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First thing to check when sites start slipping...

Discussion in 'Search Engine Optimization' started by roadies, Jun 19, 2005.

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  1. #1
    This has happened to me twice now, you'd think I'd learn:

    Last week I made a few minor changes to my site, nothing significant by any means, but noticed my rankings slipping by just one position each day. My first thought was competition is getting stiffer. So I went about analyzing competitive sites, modify some content, building links, etc. Did this for about 3 days. But my results kept slipping by one position each day.

    I decided to focus on it later and put SEO aside. I needed to work on layout for end-user usability, and it was then that I realized that I had broken <a href=> links. It was from my sloppy changes the first time. My site is dynamic, so it was repeated over and over. bleh.

    So lesson learned (again, since I did something similar before) is that a w3c validation check should come high on my list after changes or when results start slipping. It would have saved me a lot of grief and traffic loss.
     
    roadies, Jun 19, 2005 IP
  2. T0PS3O

    T0PS3O Feel Good PLC

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    #2
    Or do a Xenu Link Sleuth run after modifying your site.
     
    T0PS3O, Jun 19, 2005 IP
  3. dvduval

    dvduval Notable Member

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    #3
    I don't believe daily changes should be watched as carefully as changes over a period of time. Keep building quality content and links, and compare yourself to your competitors, and what they are doing.
     
    dvduval, Jun 19, 2005 IP
    Dreamshop likes this.
  4. roadies

    roadies Well-Known Member

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    #4
    Thanks guys. Xenu Link Seuth? This is new to me. (Time to whip out my Googler...)

    The changes I originally made were template changes. I don't make them that often, so a verification would have helped. As for just plain ol' content, yeah, I update quite frequently.
     
    roadies, Jun 20, 2005 IP
  5. minstrel

    minstrel Illustrious Member

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    #5
    minstrel, Jun 20, 2005 IP
  6. Las Vegas Homes

    Las Vegas Homes Guest

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    #6
    Xenu is must be pretty good cause I have seen a few of my friends who have real estate sites using that program. I have not tried it on any of my real estate domains but I think after some of the comments here I just might. Thanks for the advance and links.
     
    Las Vegas Homes, Jun 22, 2005 IP
  7. TommyD

    TommyD Peon

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    #7
    Wow, thanks for the Xenu Tip, helps in following roadies advice.

    thx!

    tom
     
    TommyD, Jun 22, 2005 IP
  8. Smyrl

    Smyrl Tomato Republic Staff

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    #8
    Other things to check:

    1. Is site still active? Had client fail to renew domain name. I found when keyword tracker showed drop. Also discovered friend's site down same way. I track her main keyword.

    2. Is some cloaking/redirect scheme involved. Have found my serps go down when find other sites appear in SERPS showinng my title and description but not my URL.

    3. Has someone scraped your content? I have two sites online now showing content from one of my pages. Once again my serps falling was indication of problem.

    Shannon
     
    Smyrl, Jun 22, 2005 IP
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  9. Dreamshop

    Dreamshop Peon

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    #9
    Shannon...have you been successful in repairing problems due to redirects and scraped content? Were you able to work back up into the serps?
     
    Dreamshop, Jun 22, 2005 IP
  10. Smyrl

    Smyrl Tomato Republic Staff

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    #10
    My serps came back from redirects due to getting the redirects taken down. When I find a redirect I send a cease and desist letter to both the offending webmaster and the host.

    Am having more trouble with scraped content issue. I can show using archives.org that my page predates the scraper sites. Since scraper sites have same nameservers I suspect a commonality between the sites.

    Shannon

    ------------

    Just checked copyscape and see one small step for this webmaster. One of the offending scraper sites has removed most of my content. :)
     
    Smyrl, Jun 22, 2005 IP
  11. Las Vegas Homes

    Las Vegas Homes Guest

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    #11
    Smyrl that is great advice and I just learned something, Thanks for offer this info. This gives me another tool to use, cause this is common with real estate content.
     
    Las Vegas Homes, Jun 22, 2005 IP