S.Lower rankings are an essential rite of passage for SEO. It’s like hearing your own heart beat when you put the first redirect. Or you bump your knees the first time you have to discuss something vaguely technical. we were all there.
The good news is you’re on a well-trodden road, one with very clear steps to take when analyzing how to undo a drop. And having a sound reporting system is essential in monitoring your and your competitors’ performance.
Here are 12 tips for understanding, analyzing, and reversing decline.
Overwhelming: A drop in search rankings is a rite of passage for SEOs, but it doesn’t have to be permanent.
credit: Getty
What Affects Google Rankings?
Google’s algorithm includes over 200 ranking factors that influence a site’s SEO ranking.
Page and site level factors to consider range from title tags to age of pages and domains to brand signals such as mentions in authoritative (or low quality) sources that help Google put your site in the right place. In addition, there are many. ecosystem.
The more poor quality signals you send, the more likely you are to lose rankings. Or don’t get them.
The number of ranking factors can seem a little overwhelming, too many to detail here, but you don’t have to do everything perfectly. If you’re looking for insider tips, none of us can do everything perfectly.
Google Ranking Drop Checklist – 12 Tips
1. Don’t panic
Arguably the most important thing on this list is not to panic. Dropping in rankings is a natural part of the SEO process and can come back in days or weeks depending on the root cause.
Algorithm updates are known to fluctuate in the first two to three weeks. Unless you see a business-critical decline, your best bet is to monitor and be patient. If the drop is clearly dramatic, the next step is important.
2. Make sure your leaderboard is bug-free
Ranking tools are machines at heart, but they can behave like humans. they are prone to error. They make mistakes, just like us. Even Google Search Console isn’t perfect, so double-check or triple-check that your rank tracker is working, and use multiple tools to verify.
If you’re still unsure, message the provider directly to see if they’re aware of the bug. We are happy to help. Or at least it should.
3. Make sure you’re not under manual action
We have never received one. These manual penalties issued by human reviewers who determine that a site does not comply with Google’s guidelines are for misleading content or sexually explicit content. From publishing silly content, to cloaking content and images, to keyword stuffing that was once ubiquitous.
Luckily, Search Console has a manual action report that lets you know if your site has been hit with manual penalties, and a guide to recovering from them.
4. Check your average rank
Checking your average rank is a simple but effective way to determine if traffic loss is not caused by third-party events or errors in your tracker (if the tracker in question is Search Console except when
Impressions and clicks are affected by events beyond your control, such as search volume and news coverage. Overall rank is generally a good indicator of overall site ranking decline.
It’s not just your site’s overall rankings that you need to worry about, but…
5. Rank subfolders, subcategories and individual pages
Luckily, your rankings aren’t just affected by site-wide declines. These are at the subfolder or individual page level. Declining rankings and subsequent traffic or conversions can be painful if you’re particularly dependent on one page.
If tracking is configured (see below), identifying and analyzing subfolder dropoffs is easy.
If you need to take a more manual approach, Search Console’s[パフォーマンス]Add custom URL parameters to your tabs to analyze where and when you’ve lost to the algorithmic gods.
6. Identify patterns
Patterns should be the basis for your ranking decline analysis. Dropoffs can be due to specific keyword types or location-specific content. This is a relatively easy fix. Or maybe more subtle. I usually start with something like this:
– Are the rejected keywords location-based? (e.g. UK)
– Or was traffic dropped from a specific subfolder?
– Target a subset of specific types of keywords (e.g. “best” or “cost” related terms)
– Was the entire subfolder deleted?
Finding patterns makes everything a little easier to understand.
7. Diagnosing the problem
Now that you know (hopefully at least) which section (or *sigh* section) of your site is affected, it’s time to diagnose the problem. Breaking things down into technical her SEO, on-page and off-page is a wise but slightly obvious approach.
8. Technical SEO
Your content may be the best in the game, but if it’s hard to find, slow to load, hampered by a poor internal linking structure, it’s limited by technical inefficiencies. For , technical SEO performance is the answer to the ranking problem.
Check the Page Experience Report in Search Console for your site’s speed performance. If you’re concerned about internal linking and navigation structure (pages per session is a useful metric here), Search Console also has a very detailed link report, showing how many links each page contains. is shown.
Also, if you have the Chrome DevTools Recorder available, you can record user flows to see how users interact with your site. This works great for navigation/click elements. All free!
9. Check your backlinks
Links are still fundamental to assessing the overall quality of a site. They may not be as valuable as they were ten years ago, but few EAT modifiers are still as valuable as quality backlinks.
“Oh man, I got 900 backlinks yesterday. You must be creating quality content. I wonder why they all come from dodgy porn and gambling sites. .”
If we have £1 each time this happens, our name will be £2. Links from spammy sites are unlikely to affect a site’s health, but Google’s 2021 Link Spam Update is more effective than ever in fighting link spam, so it’s important to be aware of links It’s worth making sure you’re following best practice guidelines. This includes adding low quality sites to the disavow file.
10. Check content quality
Content quality can be difficult to quantify, but there are some important points to consider.
– Was your content written by a living, breathing organism or a robot?
– Does the content match the search intent of the query?
– Does it go into the right level of depth and detail?
– Are you targeting relevant long-tail queries and FAQs?
– Are you using terms that are semantically related?
– Are you using multiple content types?
– What about engagement and bounce rates? Pogo sticking is not confirmed yet, but many people (myself included) see it as a ranking factor
Ultimately, if your content is a dime, you have a problem. Use individual images, ratings, product reviews, and/or angles to make sure they are unique in some way. This is what sets you apart as an expert.
11. Cross-reference all of this with industry chatter
One of the great things about SEO is that men and women are not isolated islands. There are dozens of quality SEO bloggers, creators and website owners discussing algorithm updates, best practices, wins and losses on forums and social media.
So when you identify patterns or problems, cross-reference them with what others in your industry are seeing. If the display is significantly different, something may be wrong. Perhaps in your analysis. Or, at worst, your site. But you’ve probably already established this.
Just a reminder that word count is not a ranking factor
12. Check your current SEO improvement program
We are working towards our 3-year goals on a semi-annual cycle. Set up a long-term SEO improvement process designed to ensure that you create unique, high-quality content that adheres to best practices.
So you have to find something out of the ordinary to change your plans. Our audits are designed to find important issues before they drop your rankings.
But it’s good to be challenged. Due to the drop in rankings, we need to reassess our efforts and consider the following:
– focus on the right things
– something has to change
– going in the right direction
If you don’t have a clear improvement plan in place, it’s time to create one.
What negatively impacts search rankings?
There are various factors that negatively affect search rankings, mainly divided into technical SEO, on-page SEO, and off-page SEO. Again, too much to go into detail.
However, if you create misleading or harmful content, you can either manually deal with it, or you may lose rankings if the content you are creating is considered low quality. You may see a similar drop in search rankings by making technical changes that negatively impact your site.
What’s the first thing you check when your ranking drops?
After confirming that your site’s ranking has dropped, corroborate your findings. If you see a drop in Search Console, check your third-party reporting tools to see what they found.
Next, check your analytics provider to see if your organic traffic and even revenue are affected. Finally, check out what’s new and detailed in the SEO industry to see if your ranking drop is localized.
How long does it take to recover after my ranking drops?
Ranking drops can take days or years to recover. By making simple fixes like adding blacklisted sites to your disavow file, you can see your ranking start to recover in just a few days, but for years PBNs (Private Blog Networks) ) and if it eventually finds it, it may never find it. Recover.
