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
-
I dont like to comment on specific details because I simply don't know what works and what doesn't.
The best thing you can do is look at what is ranking and do your own version of that. If it's currently ranking well (and has done for a long time) there is a very chance that google likes it. But bear in mind that sites with very high link juice and brand awareness can get away with stuff that your brand won't be able to.
If it was penguin you won't get a links warning.
If you have been hit by panda or penguin a reconsideration request wont help.
I would totally redesign your homepage. I don't like looking at it at work, it feel almost like a porn site. Plus the there are nearly 70 h2 headers which feels spammy and there is very little content.
-
Thanks.
I was just wondering what your thoughts are on this;
1. Site Re-design - in June 2012 we launched a re-design of our website that replaced the previous design that had been in existence since 2008. I personally think that the new site is far better from an SEO perspective. However, I do feel that the content on the product pages (product descriptions) is not quite as good as we did not keep relevant outgoing links or formatting.
2. How useful would it be to add static content blocks to the footer of each page like the one show at the bottom of this page - http://www.freshpair.com/mens.html
3. Content - how do you improve the content of a commerce site as it is essentially made up of products. All I can think of doing is improving the product descriptions, adding static blocks as mentioned above and posting blog content. Are there another ways?
4. Link Warnings - if my ranks were due to back links wouldn't I have received some link warnings from Google
5. Home Page - do you think my home page is too spumy?
6. Extent - whilst some of my sub pages (category pages) aren't ranking quite so well, they are not too bad and have not been affected anywhere near as much as my home page for the query mens underwear. Does this tell me anything more?
7. Google Reconsideration Request - I have submitted the Google Reconsideration Form because I think I have been incorrectly targeted for spam. How long can I expect to wait before I hear anything back from Google.
-
Panda is like a black hole, once you are sucked in there are very few sites who escape.
Chances are you will never get all your rankings back. Sorry but thats the state of play, e.g. http://searchengineland.com/google-panda-two-years-later-losers-still-losing-one-real-recovery-149491
Also you are up again some big players:
- asos.com - domain authority 86
- debenhams - 76
- sports direct - 66
your domain authority is only 34
The good news is that http://www.iwantpants.com/ is only 31 and in 4th place.
No one fully knows how to beat panda, but you need to improve you content, add more content, basically make users love you site, stay on your site longer, etc. Google refers to these 23 questions: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/more-guidance-on-building-high-quality.html
Your aim is to make every page of your site HIGH QUALITY. If you cant make a page high quality delete it.
-
Thanks Julian.
That is a really useful tool and although I have never used it before it seems to be telling me the following as I see it.
I can only measure as far back as July 2012 because this is when we launched our re-designed website.
FIRST DECLINE
However, the attached graph shows a massive and continued decline in organic traffic from 26th August 2012.
It seems that the start of the decline came just after Panda 3.9 on 24th July and Google's 7 Result SERP's on 14th August
SECOND DECLINE
It then appear we experienced a second sharp decline on 23rd September and this followed Google's Improved SERP Diversity action on 14th September 2012
From then on it has been a steady decline to date.
It is our home page that seems to have taken the brunt of Google's actions with us experiencing a 98% difference in traffic for the keyword "mens underwear"
Question is, what can I do about it?
Thanks
-
Hi,
You can also compare the date that your ranking started dropping to the date from the search updates. This way you can find out witch update caused the drop.
http://moz.com/google-algorithm-change
Every update has a different reasons to drop your rankings.
-
The first thing you should do is try to identify what the penalty is. Try this: http://www.barracuda-digital.co.uk/panguin-tool/
Once you know which penalty you have you will be able to make a plan of action after doing more research.
Basically if you have been hit by panda it because your content is not good enough, and if you have been hit my penguin you have some/a lot of un-natural links.
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
-
Increase of non-relevant back-links drop page ranking?
Hi community, Let's say there is a page with 50 back-links where 40 are non-relevant back-links and only 10 are relevant in-terms of content around the link, etc....Will these non-relevant back-links impact the ranking of the page by diluting the back-link profile? Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | vtmoz0 -
Strange Google SERP Layout: Anyone?
I haven't been able to repeat this, but I just saw a strange Google SERP layout. The screenshot is attached below. Has anyone else seen something like this? I kind of rubbed my eyes and wondered 'if it was kicking in'. ca2JqaP
Algorithm Updates | | Travis_Bailey0 -
Rankings drop
Hi! Since the new Penguin rollout, we've seen rankings drop for http://www.leanonturkey.co.uk/ for the terms 'turkey recipes' (UK) and 'low fat recipes' (UK) from #4 and #15 respectively. This may be down to very strong competition, but I'm also concerned over the on-page content, which may not be detailed enough. Any tips would be much appreciated!
Algorithm Updates | | neooptic0 -
Affect in SERPs when moving footer links off the homepage
I have several pages that rank highly in the SERPs and these pages are linked directly to my homepage in the footer. I want to clean up my footer because I have too many site wide links but don't want to hurt the SERP rankings during the transition. Will removing these page links from the footer impact SERP rankings?
Algorithm Updates | | braunna0 -
Drop in Visibility and Visitors
I have had several sites have their SE Visibility and Visitor traffic drop of a cliff on August 10. I know there was a Panda update but I cannot determine why these sites incurred such a precipitous drop. Any advice? Mike
Algorithm Updates | | mcsweer0 -
Google automatically adding company name to serp titles
Maybe I've been living under a rock, but I was surprised to see that Google had algorithmically modified my page titles in the search results by adding the company name to the end of the (short) title. <title>About Us</title> became About Us - Company Name Interestingly, this wasn't consistent - sometimes it was "company name Limited" and sometimes just "company name. Anyone else notice this or is this a recent change?
Algorithm Updates | | DougRoberts0 -
Why does my Rank Checker result differ to SERPs
Hello SEOmoz members I've got yet another naive question for you. RankChecker is telling me that my client has risen to pg 1 position 7. Whilst SERPs is telling me they are still on position 14. I know that SERPs is variable depending on many factors, but this holds true for separate searches on other computers in various far flung locations. Please give me some insight into what is happening. I'm waiting to open the bubbly! Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | catherine-2793880 -
What is the best way for a local business site to come up in the SERPs for a town that they are not located in?
At our agency, we work with many local small business owners who often want to come up in multiple towns that are near to their business where they do not have a physical address. We explain to them again and again that with the recent changes that Google in particular has made to their algorithms, it is very difficult to come up in the new "blended" organic and Places results in a town that you don't have a physical address in. However, many of these towns are within 2 or 3 miles of the physical location and well within driving distance for potential new clients. Google, in it's infinite wisdom doesn't seem to account for areas of the country, such as New Jersey, where these limitations can seriously affect a business' bottom line. What we would like to know is what are other SEOs doing to help their clients come up in neighboring towns that is both organic and white hat?
Algorithm Updates | | Mike-i0