Major SERP Fluctuation
-
I'm working on iDeal Chooser, a Comparison Shopping site and we've been having a weird problem with some of our major keywords on Google for the past couple of months. We keep moving between the first page of the results to disappearing completely. For example a Google search for "price drop alerts" returns idealchooser.com as result 3-5 for a while and suddenly doesn't return us at all, then we are back to the top results only to disappear again later.
We can't figure out what causes it, we didn't see any pattern and it seems completely random. We can be the 4th result for 2 weeks and suddenly we are gone for another 2 weeks. SEOmoz PRO had some good SEO suggestions which we implemented, however nothing that could explain this and even after fixing these issues this weird behavior continues.
Any idea will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
-
And now I'm back to the top SERP results for my main keywords. For example "price drop alerts" now returns my site as the 4th results after being gone from the first 5 pages for about 10 days. No major changes to the site or links to it that can explain it. I can literally pinpoint the exact hour it happen, yesterday between 6 and 7pm NY. Suddenly my Google organic traffic multiplied by 50 or even 60.
I'm obviously very happy to get decent traffic again, but knowing the past patterns, this will only last for few days followed by few more days of being gone again over and over.
If anyone has a clue what can cause this, I'd be very happy to know about it.
-
Thanks Kristina. I believe there's something else I'm missing here, not just regular back links, because of the length of time it's been going on for and the huge fluctuations I'm seeing.
On the other hand, since I can't figure out what's going on, I guess it could be anything
-
Well, I can see that competition for "price drop alerts" is just slightly outranking you, so it's possible that as you or one of your competitors gains or loses a link, rankings are reshuffled, pulling you on and off of the page.
If that's the case, increasing your back links will help keep you at the top.
Hopefully someone else on this forum has had this problem and will be able to give you more specific advice, though!
-
Sure, "price drop alerts" without the quotes, about 10 days ago I was the 5th results, now I'm practically not there at all. If the past is any indication I'll be back up at some point.
-
Ouch. Could you give us an example of one of the keywords that you're seeing these weird ranking issues with?
-
Thanks for the reply Kristina.
Yes, very much so, when I'm low I barely see any traffic from Google and when I'm high I see reasonable numbers, at least numbers I'm fine with considering the site is relatively new.
-
Yeah, very much a rollercoaster behavior, just an example: 12 days high, 10 days low, 11 days high, 10 low, 5 high, 8 low, 3 high, 7 low and it just keeps going randomly.
I made few changes to titles and URL structure, but nothing major and I've seen this up and down behavior even between changes. Every change to a page URL was replaced with 301 to the new URL, no 404 from Google crawl.
-
Is your search traffic increasing when you see your site ranking and decreasing when you don't?
-
No problem, I just know it's one of those items that you can sometimes overlook without thinking about it.
Is this something that is just going up and down like a rollercoaster? Have you changed anything from title/h2 tags and even any link structures. Also any links that may of been in google webmaster tools that are now returning 404 errors. (had a huge issue w/ some wordpress stuff and a 404 error rewrite. - Once fixed, my rankings surged almost instantly and have maintained a constant level.)
-
Thanks for the reply Travis, but that's not it. I'm using a proxy server to test my real position, so I'm not getting personalized results. Also SEOmoz PRO who I configured to track this keyword for me was saying I'm the 5th result and later that I'm not at the top 50.
-
Are you possibly looking from an account that is associated with the domain(webmaster tools/analytics/ etc...) while logged into google, vs sometimes not looking at it while logged in?
If it's your site, it seems that it will be more favorable to show you high up in rankings. At least htat is something i experience. Unless this is an automated ranking that is showing you this.
Otherwise, i have a site that i will be in the top 10 for lots of things - then if i use another browser where i'm not logged in, it will be between 10-70 spots higher.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Latest from ... feature SERPs
Hello Mozers, this is probably (as per) a naive question, but, is the 'Latest from ***.com' element in SERPs an extract of Google News? I've added an example of what appears for 'Moz' in SERPs. MYn7Kh2
Algorithm Updates | | SEO_Selectaglaze1 -
Bounce rate seems to decrease as site climbs the SERP but SERP ranking always drops down after a few days - WHY ?
