I own a small content site which has been ranked #1 and #2 for it's main keywords for a good 2-3 years now. Just yesterday however the rankings went down to 5-7 and I'm not sure what's wrong. Is Google just messing with the index and I'll move back up again shortly, or am I just screwed?
I haven't done that in ages, but it's kind of weird it moved down so suddenly after so long. Working on getting some content at the moment, and I'll start link building again.
Some site has leap-frogged you, or Google has tweaked the algorithm a bit (it's always doing this). The main thing is to keep adding backlinks, as already suggested. This would be the best help for you.
Haha, very true. Once you get to the top, it does not mean that you can stop working. You always need to be building backlinks.
There was a change to the google algorithm. There has been talk about the upcoming change for a while now but within the last couple of days there have been major changes in ranking to many of my sites and I am seeing posts like this all over the place. I wrote a blog entry about it: Google Algo. I have some theories based on about a day and a half of reading but maybe it is just a MAJOR update. Who knows.
Thanks for your replies. I completely revamped the site, adding heaps of content + onsite seo. I also use the starterkit code on TLA and hopefully the links I bought will help out.
Google loves new content and give new sites and new pages a "New Content Boost". I have seen PR0 pages out ranking PR5 pages in search results but only for few days. So, I suggest you wait for few days, may be some new sites or pages or temporary above your sites and will disappear in 2-3 days.
Yes this happens from time to time. I have several sites which rank #1 in google for their main keywords and occasionally one may drop to the #2 position for a couple of days and then back to the #1 spot. The difference with what is happening now is that aged sites have changed positions drastically. My from #5 under a highly sought after keyword to page 10 with no changes recently. A normal google update may have it change a couple of positions. This combined with a site which jumped from oblivion to page 2 with no changes is strange. I am also noticing that some other sites have moved up and down. I am trying to find a common denominator between the sites which have moved. Is it link quality, frequent updates, traffic etc. Also PR is not really at question here. I don't have any sites with a PR over 5 yet many are and ahve been at the top of google for many years. PR is simly one of the SERP factors.
I think there was a major change in Google. My blog lost almost all backlinks (2,500) and 75% of my traffic. My traffic went from 1400 per day to 450. I'm depressed. My PR is still 4 though. Go figure.
backlinks are part of the equation. Remember though not crap links but good ones! I don't build backlinks they find me. I did write an article for one of my sites which got me some really good backlinks. Concentrate on EVERY aspect. If you have a shit site with shit content and tons of backlinks it will still suck.
Backlinks get devalued all the time. If you let your backlinks go stale without acquiring new links, expect some of them to lose some of their powers.
They call it Google Dance, it is (in most cases) a temporary situation... if your site belongs to first page it will be back, just relax and wait
Just thought I'd post that my rankings came back 3-4 days ago. And now for 3 days I've had some of the highest earning days ever, not to mention the site actually has some alright content now. CTR is up, traffic is up, page views are up - maybe this was the kick in the bum I needed. Make better sites everyone.