Yesterday my site went from PR3 to PR2, where it was a couple of months ago and now I'm waaaay down on SERPs. Even when searching for my own company/domain name - which is fairly unique - I come up on page 5 (before it used to be #1). And another thing: Webmaster Tools doesn't show any backlinks to my home page (does show a few inner pages) and link:domainname shows only 2 links - both internal - even though I've been adding dozens and dozens if not hunderds of directory, article & blog backlinks over the past few months. I don't know what crime I may have committed in Google's court of law, but I'm just completely demoralized. I know there must be a reason, but honestly, I don't get it. I don't even do any back/grayhat stuff. While scratching my head, on a hunch, it came to me that my site is on a shared host (Bluehost). I did a reverse IP DNS search (www.ip-adress.com/reverse_ip) and it turns out there are 1411 other domains hosted on my IP - Wow, 1411! - I didn't want to take any chances, so I ordered a dedicated IP, but I admit I'm shooting in the dark here. Just wondering if anyone here knows if using a shared IP/host could affect your PR or SERP results?
PR goes up and down. Just keep building links. Wait for at least 3 weeks before taking any action. SERPs usually come back within 2 weeks after a google dance.
IMO the dedicated IP won't do any good. If you have frequent server outages and downtime, that's a different story. A lot of people claim the IP makes a difference. From my experience the domain is what matters. Directories (article and web) and blog comments are fine. Some people typically use one or two anchor text variations and that can cause a temporary hiccup in the serps. This should be short lived if that's the case. My hunch is that you may have lost a good quality backlink or two that existed when your site was a PR 3. Either those links could have been removed or the value of those links reduced. If this is the case, there is little you can do about that except to continue promoting your site. Get the word out to relevant sites and try to get them to link while still continuing your previous efforts. Don't forget that Google just did a PR export about a day ago. It may take a little time for ranks to stabilize, especially on sites that do not carry much authority. Don't worry too much about PR. The criteria always changes and PR is a moving target. Focus on traffic. And to get traffic, and retain repeat visitors, you need great content. Focus on producing the best content you can and the rest will follow. Good luck
Not finding your website until page 5 when searching for its own domain name sounds like google does not like what you are doing SEO wise. Make sure you are not pushing the envelope too far into blackhat territory and also check anyone you are linking to and ensure they are not in google's dog house too.
Thanks snowbird, I'll keep working on this - I have no choice. Nope, no link exchange and no blackhat stuff (I don't even know how to). My only outlinks - a dozen or so - are to PR6 and PR7 sites and most are on one nofollow "links" page. However, I did recently buy some links from several B/S/T merchants and AFAIK they were legit and on reputable blog sites and directories, but I suppose there could be more links out there that I don't know about or that they did not report on. Do you suppose it's possible that Google is penalizing me for backlinks from some blackhat or not-so-legit sites? How can I find out? Google doesn't show any inbound links, and per Site Explorer everything seems to be OK, or at least no significant change from about a month ago. BTW, none of the recent backlinks I bought show on Site Explorer yet.
Here's something interesting: I just checked and 4 out of 5 of my direct competitors also went down one notch, but the fifth one went up by a notch. Funny thing is one of the a PR1 now (before it was PR2) and it ranks #1 on one of my main keyword SERPs. This is nuts.
I am happy to my client website for which i have spent seo for 2 months, it has improved from PR2 to PR3, also i have checked some of my client competitors site, they still remain in same PR. This makes me very much happy. what u say guys about my effort, is it worthful one for my happy?
I believe this issue with the Google SERPs and PR fluctuation either negative or positive are common here at DP. Try to browse some post here and I'll know you'll get a definite answer.
I don't think shared IP can be the reason of your "PR mystery". If you've been penalized by Google, your site will not even appear on Google then. We can't tell what their algorithm is, just continue doing backlinks and create good content and don't step into blackhat. Just check Webmaster Tools from time to time.
Shared IP can be a reason for PR drop. You know, google always suggests to check for "Bad Neighborhood".
I won't see any reason your PR effect by those host or these host, its just about your domain and google algorithm. 3 years ago, PK does not exist. Now your site PR have nothing to do with your pages listing on google with specific keywords. Better focus on the others better things. Don't wasting your time in those useless value, dude.
I agree, I don't think I've been sandboxed because I do show up just way down the pages, but penalized somehow, maybe? Has Google been know to do this? Anyway, now that I have a dedicated IP, I'll be able to report back after the it propagates through the DNS servers and Google picks it up over the next couple of days hopefully. But I have other things going on at the same time that may affect things so it will difficult to pin down the reason if in fact the SERPs pick up again (fingers crossed).
sounds like a google penalty to me. if your own domain typed into google without the www. and the .com doesn't come up first on the first page, usually indicates I believe a penalty of some sort. happened to a bloke in my niche, his webmaster was doing something google didn't like and so the site fell from first page on all his major keywords to in the 50-70 serps, 5th to 7th page, if at all. more than that, i don't know since you don't give your url.......
Without www and .com it's coming up #7. Of the first 6, two are public directories with links to me and the other four are just variations of the domain name which no links or relation to mine. Is this what's expected if there is a Google penalty? How can find out who or what did this. Sorry, I'm just a bit frazzled right now. I used to get one or two calls a day from Google searches, but the phone hasn't rang even once in over a month. Getting worried.
Since your domain name still appears in the search, your line is still connected to the exchange! As about not getting the call, well.....big G might have been able to put 2+2 together about your buying links and penalized you for the same! I know this is just shooting in the dark, but then the whole process of google is devoid of any ray of light! Regards, RightMan