Im pretty upset today because one of our biggest and highest ranking site which is in 2nd position for over 6 months now for the keyword phrase "Public Records" is now thrown to the 5th page for unknown reason. We are not doing any blackhat tactics for that website. No link buying and all contents are unique copypaste passed. I wonder if some of you experiencing this kind of situation right now.
Like Sunlust said, G-Dance. One of my main sites jumps from page 1 to page 6 quite frequently for a very competitive keyword. You just have to wait it out and continue to add content and build links.
No link selling. The site has no outbound links in homepage. But has outbound links in some pages but we voluntarily put links there because all of them are relevant and useful for our visitors. I hope you are right guys that this is just another google dance...
I find the results to be deplorable lately. I usually skip the first 1-3 pages and start at page 4 and beyond where I usually find the gems I'm looking for. Earlier, while searching for something, the #10 on page 1 was a site under construction. I'm sure that that will make those webmasters relegated to page 2 very happy.
The age of your site also plays a factor in this newer sites tend to move around more in the serps. However, if your site is older it will be able to maintain a more stable ranking in the serps.