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... unbelieveable. Thank you for the work-around, but right, not immediate results. So much has changed over the last couple years with SEO, but wouldn't you still want some idea as to the rank of a keyword... ? I'm wondering if searching the first 5 pages myself in Google would be any less mind-numbing?

As much as I want to like Moz, this is one of the things that keep me from understanding MOZ - something so simple as to check the rank for a bunch of keywords you're researching - to have to load each keyword one at a time in Rank Tracker seems more than ridiculous. I must be missing something - I must be.

Miriam,

Thank you very much. I believe I am starting to see the whole picture of possibilities for this drop in rank. And excellent info about Google Places.

I do need to visit the Places help forum and add it to the list of resources!

Much appreciated.

_Cindy

I think basically Mark is right, good be a combination of items. I would need to sort through the first suspicions on the sudden drop and also address some of the suggestions from Mark - competition, and most definitely optimizing the site, I can only hope the client will move forward with implement ion.

thanks again for assistance.

_Cindy

Perfect, thanks Cody, helps a lot.

And thank you for advice on matching contact page and Google Places!

_Cindy

Lots of duplication on directory listings using similar or same address, just different company names... like so-and-so carpet cleaning; and another listing with so-and-so janitorial services.

Now my client went from a rank around 3 - 4 to not even in the top 50 within a week.

-- -- -- Would duplication cause this sudden drop?

Not a lot of competition for a client using keyword (janitorial services nh);

-- -- -- would a competitor that recently optimized a site cause this sudden drop?

Client does need to optimize for this keyword, and they do need to clean up this duplication. (Unfortunately this drop happened first of March --  I provided the audit, recommendations/implementation and still awaiting the thumbs up to continue with implementation).

--- --- --- Did Google make a change and possibly find these discrepancies within listings and suddenly drop this client's ranking?

And they there's Google Places:
Client usually ranks #1 for Google Places with up to 12 excellent reviews, so they are still getting a good spot on the first page.

The very odd thing though is that Google is still saying that need to re-verify their Google places.

I really would like to know for my how this knowledge how a Google Places account could still need verification and yet still rank so well within Google places on page results?  because of great reviews? --- Any ideas here, too?

_Cindy

Mark,

Thanks so much for your reply, apologize for the delay. I can't add many more details, this client has had a website, for last 5 - 6 years now, family-owned for 35.

The drop in rankings for my client happened suddenly - some gradual fall the first week, 2 - 3 in rank; and then "bam" the next week not even in the top 50. This was 2nd week of March. The client has still not moved forward with my recommendations for offsite or onsite optimization.

About a year ago the client completed a new design - very professional, but lacking in some basic onsite optimization - proper use of keywords, headings, meta-descriptions, etc... some visual and user issues - though the latter minor.

Not a lot of competition online, just very basic info-type, homemade websites, still they were ranking in top 10 (keyword - janitorial services nh).  I did notice a new competitor after checking out the most recent top 10 rankings - and this competitor put in a little work to optimize the website- but that's only one of all the top 10.

Was there any new changes in Google around March of this year that could have effected such a sudden drop?

_Cindy

Seems my last private question was on March 23 -- so why would I have to wait until June to ask another?

I believe I made a reply right at the first of April, which wasn't answered... and I haven't asked another private question yet... not that I have one now, just wonder why the wait that seems longer than a "calendar month"?

_Cindy

One of my clients has always ranked well for this keyword (janitorial services, nh).

Then within a week, they dropped out of the top fifty in Google and now in other major search engines as well.

My first thought of why the drop in rankings is due to duplicate listings within online directories. The previous marketing person on staff was listing the company more than once in these directories, and it wasn't discovered until later in the link building process.

Sometimes the company was listed with "janitorial services" as part of the company name, and then listed again with "carpet cleaning" as part of the company name... sometimes with duplicate address, or using the po box instead - as if two companies.

The odd thing in all this is that while they dropped in ranking for this keyword, they still come in usually 1st in Google Places for this keyword with 12 excellent reviews. And yet when I check their Google Places account, it says that it needs to be reverified, again, it doesn't meet the terms. (company is a family owned business, for over 30 years, they have a lot of potential).

So all this duplication needs to be fixed, but how serious are duplicate listings on places like Manta, YellowPages, SuperPages, also Yahoo Business Local and Bing Business Directory?

And now that "forensics" seems to be my task, any suggestions on how to start? Any processes I should go through with Google WebMaster?

_Cindy

And, too, if I could add, the site ranks very poorly for this keyword and while I have provided recommendations, and they understand the onsite issue, they have yet to go forward with implementation, making this a little more difficult issue.

OK, so simple 301 redirects seem to be working out fine.

But having a thing for a puzzle, and thus far learning more about htaccess, I am wondering why a simple rewrite... or "redirect" rule would not work. Like this:

RewriteRule ^(./blog)$ http://cmsearchmarketing.com/blog$1.php [R=301,NC]

or this

RewriteRule ^./blog$ http://www.cmsearchmarketing.com/blog [R=301,NC]

(...and this goes into the old site htaccess with the old domain name, NOT the new site with the new domain name; and the new site basically has all new page names.)

Where in the htaccess file would it go... after the WP permalink rule - considering I am using permalinks on the site and writing the rules with the permalink structure?

Can I write a rule such as this and redirect to another domain all together?

When would I use [L] for last rule?

And what's the difference in a rewrite and a redirect?

OK, if anyone is pursuing and can help I would appreciate.
Thank you very much.

_Cindy

As much as I want to like Moz, this is one of the things that keep me from understanding MOZ - something so simple as to check the rank for a bunch of keywords you're researching - to have to load each keyword one at a time in Rank Tracker seems more than ridiculous. I must be missing something - I must be.

... unbelieveable. Thank you for the work-around, but right, not immediate results. So much has changed over the last couple years with SEO, but wouldn't you still want some idea as to the rank of a keyword... ? I'm wondering if searching the first 5 pages myself in Google would be any less mind-numbing?