SEO updates and rank changes
-
We have been updating page titles and meta descriptions for a client (not changing ANY links and the content we are replacing is "fluff," no major keywords or any relevant information) yet in the past few weeks, rankings have plummeted. I used the SEOMoz grader to check and make sure we have the keywords in there, in the right places for the updated page source info, and we're getting A's yet for those same keywords, the website is nowhere to be found.
For example for the phrase "organic t shirts," we get an A for this page: http://greenpromotionalitems.com/organic-t-shirts.htm
but when searching organic t shirts, no Green Promotional Items...
Ideas?
-
The URLs did not change - the traffic has not plummeted dramatically (slightly yes, but not dramatically) - the rankings for words (like the example "organic t shirts") have dropped however.
-
We have been updating page titles
When you update the titles do the URLs change? (you probably know about this but you didn't say so I gotta ask)
rankings have plummeted
You say that your traffic plummeted.... Where was that traffic coming from... what keywords were bringing it in.... what pages on the site were getting that traffic.
It is possible that your title changes deoptimized the pages away from their original traffic flow.
This information is the key to your diagnosis. With the skimpy information that you provide here all anyone can do is guess.
Go look at the above information and study it... then tell us where the traffic fell off.
-
First, I have no idea if that is indeed the problem - that was just pure speculation... Second, way too many factors are in play for me to give you any kind of useful estimate.
All I can say is that a few pages I have updated on my site in the past have dropped out for a couple weeks and then come back, and because I was updating multiple things on the page in addition to page titles it could have been something else that caused this phenomenon.
Again, a cursory look at the page in question makes me think that it shouldn't be in the top 10 for such a competitive keyword - its link metrics just aren't strong enough. Why it was "'punching above its weight" in the past is anyone's guess.
-
Do you know any time frame when I should start seeing some rebounding rankings - we did a full overhaul of the main site pages title and meta descriptions in the past few weeks.
-
Sorry, missed the part about rankings plummeting...
I have definitely seen pages drop out of the index for awhile after a page title update and then come back... but honestly I'm surprised the page you mention here ever ranked for "organic t shirts" so it's also possible the SERP was updated recently to reflect more powerful sites moving into this space and it just so happened to coincide with your optimization work.
-
Thank you, the only issue is that for some reason, the site used to come up high in rankings but suddenly does not and since we are targeting terms better now than before, just checking into other possible reasons. Thank you.
-
That is a pretty competitive keyword you are targeting, and there isn't a single domain on the first page of Google's SERPs with a domain authority of less than 30 (and most are upwards of 40) while your DA is 29.
You need to build some quality links to this page from a diverse range of domains with a diverse range of anchor text. In order to do that you need to give people a compelling reason to link to this page - unique content, contest giveaway, socially viral content like a video, etc.
Link building takes awhile but it's the most reliable way to build rankings, especially for competitive keyword terms.
In the meantime, don't forget to target longer tail variations for which you have the domain strength to rank well - "anvil organic t shirts" or "wholesale organic cotton t shirts." These terms don't get nearly as much traffic but if you put together enough of them you can see some real results.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Is good for SEO update blog post dates after update post content
Hello I am updating some posts of my Blog, adding new and fresh content and rewriting some of the existing. After doing that I am thinking to update de post publishing so that I appears on front page of the blog and user can read ir again. But I don't know if it is good for google to change the publishing date of the post that he had indexed 5 years ago. Also I don't know if google will read it again if it is old and see the new changes in order to improve it in search results
Algorithm Updates | | maestrosonrisas0 -
A Google Update Happened?
I'm curious to know what us MOZ folks have to say about an update on Google. Article here: http://searchengineland.com/big-google-search-update-happening-chatter-thinks-258142 Any ideas?
Algorithm Updates | | Chenzo0 -
Is user engagement a ranking signal?
Read something about user engagement might be a signal that Google uses, along with links and on-site optimisation, to decide if a search result goes up or down. What should I believe and what are the developments in this field?
