Keyword Ranking Fluctuation
-
Hi,
In campaigns, every week we found a big keyword ranking fluctuation.
For Example:
This week SEO MOZ campaign shows one keyword on 23 position and keyword change number shows 13 position down. When i have checked manually its showing on 13th position. Can you please tell me why its happen?
Waiting for your reply
Thanks,
-
Like the approach you take to smooth things out, and agree that client education is important.
I hope that my clients focus on KPI's that really matter to their business (conversions!) and not get bogged down chasing rankings! Although it is important for them to understand why ranking matter and how we track them.
If you see negative changes in keywords that were getting you good click-throughs/conversions then you need to do something about it.
-
Yes, the manual searches are de-personalized.
Almost without exception, each data source is different on each occasion.
-
If you're manually checking you need to remove personalisation other wise the SERPS you see will more than likely be different to the one that SEOmoz (or any other ranking tool sees).
-
I think you should look at any single rankings report -- or even a group of them -- much as smart politicians look at public opinion polls: as snapshots in time subject to random variation
** What matters most are broad trends over time using a variety of data sources. **
I favor a "poll of polls" approach.
Here how I do reporting for a sophisticated client:
- monthly reports on just ten keywords
- data from three sources: SEOMOZ, Raven Tools, and a panel of 5 geographically dispersed people in the US doing depersonalized manual searches using the same devices, IP addresses and browsers each time
- attach equal weight to each of the three data sources
All this smooths things out and you can more readily see the trends.
Like so much else in SEO, client education is the key. When I explained to the client what I was doing and why -- it really helped gain trust and move the relationship to a new level.
-
Agree with the others. Don't worry too much about fluctuations - it's when you don't bounce back up again that you need to be concerned. Keep an eye on overall trends, and for competitive keywords keep a close eye on the competition.
Look out for new-comers in the SERPS, and look out for new content. fresh page can out-rank older pages but may weaken over time.
Don't fall into the trap of thinking that the job's done once you achieve a high ranking. You need to stay ahead of the competition.
Good luck!
-
I have experienced big fluctuations in Google.be.
Don't worry to much regarding this issue, try to produce higher relevant content, and it will solve the situation (that is what happened with us).
I hope that hepled,
Istvan
-
Where are you checking, Google?
Fluctuations are bound to happen at any time. Algoritms change constantly, competition make campaigns to move up the ladder. It also depends from which country you're searching the term. All these things create a factor in your positioning.
I see it happen all the time. One minute i'm number 1, and the next hour i'm number 50. Tomorrow i'll be number 5. To remain consistent with a search term, you need to keep making more linkbacks, internal links, content etc etc etc... it never ends.
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
-
Why am I getting different ranking results on Google?
Because the rank checker on SEOMOZ is temporarily down for upgrade, I followed the link over to the other suggested rank checker on seobook.com which installs a plug-in to Firefox and it seems to be working fine….BUT my question is when I check out my two highest traffic keywords which are “Whitby holiday cottages” and “Whitby cottages” against my website www.endeavourcottage.co.uk it tells me I'm ranking position 2 on both Google.com and Google.co.uk but I don't think I am. When I do the same check using a proxy server called hidemyass.com to check my rankings again on Google.co.uk and .com I appeared to be lower down the rankings like position 8. Does anyone have any idea of which is the accurate reference to my rankings? What do you do to check your rankings ? And one last quick secondary question is when I searching Google chrome using same key words again I come at the top position A on the Google maps listing but using Firefox or Internet Explorer there is no Google maps visible ways that? At the end of the day out rankings are important but where are working towards more traffic...... Cheers
Moz Pro | | whitbycottages0 -
How do I change the update date for keywords ranking?
I need my data reports to be fresh every Monday morning. Now, the newest data dates from Thursday thx!
Moz Pro | | solarian0 -
Erroneous "Weekly Keyword Ranking & On-page Optimization Report" For Campaign
Hi, I just received an email alert from Seomoz telling me my "Weekly Keyword Ranking & On-page Optimization Report " for the period 11/06/12 - 11/13/12 is ready. It is just a copy of the previous report though, all rankings and ranking changes are the same. What is up with that? Best regards, Martin
Moz Pro | | TalkInThePark0 -
Keyword analysis - error with difficulty %
Hello everyone! Edge of all, I like and I use very often the "Keyword analysis" tool . However, recently, I have some difficulty to rely on the difficulty % of the keywords I've added. As an example I entered as keywords for a french speaking client, words with a geographical reference. It gives me a percentage too high because I am almost convinced that it would probably not be difficult to work with. My question is: is there any known errors with keywords georeferenced French (google canada - english) and also what to trust when I want proof of the difficulty of a keyword in case of some errors may occur in the tool.
Moz Pro | | PTech-1885830 -
Rankings Check and Googles Quality Guidelines
Hi, I am trialing SEOmoz at present. What i dont understand is how come the rankings check, which presumably involves sending requests to Google, doesnt contravine the Google quality guidelines and cause a website to be penalised. Sorry if being a bit dim - but if anybody could explain it would be really helpful cheers stayin
Moz Pro | | stayin0 -
Is the keyword difficulty tool the most helpful in all situations?
I understand that the scores it generates are essentially based on the difficulty of appearing on the first SERP for the keyword in question. That said, I am having a lot of difficulty finding keywords in my niche which return a score that would make this easily achievable for a site of my size.... The reason I'm pointing this out is because theoretically, a keyword could have a HIGHLY competitive first SERP, with a significant drop-off on the second SERP, which would make achieving a top ranking on that page substantially easier. So my question really is, is the importance of appearing on the first SERP so unequivocally important that it is a pointless activity to attempt deliberately to rank for keywords on the second SERP, which is ignored by the keyword difficulty tool? I know the breakdown of clicks goes something like 40% for top spot, 12% for second and downwards from there, but if a certain query has over a million searches per month, for example, it would still be possible to get considerable amounts of traffic by trying to rank highly on the second SERP, which the keyword difficulty tool cannot help with. So is this really a useless activity?
Moz Pro | | ZakGottlieb710 -
Rank Tracker via API
Hello SEOMoz, The functionality of the Rank Tracker Tool is excellent - I was wondering if it might be coming to the API so we can do some deeper analysis? Thanks!
Moz Pro | | igzebedze0 -
Report: keyword difficulty verses SERPS ranking
Hi there, I've been using the PRO tools for a few months now, and find them great for revealing information for my clients, and planning our SEO approach. One report I've put together has been really helpful for a client, but I built it manually and it took ages. It lists, in a spreadsheet, keywords side-by-side with keyword difficulty, target URL, and SERPs result. Sorting by keyword difficulty or SERPS position has helped us to prioritise which pages to hit first. But it took a while to generate the report, and I'm wondering if anyone has a better approach, or if this kind of report can be generated automatically: http://www.cicada-online.com/app/images/documents/product-page-SEO-blank.pdf Thanks Mozzers!
Moz Pro | | nedwells0