Why my website disappears for the keywords ranked, then reappears and so on?
-
Hello to everyone.
In the last 2 weeks my website emorroidi.imieirimedinaturali.it has a strange behavior in SERP: it disappears for the keywords ranked and then reappears, and so on.
Here's the chronicle of the last days:
12/6: message in GWT: Improvement of the visibility of the website in search.
12/6 the website disappears for all the keywords ranked
16/6 the website reappears for all the keywords ranked with some keywords higher in ranking
18/6 the website disappears for all the keywords ranked
22/6 the website reappears for all the keywords ranked
24/6 the website disappears for all the keywords ranked...
I can't explain this situation. Could it be a penalty? What Kind?
Thank you.
-
Hi Paul,
This question is marked as "answered," so there aren't many SEOs reading it, unless they have the same problem as you! Please post a new question, so we can get the right people to answer.
Best,
Kristina
-
Yeah Kristina,
the keywords are:
- emorroidi cura
- emorroidi rimedi
- cure emorroidi
- curare le emorroidi
- emorroidi cure
- emorroidi rimedi naturali
- emorroidi esterne
- alimentazione emorroidi
The website actually ranks in Google.it with the homepage for them all, except the last two that rank with the relative page.
Thank you very much,
Emanuele
-
Yeah, I'm not sure. One idea would be an algorithmic penalty that is rechecked every few days (although most articles I've read say that algorithmic penalties are applied and then stay applied long after the problem has been fixed). Another is that someone at Google applied a penalty manually, then someone else removed it, then someone else put it back on again.
But neither of those seem likely.
At this point, all I can think of is looking into the keywords themselves. I haven't done that so far, though, because I don't know Italian. Can you share them anyway, though, so someone else in the community can help?
-
Hi Kristina,
- Yes, during the times where I'm not ranking for most keywords, my homepage ranks for the brand name;
- I haven't got any else message in Google Webmaster Tools;
In your opinion what kind of "poorly applied penalty" could it be? An algorithmic one I suppose...
-
Weird. So, that means that this isn't because of problems with Google's crawler not finding your content, and it's not that you are ranking for keywords that just fluctuate all the time anyway. My next guess would be that this is a poorly applied penalty of some sort. A couple of questions to see if it is:
- During the times where you're not ranking for most keywords, does your homepage rank for your brand name?
- Have you gotten any other messages in Google Webmaster Tools / Search Console since the original "Improved search visibility" that you mentioned in your original question?
Best,
Kristina
-
Hi Kristina,
- I mean that all the pages are indexed;
- I haven't analized very well my competitors in these days, however in the days my website disappears, it seems that the other websites that compete for my keywords don't fluctuate, or not so much: the SERPs remain almost equal.
Thank you,
Emanuele
-
Hi Emanuele,
To clarify:
- When you say you've verified it with a site: search, do you mean that you verified that the pages that were no longer ranking were still indexed? Or, do you mean that you verified that the site itself was still indexed? I'm wondering if you're only losing certain pages.
- I'm not sure what you meant by your response about your competition. Are you saying that the competition doesn't fluctuate for the keywords that your site is fluctuating for?
Thanks,
Kristina
-
Hi Kristina,
thank you for the answer.
About your points:
- On the days where my site stops ranking for keywords it is correctly indexed, I've verified it with site: command;
- when the website disappears, any keyword stays at the same rank, neither the long tail keywords.
- I haven't made any change to on page or off page factors since the website started to disappear and the reappear.
Best,
Emanuele
-
Hi Emanuele,
Wow, that's really weird! A few questions:
- On the days where your site stops ranking for keywords, have you done a site: search on those pages to see if Google has them in its index?
- What is your competition for these keywords? Have they been changing around a lot too, or is everything else staying about the same rank, with your site just jumping in and out of the list?
- Have you been making any changes to the site during this time? Even if you didn't change the specific page in question, it's possible that changing the link structure of the site is drastically changing their ability to rank.
Best,
Kristina
-
Hi Daniel,
thank you for the answer.
In the days the website disappears, there are drops in organic ranking like images attached. All the pages with ranked keywords disappear.
-
Ciao Emanuele!
If you seem to be experiencing ranking issues, the best way you can see if there is something to worry about or not is by seeing if there have been any drops in organic sessions on analytics. Has there been a drop?
If there is a pattern to the types of keywords which you seem to not be rankng for, you should check in analytics to see if the pages on your site which correspond to the keywords are losing organic traffic or not. Example: keyword A will be most relevant to example.com/page-a
Search results are different for different users, based on location, which version of Google you are using, whether you are signed in to Google not etc. so don't be too concerned unless traffic is also affected.
Additionally, the message in GWTs on 12/6 isn't something to worry about. I have also seen this message for many of the sites I manage and it is really just Google giving some tips such as defining a target country, giving access to other users, creating XML sitemaps etc.
