Lost positions, how to get them back?
-
Ok, like 1 year ago my site was doing good in google search engine. But I decided to change CMS and design of the site. Did some mistakes like, changed site links structure (when I notice it later I changed it back), then some of the pages were lost because I simply didn't need them on the new cms and there were no feature of keeping them.
Site has a lot of backlinks and was strong in rankings. It's been almost a year or maybe already a year and I can't get even to top100 for those keywords... But I was in (top10-20)
Site is still getting links, ranking well on yahoo and baidu, but google, just won't let my main keywords to come back. I rank for some that doesn't make sense to me and I even wasn't working on them.
-
To restore those old urls is not possible. (~400 of them). I've removed them (via google webmasters), but I still see them as errors in google webmaster tools (but they are decreasing slowly).
-
Ryan is spot on, without specific examples, it is difficult to tell you how to regain the lost ground. Some pointers:
1. Restore all the old webpages if possible.
2. Do Not 301 redirect old URLs
3. If the site is in a sub-folder, bring it back to root (happens a lot with Drupal if your developer is not careful)
4. Build links to the internal pages and not just the home page.
5. Look into Google Webmaster Account, specially how Google sees the site as a crawler and the "Settings".
Cheers.
-
It's not about how can I improve, it's about how to get back to where it was.
I am trying to assist you and respond to your question. From what I am seeing, it is EXACTLY that you are trying to improve.
The fact you ranked well for the same site isn't relevant one year later. Search engine results are extremely dynamic. Over the past year some of your competitors disappeared, other new ones have appeared, numerous algorithmic changes have been made, your CMS changed and possibly more things such as your content has changed as well.
There is no magic bullet to getting your ranking back to where it was a year ago.
-
Ryan is right, if you want a specific answer, you'll need to provide specific examples.
-
Well I explained You what was the cause of this happening.
I've explained what I did to make this fixed, but didn't help.
It's not about how can I improve, it's about how to get back to where it was.
-
Without specific examples your Q&A is just a general "how can I improve my ranking" post. Can you share an example of a page that you feel should rank well, along with the keywords you are trying to rank for so we can take a look?
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
-
Positions dropped and do not recover
Hi all, Site: https://www.fascinators.com.au k/w: fascinators (this is the main one I am looking at) About 2 years ago, I redesigned the site. It used to be on first positions in Google Australia. After redesign, positions dropped and never recovered. No matter what I do, I can not get them back. I even involved professional SEO agency for the last 6 month to help build links, but nothing works. (old site used really old non mobile-friendly engine) As far as I know site is technically sound with no issues. In the last few month position for my main keyword 'fascinators' jumps really wildly. From position 9 to not being in Google first 100. And jump can happen overnight. As of today it disappeared from first 100 again. I am really tearing my hair out on what can be wrong. Link building is underway. This is one area I am aware of. Thinking of keyword spamming, i removed lots of 'fascinators' from URL, but that did not seem to help much. Any ideas will be greatly appreciated! Thanks, Rudolf
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | rudolfl1 -
Can I change a URL on a site that has only a few back links?
I have a site that wants to change their URL, It's a very basic site with hardly any backlinks. http://www.cproofingandexteriors.com/ The only change they want to make is taking out the 'and'.. so it would be cproofingexteriors.com they already own the domain. What should I do?? Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | MissThumann0 -
Keyword position history?
Are there any tools out there to see historical positions of keywords for competitors? I haven't been tracking the keywords, just wondered if there is any cached data anywhere?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | seoman100 -
Did I get hit with a panda update?
I have a site that is a marketplace. We don't own any items, the sellers fill everything out and then it goes up on the site. Many of our sellers also have their own sites and just send us a spreadsheet with all of their items and we bulk upload. In that case what we are putting up is very similar to what they already have up on their own site. I used the Fruition penalty checker and they seem to be suggesting that we got hit with some penalties for Panda and Quality Content. With the Google Algorithm it is hard to know for sure what we got hit with. Is it possible Google sees us as one of those crappy scraper sites? Is there anything we can do? We never see the items so I can't add to peoples description.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | EcommerceSite0 -
Advice on Getting this site ranking?
Hi there I'm looking to optimise this site for SEO -> Gets about 3,000 visits per day but all from branded searches. Gets virtually no 'keyword searches' It's just a landing page at the moment. Would you recommend I integrate a blog with it, so we can start targeting more long tail keywords (free football game etc) Any thoughts/advice appreciated 🙂 Thanks Howard
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | HowardK0 -
Easy way to get some do-follow links for a new site
I am launching a new website and when I search for "list of do-follow websites" I find lots of people posting their list. Rather than individually sign up for hundreds of sites for one link at a time, is there a tool that can automate this?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | StreetwiseReports0 -
Move to a new domain - How to get the redirects right?
Hi, I hope that someone with good htaccess knowledge can help. I am planning on moving my site to a new domain. I understand that I should make 301 redirects using htaccess for every URL. This is a big site so it will be impossible to not forget some of the thousands existing URLs. Now to the question: How do I make all the URLs that is not specified in htaccess to redirect to my new root? Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | mrlolalot0 -
Can you advise why my site get outranked by sites with way less authority and so on
Hello SeoMoz, As a new member I first want to thank you guys for your service, seomoz is by far the best resource and toolbox I have ever found. I have a question, or more of a request if you could advise me on what I do wrong.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | DennisForte
I have a website: www.letsflycheaper.com with a Domain Authority of 80, and my target keywords are keywords like: cheap business class, business class flights.
My target page is: www.letsflycheaper.com/business-class.php. With all my keywords I am page 2 and I have a real hard time getting on the first page, but if I look at my competitors like: www.wholesale-flights.com with a Domain Authority of 'just' 50, crappy backlinks and so on, they are all on the first page with almost all of my keywords that I want to target. What do I do wrong? Can you maybe give me a couple tips on where I should focus on more? Hopefully you guys can help me... Kind Regards, Ramon van Meer0