Panda 4.1 - Regained rankings by making changes on my site
-
So thought I would share this with others as it 'might' help.
So I got around 40 pages, all of them have taken a dive in rankings so on average from Pg1/2 to Pg5/6.
I took one page and started working on content upgrades, I had around 50 words of boiler plate content above the fold and 750 words of unique content way down the page so maybe 600px below the fold before you hit it.
I removed the boiler plate content and produced 75 words of unique content to replace it, I shuffled things around and managed to get the 750 words maybe 250px below the fold then chucked another 100 unique words into the mix.
Fetched the page in GWMT's and resubmitted the URL - hour later that page alone, the page I upgraded had recovered its rankings back to the original position before Panda 4.1 hit.
Will the rankings for this page drop back down again, not sure but interesting this page was Pg6/7 since the 23rd and doing the above within an hour regained rankings back to Pg2 middle.
-
Interesting. I didn't know position was an SEO factor for content but can see it makes sense.
Thanks again for sharing!
-
Duplicate on my site, well almost I replaced a few words for each page. It wasn't the main content just an intro paragraph but it was the highest piece of content on the page.
I've basically put it down to poor/thin content above the fold, which I replaced with unique better content which is more relevant to the subject of the page.
-
Curious what you meant by "Boiler Plate"? Was this content duplicated elsewhere on your site or the web?
Thanks for posting your experiences.
-
Ok so an update.
Regained rankings for that page I upgraded have remained stable and for some queries better position.
Most importantly I applied the same method/process to 2 other pages and they also regained position - ive put these pages on monitor, ill give it a week to make sure they stay stable then roll out the upgrade to the other 35ish pages.
-
hey thanks for sharing, I have a site that I need to work on one of these days, and this data will help for sure.
Vijay
-
Thank you for sharing this. I haven't been hit by Panda 4.1, but as you say, this info might help someone. Good for you for being so giving! I salute you!
-
Thanks Andy,
I'm in the process of getting the copywriter to produce unique content for the other pages so will post the outcome on here once those pages have been resubmitted also.
-
Will the rankings for this page drop back down again
This is impossible to say I'm afraid. They could drop, or the changes may have satisfied Google and you will stay where you are.
Try making similar changes to the other pages and see if you can replicate your success. Unique content is always great, so as an exercise, it is a win-win anyway.
-Andy
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
-
When does updating site content affect SERPS?
Can any of you shine a light as to when updating content on a website had any effect on its 'general' placement in the search engines? I appreciate that for an online newspaper, it must be important, but has anyone noticed from theirs or a client's site that by not uploading i.e. product descriptions or articles in general, that their site has taken a hit?
On-Page Optimization | | SDavis110 -
Website Refresh - Lost Rankings
Hi, we refreshed our website a few weeks ago, with a new design. The structure has changed and pages do have new URLs. But the content, meta titles, etc have stayed the same and I have put 301 redirects in for all of the new pages (using the redirection plugin in word press). I have found that pages which ranked in the top 3 in the past are now nowhere. The page authority also shows as 1 for all of the pages. Is there something we should do to get the rankings and page authority back? Many Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | danieldunn100 -
An apparent ranking mystery...
I built the site https://www.sylvaniachurch.com about 5 years ago, but the site has been live for more than a decade. Tyler has hundreds of churches and Sylvania Church currently site ranks second for most variations of "churches in tyler tx." Sylvania has a well-optimized homepage, several well-optimized subpages, a consistent sermon audio feed, and an increasingly used blog. In addition to what's on the site, there are a few other relevant sites that link to the Sylvania site and I have completed profiles on virtually every business listing site known to man. Here's the oddity. The website that ranks third and even displaces Sylvania for the second place spot from time to time (http://www.crosspointecc.com/) has only been a live URL for a few years, has no readable text on the homepage other than the nav menu, has very little content on the subpages, no blog that I can find, and fewer links from less authoritative sites. What's even odder to me is that Sylvania Church has the following numbers according to the MozBar: PA: 26 mR: 3.64 mT: 3.28 DA: 14 DmR: 3.27 DmT: 2.74 The numbers for CrossPointe: PA: 24 (2 less than Sylvania) mR: 4.68 (1.04 higher than Sylvania) mT: 5.30 (2.02 higher than Sylvania) DA: 13 (1 less than Sylvania) DmR: 2.98 (.28 less than Sylvania) DmT: 3.49 (.75 higher than Sylvania) The obvious question is, "Why does Moz like this site better than mine? What am I missing?" Thanks for any help you guys can give!
On-Page Optimization | | cbizzle0 -
Site Structure. Which is better?
Ideally, which model is better for site structure: 1. Homepage -> Categories -> Individual Pages (See example here http://www.wordtracker.com/attachments/bead-site-structure.gif) OR 2. Homepage -> Categories -> Sub-categories -> Indicidual Pages In the 2nd model, are the individual pages too far away from the homepage?
On-Page Optimization | | brianflannery0 -
Blogposts and Google Rankings
I'm pretty new to all of this, my new website is starting to come along nicely in the SERPs, now appear on page 4 for my main key phrases were I didn't appear last week at all. I'm now on a mission to get myself ranked higher but my website is pretty much done... apart from the ongoing blogposts that I need to add, I'm a wedding photographer so every shoot is going on to it. My question, my blogposts aren't necessarily targeting my main key phrase, it might be mentioned once or twice but ultimately it'll most likely be the venue that steals the targeting. By adding the blogposts (I still have 36 to do) and using my keyphrase sparing, will this help to elevate me from page 4 in google? I know that I still need to build backlinks etc to but just something I can't seem to find an answer for on google hehe.
On-Page Optimization | | MartinWardPhoto0 -
Do https sites rank as well as http sites?
2 Questions: Question 1 - We currently have our entire site running on https (the http pages 301-redirect to the https versions). Assuming that the https pages load as quickly as the http versions, is it a problem that the entire site is https? The only official answer I've been able to find is this 2011 video where Matt Cutts basically says "I don't know" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeFo4ytOk8M Question 2 - Is there any problem with having half our site running on https only (with the http pages redirected), and the other half (our blog) running on http only (with all https blog pages redirected to the http versions)? Thanks in advance for any input! Justin
On-Page Optimization | | JustinClark0 -
You notice rankings go up when..
you link out to wikipedia? I feel there are always benefits to linking out to authority sites like this
On-Page Optimization | | imageworks-2612900 -
Impact of website redesign when changing to wordpress
Agency designed website and not sure what platform was used. Are now working minor redesign of site but wants to do so in word press. I don't have any problem with word press but don't want to start over ranking for key phrases. I don't want to change URL from mysite.com for the home page. What is the right way to make sure this is done correctly. I could not find a resource on the site. I don't mind researching this but am not sure what to search for to find info. Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | arainey0070