Why are Google ranking changes so drastic?
-
Hi SEOmoz community
I'm sure this question has been asked numerous times before. At the same time there must be plenty of people out there wondering about the same thing:
Why are Google ranking changes so drastic? It's like the diva of search engines. When checking the SEOmoz ranking reports, sometimes lots of keywords improve, the next week it's vice versa. Mind though that the ranking changes are not in proportion.
While improving keywords climb up by approx. 1 - 10 positions, declining keywords always get a smack with a 15 - 25 position drop, even though these very same keywords are being targeted onsite through new content. It seems to make no difference after all
Is it possible, that keyword fluctuations are stronger for younger sites? The site I am talking about is about a year old. Is it possible that more competitive keywords see more drastic fluctuations?
Would be interested to hear your thoughts.
Thanks!!
-
Hi sherohass and Wendy Ang
Thanks for your replies! Ha, I like the one about Google continuously changing their algorithms to their own benefit. Yeah, even though some people would disagree, it's a constant battle with a monopoly that has grown out of proportion. Therefore, if you want to rank profitably before 10 years have gone by and before you've smothered your identity across all them social networks out there, I believe there is no other way than applying a bit of black hat.
Personally I don't do heavy black hat (some I guess you even do unintentionally) as my knowledge in the area is not good enough to risk it and loose out altogether. But as mentioned before, it's annoying to see some keywords crawl up 3 positions, while another one gets the boot with a 25 positions drop.
Well, so long...
-
Google the king of search engines is the Major Dominant force here. They change their alogarithm constantly to their benefit. Some people who had good ranking websites that displayed lots of google adwords have dropped their rank cos google I gather do not want to pay more for ads for websites that are highly ranked especially in google searches.
Most of the websites that have dropped Rankings have not been growing or changing. Adding new content in form of Blog and Forums seems to be very popular now.
Hope this helps.
-
my site is more than 10 year old but i experienced dropped from one of my keywords. i've been holding a page 1 position for that keyword for more than 5 years until last month. My competitor on the other hand, owns a very young domain but climb up to no. 1 ranking. I noticed its because they have a lot of government website clients and they added hidden links from those websites that they developed for the government.
we recently revamped our website to make it more search engine friendly (with longer content even though i hate long content). i've seen minor improvements but hopefully we'll get back to our original ranking in a few weeks.
my site is www.myoptimind.com and the keyword i lost ranking to is web design philippines
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
-
Google web master tool - stats
Hello everyone! I have 2 questions : 1. does anyone come across this behavior ? (image 1). In the last week Page crawled per day behavior was quite wild and it wasn't affect directly on Time spent downloading a page. 2. I'm getting site map warning for high response time (image 2) i have 29M pages so I aware that 4 warning for 4 pages is almost negligible but still ? Thanks to all helpers 8OkgXp7 q3txRAb q3txRAb
Search Behavior | | Roi_Bar1 -
HUGE spike in Google Analytics Traffic
Hi there, I am witnessing a giant spike in my Google Analytics data (website: www.exchangecapital.com ) and I am completely stumped. My website usually gains roughly 15-20 visitors a day at most--and as of 11:10 am today my sessions for the day are up to 150. The traffic spike started on Friday at 132 sessions, Saturday at 261, Sunday at 247, etc. It's common that our sessions don't even hit the double digits over the weekends, so you can imagine my confusion. After trying to pin down some irregularities in geography, browser, and behavior, I'm still at a loss. I'm seeing a big spike in organic traffic (all not provided), as well as direct page visits, and I'm gaining traffic from US, Brazil, United Kingdom, Mexico, Spain, Malaysia, etc. etc--so not just one specific area. Is anyone else witnessing this in their data? Does anyone have any insight or ideas as to how I can look further into this? I am at a loss and any information would be appreciated. Thanks in advance! Lauren McLaughlin
Search Behavior | | LMcLaughlin0 -
Google Analytics: advanced segment for hour of day
Cioa from 17 Degrees C cloudy Wetherby UK 🙂 In Google analytics I want to report specifically on Blackberry Mobile traffic next to hour if the day. Whilst this customised report I ripped off did the job @ http://bit.ly/hourdays I only resorted to this after battling with advanced segments thinking I could do the same thing. So my question is please how can I get this report http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc53/zymurgy_bucket/hrs-day-examplecopy_zps4f15d4a1.jpg by building it via advanced segments and not ripping off via http://bit.ly/hourdays Grazie tanto,
Search Behavior | | Nightwing
David0 -
Google ranks our competitor above us on 1000's of branded queires!!!
