Keyword keeps fluctuating between a high rank and no rank?
-
I've searched around and I can't seem to find anyone else describing the issue I'm seeing. Basically for a very long time our website (snappages.com) has always ranked in the tens and twenties for "create a website". It's a high volume keyword and we get a lot of traffic from it. Around May 16th it suddenly disappeared completely from search results on Google and now it will sporadically show back up with a SERP in the twenties every 5-10 days for a few hours and then completely disappear again. This pattern has continued to this day.
I've checked and there are no manual penalties and nothing has really changed dramatically from a content perspective or anything like that. I would understand if we got penalized and our ranking dropped, or even if it just completely disappeared? This is the only keyword that this is happening for, all the others remain unaffected. Anyone know how I can find out why this is happening or have suggestions on how to fix it?
-
That's a good point. I've tried incognito etc. I even use a few SERP tracking tools and they reflect the same thing. SERPWoo for instance will send me an alert saying they keyword "started ranking" instead of the normal alert that says it went up or down.
I guess it's comforting to hear someone else is seeing something similar though b/c I haven't seen anyone report this and I've done a lot of searching for it.
-
I have experienced something similar this year - it's not something I've seen before.
Everyday it can change. One day my client is number 5 for "keyword" - the next day it has gone.
This has been happening for about 3 months now.
I am putting faith in Google eventually settling down and keeping them on the first page. It is a very difficult one to explain though and I don't have the answers.
This is not about having a better SEO strategy - this is about something I'm calling GHOST RANKINGS
Anyone else seen this .. and what happened?
P.S I'm am incognito when I check. I also track it in MOZ rankings. I have also got people to check from different locations - this is not the reason!
-
Maybe.
But, if some of these have grabbed all or most of your text, then filing DMCA is what I would do. Before you file DMCA be sure that you know the risks and especially know the rules related to fair use. See an attorney before doing it if you have any doubts about your understanding.
-
No problem, here is another question somewhat similar to yours that has been answered https://moz.com/community/q/why-keyword-ranking-fluctuate
-
Thanks for the feedback. I do understand it's very competitive so I would understand going up and down in ranking but it literally shows up at 23, then gone for 4 days, then 27, then gone for 6 days, then 21, then gone for 5 days, etc.
This fluctuation has been happening for months and prior to this I was very steadily always ranked high.
-
That's a good question. I'm looking into it but it doesn't seem to be a way to check this reliably. Would switching up the content that is being used by those other sites make a difference?
-
I hope I can provide some useful insights in regards to this somewhat of an anomaly.
After reading your explanation carefully and doing some research on the keyword, it is apparent that this is quite an important keyword to rank for even if just in the first 20 SERPs. Due to the difficulty of this keyword, I am not very surprised with the fluctuation in your rankings since there is a lot of content generated around the topic on a daily basis.
Here are my suggestions if you're willing to invest a good amount of effort on regaining or securing a good position for this keyword:
- Create a new website page with the URL https://snappages.com/create-a-website
- Add the page in the navbar with an attractive CTA
- Differentiate it the new page from the home page
- Get your technical on-page SEO right for the new page.
- Then Publish a series of blog posts that are related to the keyword. In ex: Basic rules of web design, how to build a website for converting visitors, how to make your own website, etc. Try to find some low difficulty keywords, and link all of the posts back to https://snappages.com/create-a-website through a call-to-action at the bottom of each post. This will not only increase the new page's relevancy to search engines but if you do a good job at finding keywords will also yield some traffic.
- Make sure the blog posts are not product centric instead, make them as helpful as possible.
- Work on getting some backlinks to the new page, and repeat.
This strategy will require a good bit of time to create new and unique content, on-page SEO, off-page SEO, designing the page, etc. Though it might be worth it since it is very relevant to the company.
-
Are you going into the supplemental index or are you totally gone?
If you are going into the supplemental index then these guys using your content might be having an impact.
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
-
Topics and semantically related keywords
Hi, Imagine my main topic is "Bike tours in Holland. Let's imagine that I have decided to write about these 2 topics " Amsterdam " and "Gouda". To talk about those topics should I use the keywords that moz keyword tool gives me for the keyword "Bike tours in Holland" such as "trail, cycle routes, bike paths" and write something like "Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands is the perfect place to hit the road with your trail bike. There are miles of bike paths to cycle one etc... Or can I write something like Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands features some of the best museums in Europe. The Van Gogh museum, the Anne Franck house and the Rijksmuseum. Or is this second sentence talking about the museums wrong because it isn't talking about biking. Thank you,
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | seoanalytics0 -
Is it normal for Bing rankings to fluctuate so much on a daily basis?
