Google penalty for one keyword?
-
Is it possible to get penalized by Google for a specific keyword and essentially disappear from the SERPs for that keyword but keep position for the brand (#1) and some other keywords (#4 and #7)? And how would you find out that this is what happened if there is no GWT message?
-
Thanks, you two. Lucky you were able to identify the cause and work to repair. It doesn't seem to be an exact match anchor text problem for us and nothing with a site mixup. I am happy for you!
I have investigated a lot, and I am still irked at not knowing what happened so I can remedy.
We have lost a lot of potential business and calls from this. We are local and it's the main local terms we've lost position for.
I am focusing on doing the recommended stuff now and its been great. I pulled back on the on-page optimizing. I am reading, learning, participating, content building, content marketing, local, social etc. but still occasionally still trying to figure out what happened so that hopefully, I can get us back for those critical keywords.
Still looking for more info, please.
-
I have experienced the same situation with specific keywords where there were too many external exact match anchor text links. Removing these links where possible is slowly fixing the problem.
-
I have experienced it personally, on one ofmy sites, it dropped ranking for one keyword and still maintained for others.
There wasnt any message in GWT, the reason was that two of my sites were on same hosting server and some how one site had its all home page mixed up with in other website pages. It was something like hidden text. Now the issue is resolved and ranking is coming back.
Another possibility could be too much exact match anchor text links. There will be i guess an algorithmic penality for this and your keyword along with traffic will be dropped.
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
-
Can I only submit a reconsideration request if I have a penalty?
Hey guys, One of the sites I'm looking after took a hit with their rankings (particularly for one keyword that went from 6/7 to 50+) post-Penguin in May. Although, after cleaning-up the link profile somewhat we started to see some slow and steady progression in positions. The keyword that dropped to 50+ was moving upwards in advance of 20. However, a couple of weeks back, the keyword in question took another slide towards 35-40. I therefore wondered whether it would be best to submit a reconsideration request - even though the site did not receive a manual penalty. The website has a DA of 40 which more than matches a lot of the competitor websites that are ranking on first page for the aforementioned keyword. At this stage, I would have expected the site to have returned to its original ranking - four-and-a-half months after Penguin - but it hasn't. So a reconsideration request seemed logical. That said, when I came to go through the process on Webmaster Tools I was unable to find the option! Has it now been removed for sites that don't receive manual penalties?
Algorithm Updates | | Webrevolve1 -
Could Retail Price Be A Google Ranking Factor???
I have not done any detailed studies on this but it seems that Google might be using low retail prices for specific items as a ranking factor in their organic SERPs. Does anyone else suspect this? Just askin' to hear your thoughts. Thanks!
Algorithm Updates | | EGOL0 -
Fetch as Google in GWT - Functionality
Hi, For example, some of the HTML improvements notices from GWT, says dupe meta descriptions or titles, for pages that have since been 301 redirected or had a canonical tag added. So, my idea is to force google to read it using "Fetch as Google" - hoping that it will now see 301 redirection or the fix we have implemented. Does this work? How long does it take? Lastly, should I just click the "fetch as google" or should I also click on the "Submit to index" button? Thanks!
Algorithm Updates | | bjs20100 -
Meta Description / Meta Keywords
So, I am using Wordpress and the seo by yoast..... I have heard that meta keywords and descriptions are no longer recognized or used by search engines with respect to page rankings in the serps. Is this true? If so, why do people still recommend using these? I thought content is king these days?
Algorithm Updates | | APICDA0 -
Next Google PR update
When is next google Pagerank update is expected to arrive.
Algorithm Updates | | csfarnsworth
I know it takes one month to one year for Google to update it but I know many people sitting here at Moz know some secrets for sure.0 -
Google Authorship and Hobby Blog
I hope that someone can help me come up with the best option. Please forgive my ignorance on this issue. I have a hobby blog and up until now I have not wanted to associate it with my real name. It is a menswear blog about classic American style. I was afraid that it may be a hindrance if I was ever looking for a more conservative career than SEO. I am now reconsidering this and thinking that claiming it may be of more help than harm. Which brings me to Google Authorship. My dilemma and misunderstanding stems from the fact that I have mutliple Gmail accounts. I am guessing that some of the newer accounts have a G+ associated with them. So my question is do I use the email that is associated with my blog or my main gmail that I use personally? If I do use the gmail associated with the blog will it then become my default Google plus profile? Any insight would be helpful. Thanks in advance. If any of you are interested the hobby blog is Oxford Cloth Button Down.
Algorithm Updates | | JerrodDavid0 -
How to deal with EMD penalty?
After some research I would say my site have been hit by an EMD penalty, it seems many other people have faced the same. It would be very useful to know how to deal with this, many topics discuss the reasons behind it, but few have a realistic response for fast action. I am in two minds - one would be to try and improve content etc, but this is subjective and could take any amount of time, or never resolve the issue. The other would be to move the content to a new URL, which poses the question, should I do a 301 redirect, or would this just transfer the penalty? If no redirect, then I am proposing starting fresh - as the sites hit by EMD penalties are deemed 'low quality' this might be the fastest way to recovery. If I move the old content to my established main site as a sub folder, would this cause any problems? Many thanks for people responses.
Algorithm Updates | | Quime1 -
Google site links on sub pages
Hi all Had a look for info on this one but couldn't find much. I know these days that if you have a decent domain good will often automatically put site links on for your home if someone searches for your company name, however has anyone seen these links appear for sub pages? For example, lets say I had a .com domain with /en /fr /de sub folders, each seoed for their location. If I were to then have domain.com/en/ as no1 in Google for my company in the UK would I be able to get site links under this or does it only work on the 'proper' homepage domain.com/ A client of mine wants to reorganise their website so they have different location sections ranking in different markets but they also want to keep having sitewide links as they like the look of it Thanks Carl
Algorithm Updates | | Grumpy_Carl0