Hi Guys, Bit of an odd one this so bear with me. In the last 6 months our SERP have dropped for two keywords which we maintained a #1 position for around two years. I am fairly sure the SERP drop is due to us simply not building links/very little link building for at least the last 12 months and competing sites have overtook us. The only links that have been built in the past 12 months is probably 50 relevent blog comments and 30 odd high PR/quality directory submissions along with a fair few natural links that have come from unique high value articles that have been written in house as well as natural links that have come from others. The blog comments and directory submissions have had a fairly unnatural anchor text, with a good 70% containing our 2 said keywords. In the past, many of our links came from relevant and high PR (3+) directories. I have no doubt that again a good 70% of their anchor text contained our said 2 keywords. I am also fairly sure that over the past 3 years that these directories either no longer exist, the listing has expired (ie 1 year listing) and our favourite search engine has devalued the weight of a directory listing. The drop in SERP has effected the amount of traffic to the site so its time to do something about it. Onto live results, our company is UK Gaming Computers with a domain of www.ukgamingcomputers.co.uk Code (markup): and the two keywords in question are "Gaming PC" & "Gaming Computers" Code (markup): . A current search for the two keywords shows the following SERP's https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=gaming+pc&rlz=1C1CHIK_enGB513GB540&oq=gaming+pc&aqs=chrome.0.69i59l2j0l4.1321j0j8&sourceid=chrome&espvd=210&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8 Code (markup): and https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=gaming+pc&rlz=1C1CHIK_enGB513GB540&oq=gaming+pc&aqs=chrome.0.69i59l2j0l4.1321j0j8&sourceid=chrome&espvd=210&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8#es_sm=93&q=gaming+computers&safe=off Code (markup): - The first keyword returns position 4 and the second keyword position 4 (this was around position 8 a few days ago for several months). Our site contains quality unique content which naturally attracts links on relevant forums/searches etc. Our Articles http://www.ukgamingcomputers.co.uk/articles.php Code (markup): are also very popular and also generates lots of natural links and are used in the industry as good reference material. In the last couple of weeks since the drop off I have started building links again, mainly around 100 directory submissions but with much less targeted anchor text (30% maybe), this maybe why keyword 2 has ranked a little higher in SERP. We have also been focusing on our articles to try to gain a much larger text to code ratio in the last 6 months, they are useful and generate awesome backlinks. I believe we are on the right track to getting back to number 1 but have a couple of concerns. 1 - Keyword 1 whilst ranking at number 4 still contains our site links - Of course this is awesome but I was under the impression that only a number 1 SERP was able to have site links? I have seen it before with our site when our favourite search engine has done a dance and our position has fluctuated between position 1 and 2 and occasionally position 3 for a few days. 2 - I created an experiment. We leaked some industry news to the public - created a unique article http://www.ukgamingcomputers.co.uk/corsair-230t-review-a-41.html Code (markup): and used forums to spread the word. We ensured that we posted a "teaser" introduction on the relevant forums and then linked to the original article using around 4 unique anchor texts, only one anchor text contained a keyword we wanted to rank for, the rest were "here"'s and the raw URL. The article has started to go viral generating a couple unique link backs to the article on our site. I have no doubt that our Article has the most links to it, however the forums that the news was leaked on is ranking higher than our article. The keyword/phrase is Corsair 230T Review Code (markup): and this is the current SERP's https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=gaming+pc&rlz=1C1CHIK_enGB513GB540&oq=gaming+pc&aqs=chrome.0.69i59l2j0l4.1321j0j8&sourceid=chrome&espvd=210&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8#es_sm=93&q=corsair%20230t%20review&safe=off Code (markup): We are sitting 7th. As our article is unique, first published and has the other SERP pages linking to our page, why is it not top? If anyone could shed some light that would be awesome
Lots of factors could come into play here. Competition being a big part of it. The Google algorithm changes being another. I believe linkbuilding is or will be less of a factor in page rankings, as it is often something that is gamed. Onsite content now has a much bigger role in page ranking. In the past few weeks many sites have had pages drop suddenly. Things may level off or go back up, but truly SEOs are having to reevaluate what does and does not work anymore. I assume that you are continually writing new, original content. What you may want to do is focus more heavily on social media, especially Google+, Facebook, and other sites that allow people to "vote up" stuff. All indications point to Google placing huge emphasis on these social media functions. Remember, "Corsair 230t" is not unique to your site, as the authority is with the manufacturer and major resellers. As far as backlinks go, try to get backlinks from these sites. You could do the old "such and such award for this year" type of thing. Many vendors and resellers love to display awards. You may not get a backlink, but people will eventually recognize your site and come visit it for the latest reviews.