Hi all, I have noticed a very bizarre phenomenon in Google SERPs. When I search for a branded keyworks [Product + our brand].
Search Behavior | | ref.price
Amazon.fr appear above us on thousands of results. Google even ranks Amazon above us for queries like [ PriceMinister google plus]. I have tried to ask Google about it but I can’t seem to get an answer. Here is the topic I posted on Google’s forum: http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/webmasters/crawling-indexing--ranking/DFvTPr14o_o This seems like a mistake on Google’s side, some kind of semantic association with our two brands! Basically they are sending our customers to our main competitor even though they specifically searched for our brand (PriceMinister). I find the phenomenon quite interesting for the SEO community and frustrating for our company. Does anyone have ideas on this one? Do you think it's a bug from Google? Cheers Oliver0 -
Google Analytics Search Engine Optimisation Report
Hello, Quick question. How much data should be available within Google Analytics within the Search Engine Optimisation Reports? I was always of the impression it was 6 months, however the data available as of this date only extends back to January 1st 2013. Thanks,
Search Behavior | | HelloAlba0 -
My rank down how can i recover
hi i am new here http://www.constructionhelpline.com/ last 2 year we are in no 2 in these keyword in google.co.uk cscs cscs card cscs test from last 3 - 4 months our ranking is down i don't know why this happen can anyone expert can guide us please Thanks
Search Behavior | | constructionhelpline0 -
Google analytics realtime reporting same keywords with different capitalization
I was just looking in my analytics and I saw something I have never seen before. Maybe its old news but its new to me. I have attached a screen shot. I have 2 keywords listed which are the same but are capitalized different scrabble dictionary Scrabble dictionary Does Google really consider these different? PlstfwR
Search Behavior | | cbielich0 -
Rankings like this mean what?
I have just redirected our old domain to our new domain using a sitewide 301 redirect. That was on Dec 6. Since none of the pages are showing in the serps unless you search specifically for a paragraph in quotes. But I am also very concerned because scraper sites are coming up before my site. Here are a few examples: https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbo=d&rlz=1T4GGLL_enUS398US398&biw=1223&bih=799&sclient=psy-ab&q="The+decision+to+choose+between+duplication+and+replication+depends+upon+the+circumstances+of+each+individual+project.+Since+the+creation+processes+for+replication+and+duplication+are+so+different%2C+the+final+products+are+also+very+different."&btnG=&pbx=1 and here is one I just took off the site and put somewhere else: https://www.google.com/search?q="Blu-Ray+players+have+really+come+in+to+their+own+in+the+past+few+years.+Blu-Ray+technology+provides+the+best+sound+and+picture+quality+of+any+media+format+on+the+market.+In+spite+of+the+great+leap+forward+that+Blu-Ray+represents,+there+are+still+a+good+number+of+people+who+haven’t+made+the+transition+from+traditional+DVD+players+to+the+Blu-Ray+format."&hl=en&tbo=d&rlz=1T4GGLL_enUS398US398&ei=Gk7nUN2oMYrA8AT74IEo&start=10&sa=N&filter=0&biw=1223&bih=799 and yet another: https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbo=d&rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-us%3AIE-Address&rlz=1I7GGLL_en&sclient=psy-ab&q="At+the+Windows+8+BUILD+conference+we+learned+that+Windows+8+will+allow+you+to+mount+ISO+and+VHD+files+natively.+++So+no+longer+is+there+a+need+for+a+3rd+party+ISO+file+software+such+as+Daemon+Tools+however+if+you+have+copy+protected+DVD+or+games+you+will+still"&btnG=&pbx=1 Notice the pattern, all of the results have my site (the originator of the content) at the bottom. I am very concerned with this as I'm sure this means Penalty up the ..... something. What is my best move at this point? Is there any chance of getting out of this? Just be thankful you are not in this position, it sucks. But I'm still positive I can do something with this site. Thanks Rob
Search Behavior | | robdawg0