Let us know if you are also experiencing drops in traffic!
-
Hi Hector,
thank you for the answer.
Yes, I always use Moz Rank Tracker and also I search logged off and with the same geolocalization...
-
That kind of behaviour is really strange. Are you always searching from the same computer, and always logged off -or at least always in the same Google Account? Seems like you are getting some kind of customized experience based on your geolocalization, browsing history, Google Account or something like that.
For checking your ranks, always use an external tool like MOZ.
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
-
Best approach to rank for this keyword?
Hi i want to rank for the keyword "white sandals" on Google Australia. Currently, the top 5 ranking pages are not optimised and specific to white sandals. See screenshot: https://image.prntscr.com/image/WenSRHqTTFSqYNg2MHvH1A.png To rank for this keyword, would you create a page dedicated to white sandals even though it looks like it doesn't matter and you could rank the broader sandals page (not colour specific). Any recommendations? Cheers.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | crazy4seo780 -
Why have my rankings dropped?
I have a client who has just seen his average page rank creep up from around 39 to 34 over about two months, then it appears to have dropped back to position 40+ in the space of a week. I believe he's made a lot of changes to targeted keywords, so I'd like to think it's simply because his old targeted keywords are dropping and new keywords still have to build their rankings. But I'm also worried in case he has over-optimised and might get getting penalised. Any advice on where to start digging?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | muzzmoz0 -
New websites
Hi Moz community, My company updated and used a new developer to build and re-design their charity websites: www.runforcharity.com, www.cycleforcharity.com and www.sportforcharity.com. This sites were "re-launched" at the beggining of December 2015 and I have now been able to get a good 6 weeks worth of data. I've been religiously using Moz.com for a couple of years and I use it simply for SEO purposes. Our websites are built upon organic traffic being driven to them and I have noticed that the PA on the new sites has taken a hammering. They all appear to have a PA of 1 and I'm at a loss why? It appears that no page has h1 text? Would this be an issue with the developer or something the content team is doing wrong? Any help of advice would be much appreciated. Many thanks Ryan
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Bennerya0 -
Strange rankings on new website
HI All My website is 10 years old, and has decent rankings. The domain is www.advanced-driving.co.uk I have recently had a major overhaul of the site, before it was very outdated, with lots of duplicated content. My main keywords are "advanced driving course" and "advanced driving courses" both of which I am on page 1. However, since I have been live with new site - (5 days) I am not ranking for some easy win keywords. I have submitted new content thought webmaster tools, and whilst some content is ranking, others are not. The content not ranking is fresh and unique ( have used copyscape on all new pages). For example my homepage is on page 1 for "advanced driving courses london" - around rank 6. So I hand made some content titled advanced driving courses london to provide more of an exact match, outlining our courses in London and the routes we take - http://www.advanced-driving.co.uk/defensive-advanced-driving-courses-london/ However, this page which is unique does not rank at all....I have done this with another website and it worked well, but google is not understanding this at all. Also I am now on page 1 for "advanced driving course" but not for "advanced driving courses" - well I am but the page for the plural keyword is a page not really related - surely Googles semantic search should realise course and courses are the same! I suspect that Google is still getting used to my new website? No errors or anything in Webmaster tools... Can anyone confirm this - or outline if I have done something awful..!! Thanks Rob
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | robert780 -
How many links would you need to rank up in page rank?
White hat **** Can 20 website with page rank of 3 make your site rank higher?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | spidersite0 -
International Version of Website
Our website is AluminumEyewear.com and we're considering launching a specific version for Australia, naturally I want to avoid any dupe content issues but the content would largely remain the same. I have read through this post and wondered if the options given here are still relevant? I'm currently leaning towards using a sub-domain, i.e. au.aluminumeyewear.com or should I go for aluminumeyewear.com.au? Will there be dupe content issues if I do that? Confused and hoping for help!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | smckenzie750 -
What would cause a sudden rise and drop in keyword ranking?
I made one change to my site - creating a good, relevant, title. A few days later, ranking for a keyword jumped pretty well - which is what I was expecting. We were ranked 9th. Then the next ranking report showed a 20 place decline. What would cause this?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Ocularis0 -
Rankings Dropped
Hello, I wonder if anyone can point us in the right direction. Our main domain name has got a good SEO profile the domain is 12 years old and we have some good reputable links. On the 7th of Jan our website dropped in the rankings from 3rd to 10th for one of our main keywords and from then onwards some of our other keywords have dropped. We have a lot of landing pages that target specific keywords which look like a template page but just with the content changed. Can anyone pin point what could of caused this problem or has anyone experienced this before and knows how to fix it. I personally think we have been hit by the panda. Thanks, Scott
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | ScottBaxterWW0