I have recently had a big drop on Google. I went from #3 in the keyword search to #14 overnight. The phone has stopped ringing. The only thing that I can think of that would have caused the drop was that I moved the business location. I changed the address on Google, but didn't change it on the rest of the internet. I have since made the changes, but I have not moved up on Google. It has been 4 weeks! Can anyone think of another reason why I would have dropped? When will Google move me back up? Here is my website. http://www.charlestontrimaran.com keywords: sailing charters charleston, sailboat harbor tours, sunset cruise.
In your case it seems that the change of business location caused this problem, where you went from #3 to #14 on Google. It's sad to hear that the phone has stopped ringing. The steps you have taken are reasonable regarding updating the information not only on Google but also on other places on the Internet. It should be noted that it can sometimes take some time for search engines to crawl the content and update it so it corresponds with the new address you have. I assume you have used directories and they will be crawled separately. This means that it might take some time for everything to be crawled. Apart from that I would recommend you too look at the links to your website. Make sure that you have no unnatural links to your website as it will likely result in a penalty from search engines. There are tools on the Internet that you can use to analyze your backlinks. Also it's recommended that you have fresh content on your website. Update it regularly so it's not outdated. This will drive traffic but also your ranking on search engines.
Thank you so much for your response. Do you have any idea how long it could take? The sailboat harbor cruise business is very seasonal. Come October no one is interested in sailing tours and business stops until April.
It's really hard to tell how long it could take because Google works on an individual basis which means that it can take longer time for some websites than others. However I wonder if you have checked your backlinks so you don't have backlinks from bad websites. This is important because you can get penalized from search engines if bad websites link to your website. Also I understand how hard this is hitting you as the harbor cruise business is, just as you state "seasonal". It's really sad that a situation like this has happened. To minimize the loss in the short run, I would advise you to do some Adwords advertising. It will cost but it's better than having no sales. Moreover, you should look at different options to improve your website's ranking. On the Internet there is always competition and changes on search engine algorithms, so many people will at some time face a situation where their website rank lower. The main thing is to find ways to climb again. This is where SEO comes into the picture. It doesn't have to cost. You can learn it yourself. If you have further questions, feel free to ask.
Its strange that changing address can cause this issue, does you change the city also? If it is same city it should not be a problem.
Around July 9 there was another update. Many were reporting a drop. I'd say that's more likely the reason why your site went down rather than some minor changes that you made to it.