Hi all, I launched a new website in Aug 2015, and have had some success with ranking organically on Google (position 2 - 5 for all of my target terms). However I'm still not getting any traction on Bing. I know that they use completely different algorithms so it's not unusual to rank well on one but not the other, but the ranking behaviour that I see seems quite odd. We've been bouncing in and out of the top 50 for quite some time, with shifts of 30+ positions often on a daily basis (see attached). This seems to be the case for our full range of target terms, and not just the most competitive ones. I'm hoping someone can advise on whether this is normal behaviour for a relatively young website, or if it more likely points to an issue with how Bing is crawling my site. I'm using Bing Webmaster tools and there aren't any crawl or sitemap issues, or significant seo flags. Thanks dhYgh
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Tinhat0 -
HUGELY different ranking for a keyword between Bing and Google. Looking for ideas.
We rank really well for a brand in Bing (#2 behind manufacturer, and it's a competitive name) but are in about 15th place in Google. Any suggestions on what could be hurting us in Google are welcome!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | absoauto1 -
Ranking Above sub-domains
So I work for a company that has a very successful affiliate that operates under a third level domain name such as "region.company.com". Their SEO practices are very good and they rank highly in keyword searches. However "company.com" does not even though it is not a subdomain. Even after optimizing the company.com's pages etc, the regional sub domain ranks much higher for keywords and the main company fails to rank at all. Is Google discounting the main company's page? Is it a matter of trust or time? or is it something else? How can I get Google to prioritize the main company website rather than a lower level domain affiliate?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Resolute0 -
Plural versions of keywords
I am a Magician and optimising my site for local seo mainly. I would imagine this will affect any local business but I woule like some input from the community on how to handle variations of the same keyword. e.g I am a Magician and I am based in Hampshire So I have created a page for Hampshire and from previous keyword research optimised it of Magician Hampshire. However there are many more variations of the keyword. e.g Magicians Hampshire, Magicians in Hampshire, Hampshire Magician, Magician in Hampshire, Close up Magicians in Hampshire, Hampshire Magicians, Magicians near Hampshire, Local Hampshire Magicians. The list goes on but I can not find an answer on wether I should have a separate page/blog post for each of these keywords or include them in the same page. If I include them in the same page how to not make it spammy I am sure this is the same for electricians, dentists, hairdressers etc so am hoping there is a common answer to a problem that has been puzzling me for a long time Many Thanks Roger
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | rnperki
http://www.rogerlapin.co.uk/0 -
Local ranking (keyword) strategies
Hello SEOmozers, I've been working on improving all components of my SEO skills for the past 6 months. I have definitely had some great victories and some gray defeats. My newest challenge is local ranking for a home improvement company. My target is to rank them locally with Google within the top 7 results. I have managed to do so, but only for one keyword "windows and doors CITY". My campaign, in terms of anchor text has a wide variety of long and shortail keywords, I have not concentrated on the above keyword. My question is, how do I go about to rank this website in the local results for all other keywords "windows CITY", "window replacement CITY", etc... What I don't understand is how Google picks up which keywords to rank the website locally for, and which ones to ignore. Any information will be well received. Cheers, Nikster
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | thenikster0 -
Method for Ranking fast low competition keywords.
I have a web site for tours & according to Moz there are many duplicates titles and description .So now in the process of making all the errors correct. already around 1500 pages indexed in Google.keywords competition from 135000 to 2400 respectively.still not any of keywords ranking for top 100 result in local search .already created Google place also. So i wanna show to my client few lower kws in 20 days in top 100 result at least .looking for expert advice , <colgroup><col width="163"></colgroup>
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | innofidelity0 -
High Ranking Site with tons of junk on the server
Hey All, So to make a long story short, we own a site that has been passed through many hand and many strategies. We are in the financial field and rank high for many relevant search terms. My job is now to audit/optimize and purge out site of the garbage that has collected over the years (since 2002). During the audit I have found many issues, fized them, but I am not sure own how to proceed with the follwing issues. Any advice to solve the following would be greatly appreciated! 9932 orphan files - does just removing them affect my SEO.. I like a clean house, can I somehow use them to my benefit? Hundreds of 404s with many external "follow" links that we are no longer getting juice from 8 Sitelinks in webmaster tools, but only 4 show in our search I am straight n00b so sorry if this is 101 for anyone you but your input would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | deuce1s0