Sudden drop in rankings
-
I've been working on a site since it launched in April and the rankings for all targeted keywords have been creeping up in that time. For example the site was position 5 for "satchel" and 6 for "satchels".
I've just had the latest rankings report from SeoMoz and it is showing "not in top 50" for both keywords and big drops on most other keywords. What is the likely explanation for such a big drop?
The website is Z atchels.com
-
Thanks for your help in tracking this down!
-
If the report is not appearing correctly, my recommendation would be to contact the SEOmoz help desk for assistance. They could further analyze your issue from the back-end and if there is a bug, they can capture the details so it might be fixed.
Good luck.
-
As you can see it is set to use Google UK.
-
Any chance the setting was changed to use Google.com instead of .co.uk?
-
Thanks, I'm pretty pleased with the site and the client is certainly happy with their sales so far!
-
Hmm, it looks like the SeoMoz rank checker is reporting rankings incorrectly for Google.co.uk then.
I've taken a look at google.co.uk and you are right the rankings are pretty much the same as they were before. SeoMoz Rank Tracker tool is reporting the positions correctly but the Campaign rank tracking is way off.
-
You stated "no changes have been made to that page in the past couple of weeks". It is entirely possible a change you made a couple weeks ago is just now impacting your ranking. Your site DA is low and you may only be crawled once every couple weeks.
I again need to ask, what search engine exactly are you using? When I check Google.co.uk you are presently ranked #9 for "handmade leather satchels" which seems reasonable. You are also ranked #19 for "satchels". Is there a possibility you were ranked his in google.co.uk and you are presently checking google.com?
-
They ranked position 6 for handmade satchel on 23/8/11 which is when the rankings were updated on SeoMoz. On the last update on 30/8/11 it is not in the top 50.
All of the keywords I have mentioned are being tracked by SeoMoz and were ranking highly up to and including the 23/8/11 update but dropped significantly in the 30/8/11 update.
-
My main question is when? When was the last time you can confirm it ranked at those levels? Was it back in April? Or can you confirm it was ranking at that level in the last week or two then suddenly dropped?
Which search engine had these results? How do the results compare with other search engines?
-
It is set up to track rankings as a SeoMoz campaign I've just double checked and satchel and satchels were actually around the 13 mark, now they are not in top 50. Handmade leather satchel was rank 6 and is now not in top 50.
-
great, thanks, let me know what the resolution on this is. Ryan had asked when the last time it was ranked at 5 or 6 was, do you recall?
-
When was the last time you checked and noticed your site as rank #5/6?
I was under the impression that it was better to have a single link to a page than multiple routes?
I would agree with that statement, but if you do provide multiple links to the same page on your site, then I would follow all the links. There are a few instances where you could nofollow an internal link such as if you have a "print" copy of a page, or perhaps for tag/category pages. In those cases it's an all or nothing thing.
-
They don't do anything at the moment that a 17" Macbook would fit in but if they do in the future then I will let you know!
-
The page that was ranked was the site homepage. No changes have been made to that page in the last couple of weeks and very few changes have been made to the rest of the site.
I have changed the 302, I hadn't realised that the redirect that Magento applies by default is a 302!
The delivery and payment information links are no followed as their are multiple links to that page from the homepage. The main link doesn't have a nofollow on it. I was under the impression that it was better to have a single link to a page than multiple routes?
-
The site is new but has had a lot of PR which has gained links from high profile blogs and sites like Grazia and various UK national newspapers. I suppose one reason for the drop could be that these links are ageing?
-
I just realized, I need a satchel...Thanks..
PS,
the site looks very good and is designed smoothly..Good work.
-
If you were ranked #5 and are not presently ranked in the top 50 there are numerous possible causes. A few of the more popular ones are:
-
the page previously ranked has been removed from your site
-
the page previously ranked has been altered in such a manner that it had a negative impact on SEO
-
the site has been altered in a negative manner. For example, another page might be cannibalizing the keyword
-
the site has suffered a manual penalty from Google or whichever search engine is involved
-
the site has suffered an algorithmic penalty such as Panda
-
the site has lost backlinks
EDIT: I looked at the site. A major issue which should be fixed right away is the non-www address is 302'd to your www address. You should change it to a 301, then check your site to ensure that no pages are 302'd. No link juice is passed from a 302 redirect, whereas over 90% of the linking page's value is passed from a 301.
Also, remove all the nofollows from your home page links. You are nofollowing links to your own facebook and twitter page. Those are trusted pages under your control so the links should be followed. You are also nofollowing links to your "Delivery and Payment Information" page. That page has backlinks and unique content which some users may find helpful. Let your internal juice flow naturally.
I like your site's overall design but you do have some opportunities to perform better.
