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SEO - Google Dance on Steriods!

by RichKent
19 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hey guys/gals, I wanted to know if anyone else has experienced this and am curious if anyone knows the cause.

I have a site that's been doing the 'Google Dance' for almost a year now. It literally goes from #3 on the 1st page for it's target keyword, to somewhere on pages 5-10, and it does this in 3 to 4 day rotations.

In other words, day 1-4 the site is MIA, then on days 5-8 it's at #3 or sometimes #4 on page 1, then rinse and repeat.

This isn't just my search settings, I can verify it with traffic reports, click counts, everything. This happens whether I'm building links to it or not. Even if I leave it alone it keeps happening.

Clearly I'd like it to stay on the front page of google and stop dancing. This has been going on for a LONG time. Any ideas?
#dance #google #seo #steriods
  • Profile picture of the author Ken Durham
    I think you will notice a slowdown in this behavior as your site, as well as your backlinks, age. It seems to be about every 6 months that I see a noticeable difference.
    Just keep building quality backlinks and keep content fresh, the distance in jumps will decrease over time, though never end as long as competition exists.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jordan Kovats
    What kind of SEO work are you doing on the site (if any) and on what type of frequency? That may help us start diagnosing your challenge.
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    • Profile picture of the author RichKent
      Originally Posted by theseoguys View Post

      What kind of SEO work are you doing on the site (if any) and on what type of frequency? That may help us start diagnosing your challenge.
      Not much to be honest. I've thrown some links at it here and there - just checked and it has about 280 backlinks showing up total. The site has been live for over a year and it's been dancing the whole time...

      It's not one of my main sites, so I don't pay a lot of attention to it - but am wondering why it hasn't settled down like all my other sites. It's the only site I own that does this.

      Currently ranked #3 on page 1 of Google for its keyword. . . until tomorrow anyway.
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  • Profile picture of the author Matt Ward
    I have 2 new sites that do the exact same thing: high on page 1 for a few days, down to the bowels of Google for a few days. One of them was down to to ~#400 for over a month before it started doing this, so at least it's an improvement. It's rough starting out as a newbie with only brand new websites.

    I sure hope it doesn't last a year like yours is, though.
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  • Profile picture of the author jhonsean
    If you are curious Its not only the google dance that is normally happen in search engine but on how you implement your SEO in the site.
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    • Profile picture of the author RichKent
      Originally Posted by jhonsean View Post

      If you are curious Its not only the google dance that is normally happen in search engine but on how you implement your SEO in the site.
      I've implemented it pretty much the same as on my other sites . . . I guess I'll have to take a closer look, perhaps I'm missing something.
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      • Profile picture of the author scott g
        This is regarding a recent site of mine:

        Nov 27 the site was indexed, my site ranked about #190 for it's search term. I was building backlinks before I hosted the domain and am still building backlinks to this day. When the site was a week old it bounced to #80 and every couple of days would rotate from #140-160 to #60-80. Around Dec 27 I was at #150. on Dec 28th I was at #12

        For this particular term I usually sit at #9, but sometimes bounce to #30 and back, sometimes my site isn't even found for they keyword! But this is typical as I am still building a bunch of backlinks, so Google (and the other SERPs) are finding link to my site everyday. When I hit about the #4 spot I'll stop building so many links and let the site age :p

        DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY!
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        scott g
        "Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve."
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    • Profile picture of the author Bingo123
      I have 2 new sites at the moment jumping around. I suspect this is because they are both only a month old though.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dan B Rusu
    What kind of backlinks are you building? Any high pr ones, or the typical profile and social bookmarks?
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    • Profile picture of the author RichKent
      Originally Posted by Daniel7rusu View Post

      What kind of backlinks are you building? Any high pr ones, or the typical profile and social bookmarks?
      Mostly profile links and blog comments. I've built a few higher PR links as well - but those are tough to find.

      I've also linked from some of my own sites that have decent PR - like 2-3 range.
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  • Profile picture of the author JackPowers
    Is your domain exact match or keyword rich?
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    • Profile picture of the author RichKent
      Originally Posted by JackPowers View Post

      Is your domain exact match or keyword rich?
      Relatively exact match. Specifically: http://xxxKEYWORDreview.com

      Not exactly ideal, but I was still learning at the time...
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      • Profile picture of the author JackPowers
        Do you have duplicate content issues? Like your pages being found with and without www.? Or your frontpage being accessible as both Example Web Page, Example Web Page or Example Web Page.

        That could give problems if your site has links to all of them.

        Otherwise, perhaps it's simply a glitch in the matrix
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        • Profile picture of the author RichKent
          Originally Posted by JackPowers View Post

          Do you have duplicate content issues? Like your pages being found with and without www.? Or your frontpage being accessible as both Example Web Page, Example Web Page or Example Web Page.

          That could give problems if your site has links to all of them.

          Otherwise, perhaps it's simply a glitch in the matrix
          Actually, I think the www vs. non www may be the issue. I've tested that many times, and thought I fixed it, but just checked again and you can still access the site either way. It's a wordpress site, so shouldn't be happening. It doesn't happen on my other sites using the same setup/theme, so perhaps I need to reinstall it - or hardcode it in .htaccess

          Thanks!
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          • Profile picture of the author stitchlips
            Originally Posted by RichKent View Post

            Actually, I think the www vs. non www may be the issue. I've tested that many times, and thought I fixed it, but just checked again and you can still access the site either way. It's a wordpress site, so shouldn't be happening. It doesn't happen on my other sites using the same setup/theme, so perhaps I need to reinstall it - or hardcode it in .htaccess

            Thanks!
            Did this fix your problem? I have been seeing the same thing on some sites for a while now.
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  • Profile picture of the author seowar
    I think the new sites are more ''dancing'' in SERP.
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    • Profile picture of the author claycath
      Yep, the new ones are jumping a lot. My latest is a month old. Was steadily getting a better spot every day until it totally disappeared yesterday. I'm building links slowly and have 34 now; I'm adding content every 2-3 days and the posts have between 500-1200 words of original content. I guess it's the google dance.

      Although the OP's site is older.
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      • Profile picture of the author RichKent
        Originally Posted by claycath View Post

        Yep, the new ones are jumping a lot. My latest is a month old. Was steadily getting a better spot every day until it totally disappeared yesterday. I'm building links slowly and have 34 now; I'm adding content every 2-3 days and the posts have between 500-1200 words of original content. I guess it's the google dance.

        Although the OP's site is older.
        Yeah, I expect the new ones to dance - but my site is over a year old, has had links the whole time, has been indexed the whole time, and has had the same content the whole time - with a few additions here and there.

        This thread was to see if anyone else has had aged domains keep dancing, not so much for those who have new sites dancing.
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  • Profile picture of the author iloveseo
    The behavior is awkward if it is happening for the past 1 year because that's a huge time.I think you have not done enough to promote your website or else the dance would have stopped earlier.My advice is to get some quality backilnks to your site and continue doing that as long as the dance does not stops..but REMEMBER do not OVERDO it.
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