Unexplained Google Rankings Drop
- SEO |
Hi there.
I am experiencing a very difficult SEO related issue and am looking for some reliable feedback and help to resolve this issue.
I have been running an expansive senior care content/directory site for the last few years (Gilbert Guide). We have continued to increase our rankings and traffic from Google (traffic increased over 300% in the last 4 months alone) and other search engines, but Google has been the source for ~75% of our traffic. Our content is continually expanding each week and our directory of senior care providers nationwide also continues to get updated regularly.
A few weeks ago, our referral traffic from Google (all organic, never SEM) dropped through the floor. But we cannot find ANY explanation for it. We have contacted Google to ask if we have been penalized, but they can take up to 3 weeks to respond and will only say YES or NO and do not give any explanation as to why, if you have in fact been penalized.
These are some of the strange things we are seeing:
* In Google Webmaster tools, we are not shown as penalized
* Some pages of our site are still organically ranked but their rankings have decreased in position. But most of our search terms have dropped off the map and show no ranking anymore.
sundowners syndrome - was ranked 7, now not at all
supportive homecare - was ranked 4, now not at all
types of dementia - was ranked 11, now not at all
...and on, and on
* You can find our site by typing the domain into Google search and if you do site:gilbertguide.com, you can see that there are over 35K+ pages currently indexed.
* We do not have any spam on our site...all of our content is original (written by us). At least I can't seem to find anything that would be considered spam. We have no more than one ad served on any of our pages.
* We moved our site to a new hosting location a month ago but the domain never changed...only where the DNS points to.
* Our headers are clean and return a 200 (success) code
* All redirects are and have always been 301 redirects
* We modified our main site navigation 5 weeks ago but it has become much more targeted/keyword rich for the types of phrases and words we have been ranked for. Used to have a few CSS-based drop downs to consolidate some of the options.
* We used to have an SEO firm that bought external links on random blog sites but we stopped that effort back at the end of September/beginning of October. Maybe one or more of those sites are now considered "bad" by Google and we got hit by association. But I would think we would not see a hit this far down the road after discontinuing those link campaigns.
That is all I can think of. If you have any insights as to how we can troubleshoot this issue since Google provides zero feedback, it would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks.
Jason Gilbert
I am experiencing a very difficult SEO related issue and am looking for some reliable feedback and help to resolve this issue.
I have been running an expansive senior care content/directory site for the last few years (Gilbert Guide). We have continued to increase our rankings and traffic from Google (traffic increased over 300% in the last 4 months alone) and other search engines, but Google has been the source for ~75% of our traffic. Our content is continually expanding each week and our directory of senior care providers nationwide also continues to get updated regularly.
A few weeks ago, our referral traffic from Google (all organic, never SEM) dropped through the floor. But we cannot find ANY explanation for it. We have contacted Google to ask if we have been penalized, but they can take up to 3 weeks to respond and will only say YES or NO and do not give any explanation as to why, if you have in fact been penalized.
These are some of the strange things we are seeing:
* In Google Webmaster tools, we are not shown as penalized
* Some pages of our site are still organically ranked but their rankings have decreased in position. But most of our search terms have dropped off the map and show no ranking anymore.
sundowners syndrome - was ranked 7, now not at all
supportive homecare - was ranked 4, now not at all
types of dementia - was ranked 11, now not at all
...and on, and on
* You can find our site by typing the domain into Google search and if you do site:gilbertguide.com, you can see that there are over 35K+ pages currently indexed.
* We do not have any spam on our site...all of our content is original (written by us). At least I can't seem to find anything that would be considered spam. We have no more than one ad served on any of our pages.
* We moved our site to a new hosting location a month ago but the domain never changed...only where the DNS points to.
* Our headers are clean and return a 200 (success) code
* All redirects are and have always been 301 redirects
* We modified our main site navigation 5 weeks ago but it has become much more targeted/keyword rich for the types of phrases and words we have been ranked for. Used to have a few CSS-based drop downs to consolidate some of the options.
* We used to have an SEO firm that bought external links on random blog sites but we stopped that effort back at the end of September/beginning of October. Maybe one or more of those sites are now considered "bad" by Google and we got hit by association. But I would think we would not see a hit this far down the road after discontinuing those link campaigns.
That is all I can think of. If you have any insights as to how we can troubleshoot this issue since Google provides zero feedback, it would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks.
Jason Gilbert
* Get Results - Outsource Your PPC Management |
* Don Burk Advertising & Marketing - www.donburk.com
* Get Results - Outsource Your PPC Management |
* Don Burk Advertising & Marketing - www.donburk.com
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