-
-
First, I may be in the wrong business.....I did not realize satchels were such an important item in the world. I am amazed at the number of high DA, high PA sites on page 3, 4, 5 of Google organic for satchel or satchels. So, it makes me wonder how you were ranking in slot 5 or 6 under these terms at all. The reason being that your DA is 29 and your PA on the home page is 36.
Your site is great, you've done a lot right, but you have DKNY on page 5 or 6, Hayden Harnett with DA of 54 and PA of 46 on page 4, shop.nationalgeographic.com...with DA of 92 and PA of 31 on page 3....
I think the bigger question for me would be, "How, with a new site were you up there to begin with?" Even assuming you had a site and all is the same but you rebuilt/remodeled, with your DA and PA, I just don't see how you could move that far ahead that quickly.
It really is an interesting, perplexing, issue. If you find out it would be great to share with all.
Good luck (any good satchels for 17" MacBook Pro, let me know....).
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
-
Why am I ranking high for a keyword that is nowhere on my page?
There is a specific keyword phrase that I am ranking in the top 10 search results for. When I run page optimizer in Moz, my page is given a score of 73 and I'm predictably told I need to include this keyword somewhere on the page. This specific keyword phrase is not included anywhere on the page - not in image files, image alts, anchor text from inbound links (that I can find), text content, meta-titles or descriptions - it's nowhere. Meanwhile, a keyword phrase which Moz' page optimizer tells us we are scored 96 for we aren't even in the first three pages of search results for. What's going on here? On the surface, this seems to be telling me the Moz page optimizer is kinda...broken? Why am I ranking in the top 10 for a keyword phrase nowhere on my page? Thanks in advance for any help.
Moz Pro | | Closetstogo0 -
Is pagerank still a ranking factor for Google?
Hello Friends, Just want to confirm that the announcement by Google officials for no more pagerank update (Oct 14) is only for the Google toolbar update but pagerank still exists and still a ranking factor for Google? http://searchengineland.com/google-toolbar-pagerank-finally-officially-dead-205277 Please help. Regards
Moz Pro | | chakraseo0 -
How can you tell how many pages rank for a particular keyword?
I know with ranktracker I can see a page that will rank for a certain keyword. What if I have multiple pages that rank for this keyword? How can I see all pages that rank for it?
Moz Pro | | Sika220 -
Why did my rankings drop so fast?
Hi Mozzers, One of my clients have suffered from a sudden ranking loss that started beginning of August. A little background: My client is a big cleaning company that has many franchises nationwide and had very good rankings for the past few months. Generally the busiest time of the year is summer and the 4th quarter is the slowest. Organic Traffic generally drops by 5 to 10% between Q3 and Q4 of each year. 2 things have caught my attention while investigating these ranking losses The latest recent Update from the moz index evaluated the website's DA of 48 when in the summer we had a DA of 56. Never seen such a drop before!! My first question is how accurate is the moz index? How can I make sure this data is accurate? I am very surprised because we have been working hard on getting good quality links for the past year and a half. If the DA is accurate then that could explain the ranking loss Google updating its search engine to the Hummingbird version. Do you guys think this has anything to do with the drop in rankings? The content on the website is not the best but is fairly decent. I am still not sure how the ranking drop could be related to Hummingbird? I have also checked webmaster tools to see if I got hit somehow by penguin and it seems fine. Thanks mozzers
Moz Pro | | Ideas-Money-Art0 -
Ranking Report showing point at two place
Hi, Recently, we have modified URL letter. Actually, We have had norwegian character in URL. But we change this recently. Particularly, Keyword : skrå tak Old Link : <cite>www.nortekk.no/vi-utfører/skrå-tak-12/</cite> New link : <cite>www.nortekk.no/vi-utforer/skra-tak-12/</cite> Also we have made many improvements on the page. Actually the page rank report shows two places are marked. Why we have like this. And how long it takes to take correct URL. We have updated sitemap in google. Please check attachment and help me to understand why it is showing likewise Thank you RankingReport.jpg
Moz Pro | | Webworld_Norway0 -
How long will it take for Page Rank (or Page Authority) to flow via a 301 redirect?
I've recently redeveloped a static site using WordPress and have created 301 redirects for the original urls to the new urls. I know I won't get all the value passed via the 301, but I'm hoping some will. Any idea how long this may take? It's been nearly a month since the changeover so wondering if it would be weeks, months or more?
Moz Pro | | annomd0 -
Why did I drop off the face of the earth for bing but am #1 in google and yahoo?
This just happened two days ago and I don't get it. I have been using rank tracker.
Moz Pro | | eidna220 -
SEO pro tool ranking section
Hi, I look this morning on the rank checker for my site and it said 127 KW's had improved with 11 Declining. Just refreshed it..... 105 improved with 60 declining???? Why is this - i havent changed anything with the past wk!!!! thanks
Moz Pro | | wazza19850