Which of the following actions caused a drop in keyword ranking?
-
Hello,
About 2 months ago we build a specific page arround the keyword 'kerstkaarten' (christmas cards in Dutch). It moved up to the first page (7th position), but last week we fell back to a +50 position.
The changes we made during the last week where minimal, and I really don't have an idea what may have caused the sudden drop in ranking. Maybe you can help?Link: http://www.smartphoto.be/nl/belangrijke-momenten/kerst/kerstkaarten
Changes made:
-> I changed the keyword kerstkaarten on tim on the page to 'kerstkaartjes', because the Moz page grader said the keyword density was a bit too high.
-> We changed the top image on the page with a different promo. Title of the image changed from 'kerstkaarten-promo' to 'kerstkaarten-wenskaarten'
-> The date on a small legal text on the page changed
-> We got 2 backlinks from bloggers who've written an article about our christmas cards.
So no major changes in my opinion. Any ideas? Thanks a lot!
-
All we can do here is guess, but my guess is that you had a temporary "honeymoon boost" when you first launched the site. Google will often rank a new page highly, see how users interact with it and then drop it down in the rankings after a few weeks.
I would imagine that that's a pretty competitive term, so to rank #7 for it would take a lot of authority!
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
-
How does indexing backlinks affect SEO and search engine rankings?
Indexing backlinks plays a crucial role in the overall SEO strategy and search engine rankings. When search engines like Google crawl and index a website, they also consider the quality and relevance of the backlinks pointing to that site. Here's why indexing backlinks is important: Visibility in Search Results: Indexing ensures that search engines recognize and attribute value to the backlinks you have acquired. When indexed, these backlinks contribute to the overall link profile of your website and can positively impact your visibility in search results. Faster Indexation: By submitting your backlinks for indexing, you can speed up the process of search engines discovering and recognizing those links. This helps search engines recognize the relevance and authority of your website sooner. Enhanced Crawling and Ranking: Indexing allows search engines to crawl and evaluate the backlinks pointing to your site. These backlinks are considered as signals of trust and authority, which can influence your search engine rankings. Improved Domain Authority: When high-quality backlinks pointing to your site are indexed, they contribute to your website's Domain Authority (DA). A higher DA indicates a more authoritative and reputable website, which can positively impact your rankings and organic search visibility. Competitive Advantage: Indexing your backlinks gives you a competitive edge by ensuring that the value and authority of those links are properly recognized and taken into account by search engines. This can help you outrank competitors who may have unindexed or low-quality backlinks. It's important to note that not all backlinks may require manual indexing, as search engines can discover and index them naturally. However, for specific or newly acquired backlinks that may not be indexed quickly, manual submission or using indexing services can help ensure they are recognized by search engines and contribute to your overall SEO efforts.
Link Building | | Morries88880 -
Should I target two pages for the same keyword, but two different intents?
When people type in a certain keywords in my industry space (animated video), they usually have one of two intents: some want to see videos (for inspiration or entertainment or whatever) and some want to hire a company. We have pages that meet each intent. Some "Best of..." blog posts for the crowd that want to see videos (that might be top-of-the-funnel prospects, potentially) and a landing page for the buying-intent people. I'm seeing each ranking page as essentially two, kept in proper balance to meet search intent by click-throughs. So I'm betting that my landing page won't cannibalize the "best of..." page. Is that the right way to see it, or not?
Link Building | | Wagster0 -
Still possible to target keywords?
If you're a professional SEO and a client wants to target certain keywords, other than on-page tweaks what else is there? Or am I right in presuming there's nothing you can do off-page any more?
Link Building | | Jeepster0 -
Do you stop link building once you have your desired rank?
So with all these updates hitting sites left, right and center. Now you have your desired rank on Google, do you stop link building for that project? I can see some positives in this You will not add links that will get hit by future updates. If you do get hit in future updates you have less links to remove. Obviously it an outstanding link came along from BBC or CNN you would go for that. But press releases etc would you now stop anything like that?
Link Building | | tempowebdesign0 -
Lack of keyword targetting
Consider a scenario where a website has a considerably higher no. of back links than its competitors along with a greater Domain Authority, Mozrank etc. The only thing missing is keyword targeting. In such a case, rather than trying to build new links with keyword rich anchor text, wouldn't it be better to first focusing on changing the anchor text of the links that are already pointing to the website? How much impact would this have on its rankings? If the gap in back links, and the "value" of the back links is far greater than its competitors wouldn't this in itself help to change things around drastically?
Link Building | | AsadMemon0 -
Can You Rank Without Backlinking?
With all the new emphasis on on-page metrics and social metrics, would it be possible to rank well without putting much emphasis on backlinking if your content is significantly better than the rest of the ranking pages? Say #1 to #5 are pages of 500 word generic content. We come in with 2,000 word specific, high-quality content. Can we get by without spending as much time/energy on backlinking? Would the on-page factors make up for it, or has the game not changed that much?
Link Building | | DerekP1 -
Searching for Quality "Follow" Back Links
I'm in a highly competitive national market where the top sites have links from between 325 and 1300 unique linking root domains, therefore, you have to have an aggressive approach just to get on the map. (I'm at 317) If we were talking about needing 50 good links, I could take the time to cultivate relationships, get to know people, and get 1 or 2 great links from each webmaster, but the scale of the challenge is out of control. My competitors, and myself, seem to all be getting links in the following ways: Hoards of directory links. Some high quality paid links from industry sites ($2,400 per each link per year) and hundreds from 9-$49 per year. At the bottom of the list of most all my competitors, there appears to be some links from their early beginnings that were reciprocal linking arrangements. Blogs where they submitted articles and have good links back to their sites. Paid ads on sites all over the internet that link back with their specific key words. Some from relevant sites, but mostly from sites that would give them a good deal and have high enough traffic and/or page rank. Blog comments with a link back to their site; sometimes with good anchor text and sometimes you're forced to have to use your web site address as the anchor text or even your name. (Does that even do any good?) My dilema is where to find 1,000 good places to get links and I don't do black hat? I can write good quality comments on blogs from a wide variety of industries, but most are now eliminating the possibility of using my anchor text other than my web site and my name. As I scour the playing field, it almost appears that it has become a "pay to play" proposition as far as getting links everywhere other than writing good blog articles, but then what good does it do to have 500 blog articles coming from a handful of linking root domains? You're just stuffing the ballot box! As for me, I'm in the teens with all the high value phrases I need and must come up with a better strategy for the home stretch. In all the other varied statistical measurements that I see on SEO Moz, I'm no lower than #5 out of the top 10 competitors in any of them except Alexa rank. So, I'm close but it seems so far away! Would appreciative and be grateful for some wisdom from the community! Lowell
Link Building | | lwnickens1 -
What to do with outdated (but ranking) content?
I'm SEOing for a theatre. We've got show pages that rank when searching for the business, but are outdated as the shows are from past years. The pages aren't accessible at all from the site now, but still exist in domain and are linked to by google. If you search the business, the results are: 1. [biz name] 2. [biz name] - tickets 3-6. outdated shows Should these pages be left up, or taken down and redirected home? Would there be any seo boost to the homepage from 301ing them home, or do you think it'd be more beneficial to have more results available as entry points into the site?
Link Building | | RyanWhitney150