Algorithm Updates | | MozzieJr0 -
Ranking For Synonyms Without Creating Duplicate Content.
We have 2 keywords that are synonyms we really need to rank for as they are pretty much interchangeable terms. We will refer to the terms as Synonym A and Synonym B. Our site ranks very well for Synonym A but not for Synonym B. Both of these terms carry the same meaning, but the search results are very different. We actively optimize for Synonym A because it has the higher search volume of the 2 terms. We had hoped that Synonym B would get similar rankings due to the fact that the terms are so similar, but that did not pan out for us. We have lots of content that uses Synonym A predominantly and some that uses Synonym B. We know that good content around Synonym B would help, but we fear that it may be seen as duplicate if we create a piece that’s “Top 10 Synonym B” because we already have that piece for Synonym A. We also don’t want to make too many changes to our existing content in fear we may lose our great ranking for Synonym A. Has anyone run into this issue before, or does anyone have any ideas of things we can do to increase our position for Synonym B?
Algorithm Updates | | Fuel0 -
Can someone explain the attached rankings?
I just don't understand how we can have a long list of 1's and 2's in google, but in Yahoo and Bing, some are close, some are in the 20's and some are not even in the top 50. Is there something that Yahoo and Bing care about, that google doesn't? I know about the meta language being more important for Yahoo and Bing than Google, so I added that. There's nothing I can do about the domain age, which I know is important to Yahoo and Bing. Is there anything else? thanks, Ruben [URL]]([URL=http://imgur.com/Vem594l][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Vem594l.jpg[/IMG][/URL]) [IMG]](http://i.imgur.com/Vem594l.jpg[/IMG])
Algorithm Updates | | KempRugeLawGroup0 -
Server Location & SEO
So I just read an interesting Tweet: #SEO Tip: #Google takes into account the location of the server (the IP) when projecting the search results #web This is something I had not thought of. I suppose my question then is HOW does it factor this information into it's results? For some reason, one of our sites is hosted on a Canadian server. We are a cloud hosting company and we serve all of NA with data centers in the US and Canada... For whatever reason we've used the Canadian server farm for our web server. Could this possibly be hurting our NA google SERPs? Anyone have any thoughts on this?
Algorithm Updates | | jesse-landry0 -
Why a terrible website ranks number 1??
Hi, I'm an SEO newbie. A couple of months ago I launched a new E-Commerce website for my client : http://www.corporategiftsshop.co.za The site has over 1000 pages indexed in Google. I've done some link building and on-page SEO for the keyword terms : corporate gifts
Algorithm Updates | | MarnusW
promotional items
promotional gifts Currently the website ranks number 31 for "Corporate Gifts" in Google.co.za What I cannot comprehend, is that the site which ranks number 1 is simply shocking! http://www.corporategifts.co.za/ It is a single, static webpage with all links pointing to another website : http://www.promogifts.co.za It has 1 back link and a page rank of zero, yet it still ranks number 1? Can anyone give me a reason or some insight into this as it has me stumped.. Some of the other sites in the top 5 are also poor, yet they still rank high. Our site has a Page rank of 5 and 67 unique domains which links to it ( according to our webmaster tools ) yet it still only manages a 31 ranking?? Any advise would be greatly appreciated as I need to make sense of this, otherwise hang up my SEO gloves.. Regards, Marnus.1 -
Has Panda update made you lose your ranks but put them back again?
I noticed recently that one of the main sites I run dropped ranks quite heavily across the board. I then noticed that with very link building during the time that the ranks were down (about 1 month) that my ranks went back up again really quickly. All this with very little link building effort, and its the same link building campaign I've been running for a while. So I'm wondering has any been experiencing ranking flux between jan and feb? I know that people reckon if you fix some things your ranks can improve again, but I barley fixed anything on the site and yet it dropped some keywords from 1st page to 3rd page and then back to 3rd page; some keywords went back to original position some were lower but non were higher.
Algorithm Updates | | upick-1623910