Why Keyword Ranking Fluctuate?
-
Hi All,
I have a shoes website and I am working on it from last four months. I am targeting four main keywords but I have some issues with ranking.
First one is that keywords ranking fluctuate many time a day but they remain on the same page.
Second one is that these keywords remain on the same page for 2 to 3 week and than suddenly they drop down in the ranking.
Please help me regarding these issue.
Waiting for replies.
Thanks
-
Just following-up to make sure you have your personalization turned off if you are checking your rankings manually. See Takeshi's answer below.
-
Yes, and too much tweaking can cause problems. IMO
-
Sounds to me like you're seeing these rankings, then you're trying to 'tweak/optimize' these same pages to go higher in the ranking and so those 2-3 weeks are w/ index A and then your new 'tweaked' page Index A version 2.0 gets indexed and throws you into a new ranking/tailspin
-
Like I said, rankings are always changing. Always. Accept that no matter what you do, your rankings will fluctuate, whether your site is four months old or four years old.
As for the rankings drop, it's impossible to say without more specifics. The most common reason these days for rankings drops is over-optimized anchor text, but again it's impossible to say without more specifics.
Assuming it's not a penalty, just focus on creating better content or building more links. That's SEO in a nutshell. If you are able to attract lots of high quality links, Google will tend to rank your site higher and keep you there. Likewise, if your site provides a great user experience and great information, Google will want to show the site to more of its users. Great content also tends to attract great links.
Figuring out why one keyword went up or down a position is not possible given how many factors there are, and is typically not a good use of your time. Focus on the big picture: build a quality site and build links.
-
Takeshi Thanks for you response.
But why the same thing is happening from last four months and domain is also four years old.
Also answer the second question please.
-
Make sure you have personalization turned off. Switch to incognito/private browsing mode on your browser, and make sure you are not logged into your Google account, as these can change rankings. Even what computer you use and your physical location can impact rankings.
Also, keep in mind that rankings fluctuate all the time. This is especially true for new sites, as Google tries to figure out where you "belong" in the search results. Even established sites fluctuate, as Google introduces over 200 changes a year to its algorithm.
Your rankings are never guaranteed and can change at any time. The best you can do is make sure your website provides an amazing experience, and work on building links to build up your link authority.
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
-
Canonical - unexpected page ranking
We are getting good ranking for an unexpected page, rathewr than the one we were trying to get ranking for. Should we put a canonical on the 'unexpected page' to the page we would like to receive the ranking for - or do we risk losing the ranking? Any suggestions welcomed. Ian
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Substance-create0 -
Does you page need to be unique to rank
What I mean by unique is : Let's imagine I want to rank one "seo ranking factors." In order to compete do I need to have (in terms of design) that is totally different than everything out there or can I rank with a page that is presented in a very similar way than everything out there but with different content. Thank you,
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | seoanalytics0 -
Difference keyword and co-occurence
Could someone explain me what the difference between a keyword and a co-occurence is ? Thank you,
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | seoanalytics0 -
Ranking Suggestions
Hi There, I am currently working on this site: completesteamclean.ca to rank as high as possible for "carpet cleaning windsor" on Google.ca and I can't seem to make any head way against the other websites ranking. I've optimized the page, created social media accounts for activity, even invested in Google Adwords and Facebook ads to try to boost my presence. Does anyone have any suggestions on any tactics/revisions I can make that may help boost my site?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | MainstreamMktg0 -
Website not ranking
Firstly, apologies for the long winded question. I'm 'newish' to SEO We have a website built on Magento , www.excelclothing.com We have been online for 5 years and had reasonable success. Having used a few SEO companies in the past we found ourselves under a 'partial manual penalty' early last year. By July we were out of penalty. We have been gradually working our way through getting rid of 'spammy' links. Currently the website ranks for a handful of non competitive keywords looking at the domain on SEM RUSH. This has dropped drastically over the last 2 years. Our organic traffic over the last 2-3 years has seen no 'falling off a cliff' and has maintained a similar pattern. I've been told so many lies by SEO companies trying to get into my wallet I'm not sure who to believe. We have started to add content onto all our Category pages to make more unique although most of our Meta Descriptions are a 'boiler plate' template. I'm wondering.... Am I still suffering from Penquin ? Am I trapped by Panda and if so how can I know that? Do I need more links removed? How can I start to rank for more keywords I have a competitor online with the same DA, PA and virtually same number of links but they rank for 3500 keywords in the top 20. Would welcome any feedback. Many Thanks.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | wgilliland1 -
Homepage not ranking for main keyword, all other pages ranking slightly for their own keyword phrases.
Dear Mozzers, We have an ecommerce website (www.pashmina-boutique.com), we want to rank the homepage for the keyword "pashmina". Problem is, we are nowhere to be found, not even in the top 100 search results of Google. It is indexed, we have no crawl errors, except that we had some problems with our hosting (503's), the crawler of Google bumped in a few of those. And we are fixing it. Our other pages, e.g. (http://www.pashmina-boutique.com/15-white-pashminas) ranks for "white pashminas" 24th and "white cashmere pashminas" 23rd. We have done no linkbuilding, in Majestic, you can check that. We have been offline for a long time (over 6 months) and about 3 weeks ago, we did a redesign (SEO). We relaunched, everything is looking fine except the homepage isn't ranking for the main keyword. Could you guys check it out? Is it over-optimization? It can't be Penguin, Panda would be a surprise too. Or do we still have to wait for the monthly Panda data-refresh? We are currently busy with this issue, once this is solved - that the homepage is ranking - we will start linkbuilding. Mr.1000
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Mr.10000 -
Suggestions for good ranking
Hello, My blog http://www.pakearning.com/ was having page rank 1 and now its doped to 0 and less ranking, please review my site and help me how can I improve ranking and traffic ? Suggest me what to do for best ranking ? Directory submission ? articles submission ? also for home page, how much keywords are good ?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | softcorner0 -
What is the systematic what of doing keyword research?
What is the systematic what of doing keyword research? I have been optimizing some sites, keeping in mind the completion and relevance. But still I am not happy with the keywords selected. Can you tell me the international Standard why of selecting keywords for any site? A systematic way, which will work for any kind of website. Please give me some list of free tools also which I can use for it. Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | ShashankGupta0