per day (arbitrary figure) to your site everyday until it got #1 and then once you're there you stop building links, you will drop. At least in my experience. Once you hit #1, it's time to keep up with the link building in my experience.
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