Sudden Drop In Rankings!

26 replies
  • SEO
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Hey guys,

I had a site which had been sitting in position 3 for it's main keyphrase for the last week or so. Previously it had been around the lower ends of page 1. However upon checking today my site has all of a sudden dropped to number 38!

The strange thing is I haven't done anything different to the backlinking efforts and the content remains the same. I'm wondering if this is a temporary thing or if there is no way of possibly knowing at the moment?

Thanks,

Craig
#drop #rankings #sudden
  • Profile picture of the author BarryOnline
    How old is the site?

    How long ago did you build links to the site?
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  • Profile picture of the author nmb
    There seems to be some movement on rankings over the last few days - maybe just the tail end of the last Google update?
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  • Profile picture of the author Craigb182
    The site is about 4 months old and I have been building link for about 3 months
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  • Profile picture of the author fundecals
    Don't worry about it.Its only a Google update.Google updates Google penguin , so every sites ranking go down.Please avoid black hat SEO ,only do white hat SEO and you will be no. 1 very soon.
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    • Profile picture of the author Venkat001
      Originally Posted by fundecals View Post

      Don't worry about it.Its only a Google update.Google updates Google penguin , so every sites ranking go down.Please avoid black hat SEO ,only do white hat SEO and you will be no. 1 very soon.
      I too advise the same my friend
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    • Profile picture of the author sonicadam123
      Originally Posted by fundecals View Post

      Don't worry about it.Its only a Google update.Google updates Google penguin , so every sites ranking go down.Please avoid black hat SEO ,only do white hat SEO and you will be no. 1 very soon.
      Very true, although I'd add that it's not every site .. some sites have increased due to competitors being hit.

      Another thing to watch out for is over optimisation of anchor texts from back links that are both external and internal .. Google Webmaster and some other tools can help to check on this easily enough.
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  • Just keep on adding quality content - it will all wash out in the end. Also diversify. You don't want to rely on free traffic from search for your business. Think long term and build a solid business that can take a hit or two without destroying it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Berg Canon
    What about your competition for that keyword have their rankings changed? Reason I ask was I noticed back when Penguin came out my comp got hit but I didn't so I felt I was spared. I'm wondering if they are going through catagoricaly or is it something else.
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  • Profile picture of the author zonkow
    That's very strange. My site was smashed very badly by the Penguin and it completely disappeared on the SERPs. However, it came back this morning and now it's on position 4 for the main keyword.

    Originally Posted by Craigb182 View Post

    Hey guys,

    I had a site which had been sitting in position 3 for it's main keyphrase for the last week or so. Previously it had been around the lower ends of page 1. However upon checking today my site has all of a sudden dropped to number 38!

    The strange thing is I haven't done anything different to the backlinking efforts and the content remains the same. I'm wondering if this is a temporary thing or if there is no way of possibly knowing at the moment?

    Thanks,

    Craig
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    • Profile picture of the author Craigb182
      Originally Posted by zonkow View Post

      That's very strange. My site was smashed very badly by the Penguin and it completely disappeared on the SERPs. However, it came back this morning and now it's on position 4 for the main keyword.
      Penguin has caused some very strange goings on. What I'm worried about is the possibility that the site doesn't recover although going by many responses it doesn't seem that this will be the case (hopefully!). And I suppose the fact it hasn't been de-indexed makes me think that it shouldn't cause too much harm in the long term.
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    • Profile picture of the author FredJones
      Originally Posted by zonkow View Post

      That's very strange. My site was smashed very badly by the Penguin and it completely disappeared on the SERPs. However, it came back this morning and now it's on position 4 for the main keyword.
      What were your activities in the meantime on this site? Sharing that would help the forum.
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      • Profile picture of the author zonkow
        Originally Posted by FredJones View Post

        What were your activities in the meantime on this site? Sharing that would help the forum.
        Nothing. I did nothing
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  • Profile picture of the author Luffy
    what kind of site you have?
    In my experience big G believes that my site is the spam site..
    why? because I have many duplicate content (not exactly duplicate tought, article synd etc)
    also my internal link structure were changes, permalink structure problems too
    there are lot of problems due the changes..
    and Im suggest you always check your site every now an then day
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  • Profile picture of the author headmaster211
    Banned
    Hey Craig, I experienced same the thing, one of my 3 month old site got hit today. It was on 1st now it is at 6 page. I haven't done much in last month to this site. My traffic was growing and now this sudden drop. The rankings has been dropped for almost all the keywords.

    My articles were unique and I haven't done any blackhat link building to it. I hope it comes back. Meanwhile I will be adding some more content to it.

    Keep us updated about your rankings!
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  • Profile picture of the author urimeta
    No one is even asking what kind of linkbuilding he has been doing? OP what do you even consider white hat Link building IYO?

    Before concluding its a Dance and not a penalty of sorts(You know people seem to forget that there were penalty/filters before Penguin, you may have been spotted by an old filter)
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  • Profile picture of the author TDogger
    Google doesn't hit all sites when it does an update. Sometimes it filters out or penalizes sites randomly as it finds them. They also do algorithm correction updates that they do not announce.

    A lot of sites were mistakenly hit by Penguin. Some have bounced back with further updates.

    I think Google thought they were on a roll with good updates with Panda. Penguin has obviously been a different story.
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  • Profile picture of the author Craigb182
    My backlinking efforts have involved profile linkwheel packages with diversified anchor text, article marketing (minimal), social bookmarking and video marketing.
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    • Profile picture of the author wally247
      A ton of mine took a huge hit today too.


      One site I have been doing NO link building, and creating "quality content" for non-competitive keywords.

      I don't mean 1,000 searches a month non-competitive, I mean NO SEARCHES per month non-competitive super long-tail keywords based on actually helping people out...you know, like Matt Cutts is always repeating over and over.


      I'm talking about keywords that ranked 1st page in HOURS....all down to the 200's and beyond today.


      Google doesn't want quality content...they want Amazon.com and the other big businesses to rank for every keyword on the planet.
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  • Profile picture of the author kayfrank
    Your site is still quite new.

    Penguin still isn't finished.

    Be patient and carry on adding content. It will come back.
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  • Profile picture of the author Theeban
    Usually new sites used to get this kind of changes in ranking (SERP) of Google. Better recommendation is "keep going link building". Go for more contextual links. That will give you a strong and stable position on SERP.
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  • Profile picture of the author dumindu89
    Me too.
    My 4 months old site got ranked in first page for some keywords. But non of them are even in first 5 pages today.
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  • Profile picture of the author patco
    This could be the effect of Google Dance. Just be sure to make some high quality backlinks and don't forget to VARY anchor texts!
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  • Profile picture of the author adam337
    Continue your natural link building and keep updating your site. Don't be worried. Don't do anything unnatural. Hope your site will be back soon.
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  • Profile picture of the author OneManSEO
    I've noticed some issues with sites that are pushing the on-page too hard for a single keyword. Check your internal links and make sure you are not pimping the same keyword far too much. If you have, then start evening things out with some variety in your internal anchor texts.

    The hit those sites I mentioned took was only to pages 4-7, so it sounds similar to your problem. Worth looking into anyway...good luck!
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