Like quite a few sites recently we've seen some large fluctuations for our domain the SERPs over the past 6 or so weeks. One thing ive noticed, is that when the site seems to rank higher in the SERPs we get a lower bounce rate. If the sites average across all of its main keywords in #5 the bounce rate is c. 40% (this site is a creative portfolio site, so i guess the niche has a slightly higher bounce rate than normal as you will get some people who click through an notice straight away that the style of the portfolio isnt what they where looking for) But when the sites ranking averages #2-3 the bounce rate tends to be about 25%. (The thing is that we tend to always drop back down after a fews days or so) Has any one else noticed this ?
Algorithm Updates | | jpeg801 -
SERP Drop
Hi, I have been trading online since 2006 and over the years I have built up some impressive SERP's for keywords such as "mens underwear' which I was SERP 1 for. However, over the past 6 months I have pretty much dropped off the face of Google for a large proportion of my keywords. I suspect I have been hit by the Panda/Penguin updates and do not know how to recover this. I have a mixture of what I consider to be relevant and healthy links, but there are also a few links in there that Google would no longer like. However, I believe that the majority of my links are OK. What should I do? Thanks i97zo6W.jpg
Algorithm Updates | | UnderMe0 -
Sharp Drop in SERP Ranking for Specific Keyword
I'm sure this happens to a lot of people for a lot of different reasons. My pages http://www.cleanedison.com/leed and http://www.cleanedison.com/courses/leed-green-associate suddenly dropped off the map over the past 2 weeks for the keyword "LEED Certification" I tried to limit the number of times "LEED" was mentioned on the first URL (/leed) to try to combat an over-optimization penalty but I did not for the second (/leed-green-associate). Both of them have fallen precipitously and are no where to be found on Google. What can I do to troubleshoot this? Is there anyway to guard against this in the future?
Algorithm Updates | | CleanEdisonInc0 -
How much does Google take Social into account in serps
I have been reading and trying to learn more about how google takes social media into account when ranking sites, but I cant seam to find a definitive answer to this, does it make a big difference or does it not really matter?
Algorithm Updates | | MiracleCreative0 -
Why have organic hits to my site suddenly started to fluctuate widely?
Hits to my website have been gradually growing over the last 2 years to a point where there was 1300 organics a day. Recently the hits crashed to 300 a day and stayed there for a couple of days. They then bounced back to 1300 a day for a few more days before crashing down to 300 again. This has happened a few times now. Oscillating between two points. Its like the site is crossing a threshold of something, back and forth. I have looked at different parts of my site and every part is down by approximately the same percentage. Anyone out there have any ideas?
Algorithm Updates | | easymatt0 -
SERPS Issue. Why is this happening?
All of our pages have been indexed by Google and we are ranking very well thus far. Here is an example of a search where, based on my searches, we rank well. Search for "Indiana ERISA Bond". You can search for any state name followed by "ERISA Bond" and we rank really well (Top of page 1). The pages that should show up for you are here: 1. https://www.suretegrity.com/surety-bonds/indiana/erisa-bond 2. https://www.suretegrity.com/surety-bonds/indiana/erisa My issue is with a different product we offer. Search for "Georgia Mortgage Lender Bond". The pages I would hope to come up, in order of priority, are: 1. https://www.suretegrity.com/surety-bonds/georgia/mortgage-lender 2. https://www.suretegrity.com/surety-bonds/georgia/mortgage-broker-banker-lender When I do my searches I show up at the bottom of page 2 and the URL that is being found is #2 above and not #1. I have spent a LOT of time thinking about this and am in need of some direction. What am I doing wrong? Thanks, Alex
Algorithm Updates | | dbuckles0 -
Website moving up and down SERPs alongside others in 'blocks'.
I have noticed that since the so-called 'Panda' updates my website has been moving up and down the Google SERPs in a kind of 'block' alongside other unrelated websites for certain keyword phrases. Whenever there is upwards or downwards movement it happens in tandem with the other websites in those blocks and it is very frustrating. Why is this and has anybody experienced anything similar? The website - http://bit.ly/jIFHpm The search engine - Google, US The keyword phrase - First phrase of website meta title Sorry for being so cryptic I just don't like openly giving out certain information - think it's a bad hangover from the Google Webmaster help forums where everything you post is indexed for Joe nobody to read at his leisure. If anybody would like to mention anything else related to any on or off-page factors on the website then your time would be much appreciated. One thing I am a bit concerned about, for example, is the repition of 'monitors' on the 'monitor shop' dropdown on the top navigation menu and also the sidebar. This would put a localised high density of the keyword in these navigation areas and I am slightly concerned about that. I have no malicious intent and it is appropriate for the user but perhaps the manufacturer names alone would suffice? Thanks in advance.
Algorithm Updates | | teebus0