Recent Google changes?

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10
My site has been doing very well in recent months. However, after updating our main page about three weeks ago (it hadn't been touched for several months) it immediately wobbled and then dropped in rankings while a couple of competitors went up. It used to have a Moz score in the 70s, multiple H1 tags and all kinds of other SEO technical fails. We updated it so that both Yoast and Moz love it and we're using the same optimisations that have served us well in 100 other posts. (Moz says there might be keyword stuffing but it always seems to say that no matter how much I reduce mentions - there are fewer mentions than there were before anyway).

Did something happen with Google? I see that there were some major Core test changes happening around then but it seems weird that this would be the exact same time as we optimised this page.

I've spent the past two weeks A/B testing and I cannot believe it's content related.
#search engine optimization #google #recent
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  • Over the past several days, especially around January 5 and 6 and January 9, the SEO community within the various online forums and social media were discussing ranking changes -- both positive and negative ranking changes. While their clients might rank in position number two on a specific day, the next day, they may have dropped to position 12 or bumped up to position 1.

    Most, but not all, third-party tracking tools that monitor Google search results have shown significant volatility around the dates.
    Google will continue to make changes. New competitions pop up all the time, new content is added constantly. You can't just sit back and wait, you need to continue to improve your site.
    • [1] reply
    • Thanks. What really grates is that this was the result after the final major batch of ongoing optimisations.
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  • I would suggest to wait for a while since google usually does that to check websites if they are actually worth pushing up or not.

    And if you think you did a good job and visitors love your website then you will be pushed to top position again.
    • [1] reply
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    • Really? I hope you're right!
      Would the fact that the company that was just in front of us (we were P5) being moved to Position 1 at the exact same time be part of that? As in Google's testing the top order? Because we dropped to P6.
  • No one but Google knows what is going on at Google. How they rank websites is a trade secret, even though most of us know SOME of the factors they use.

    My rankings have changed consistently for 7 years. I'll get huge momentum and growth, and then Google kicks me in the groin and halts my growth. As an example, my traffic was down 70% on BOTH of my high traffic websites from July to December 2018, and compared to January to June 2018.

    Why? Who the heck knows.

    Now, they are climbing back up again.

    My biggest takeaway is to never be DEPENDENT on one traffic source. Yes, free traffic from the search engines is nice, but if your entire business revolves around it, you are just one Google update away from being out of business.

    Just my two cents.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Google's John Mueller is the go-to guy for information about changes in their algorithms and other tips and helpful information. You can do a Google search for him or follow him on Twitter. I get his latest comments by subscribing to SEOProfiler's newsletter. Other well-known SEO expert sites share his comments as well.
  • All my rankings for my main site tanked around the same time. They stayed there for a while now they are climbing back up and looks like they are going higher than before. Just wait it out and don't go crazy with changes to your site until you give it at least a month or two. Sometimes I feel like Google does this just to see what the response will be. I always do nothing and my rankings return. Only after the dust settles to I even think about making changes to the site.
  • Google changed many things and still, Google is changing but the point is how quickly Google make changes.

    People could not understand the things and Google comes with another update.
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    Recent Google changes?

    My site has been doing very well in recent months. However, after updating our main page about three weeks ago (it hadn't been touched for several months) it immediately wobbled and then dropped in rankings while a couple of competitors went up. It used to have a Moz score in the 70s, multiple H1 tags and all kinds of other SEO technical fails. We updated it so that both Yoast and Moz love it and we're using the same optimisations that have served us well in 100 other posts. (Moz says there might be keyword stuffing but it always seems to say that no matter how much I reduce mentions - there are fewer mentions than there were before anyway). Did something happen with Google? I see that there were some major Core test changes happening around then but it seems weird that this would be the exact same time as we optimised this page.