Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Why are my keyword rankings dramatically changing week to week?
-
I have a site (actual several) that has been up for many years now. Content is changed monthly - regularly. It would always rank in the top 5 positions for 5 or 6 keywords.
Now all of a sudden (without any dramatic changes to the website) my ranking results from my weekly Moz reports are dramatically different from week to week - every week. One Keyword will be #1, then the next week it will drop 49 positions, the 3rd week it might be #5, then Not in the Top 50, then #1 again, and so and so on. This happens to all my keywords on my site.
I was waiting for Google to finish it's changes to it's algorithms but it's now been long enough and I can't get a handle on what's happening, why it's happening, and what to do about it, and what direction to take with my SEO.
My Traffic has actually improved over last year by approx. 25%, but I have also started a PPC campaign for this client.
Any suggestions would be great.
-
Thanks for your responses. I looked at everything using your suggestions and I just think that my wild fluctuations are real. I used the Rank Tracker tool on Keywords on my competitors for a long while now, and it shows what I felt, that starting back in April through around June 2013, Google started messing with everything. Around 45 Keywords are all over the place since then- one week they rank 50+ the next week #1, etc. Before that pretty much of a straight line. I think Moz reports are sometimes off a little, but in these cases it's pretty accurate. I've tracked in Moz Rank Tracker for a couple of years my 5 main competitors, they now are barely on any page in the top 50, and the Rank Tracker proves it.
I've even done just a manual search and counted the positions - and it's fairly accurate. I just can't figure out what to do now in Google to get a consistent score and a consistent good score. All my pages grade A for the specific keywords I want, and they have always ranked for several years in the top 5. Now it's just all over the place.
Just can't figure it out.
Thank you for your input. I was trying several things to see if I could get a change, before I replied, but no joy.
-
We have wild fluctuations like that for our sites every week, and many of them are not accurate when checked manually - sometimes they're more than 10 positions off. And then sometimes the changes as showing it out of the top 50 is completely wrong.
A Moz team member looked at our campaigns said we just have highly volatile keywords. That seems kind of ridiculous to me, it's not like we're in a super super competitive niche.
-
Have you double-checked your rankings either through another tool or through unpersonalized searches to see if the Moz data is correct? I have a few search terms on two of my campaigns that regularly swing from 1st one week to "Not in top 50" the next according to Moz when in reality they barely shift ever.
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
-
Unsolved Questions about travel industry keywords
My question is regarding my current learning of SEO and keyword research. I have been leaning towards Keyword Everywhere, SEMrush, and Google Keyword Planner for keyword research. What do you recommend? I know you might suggest Moz, but I'm looking for something that will enhance and help me find valuable keywords for the travel niche. If I sign up with Moz, will someone from the team help me with keyword research for the travel niche and my website? I haven't found any resources or lessons specifically focused on travel websites and their keywords.
Moz Pro | | RavenBhutan0 -
Unsolved Mobile Rankings for me and competitors disappear in Moz but still ranking.
Hi, I'm trying to create an SEO report for my client however their mobile rankings have completely disappeared for Google Mobile rankings. Competitors rankings have disappeared as well. Could this be a Moz configuration issue?
Moz Pro | | baddjuju0 -
Best method for tracking true keyword ranking overtime?
It seems as though week to week ranking monitoring can be very volatile, and comparing over the course of a month only takes into account the absolute change and not whether the rank has been jumping up and down in the 3 weeks between. What is a good method (Moz tool or not) for tracking a true change in average rank?
Moz Pro | | ajranzato90 -
A question on keywords that rank 51+
Good afternoon everyone. I wanted to pose a question to the group about keywords and the "on-page optimization - grade a page tool." I have a list of keywords that I am trying to rank for. Some of them are not ranked in the top 50, so on the keyword ranking tool it gives you the 51+ message in the rank column. For the items that are ranked I can try to improve them by looking at grade a page and typing in the URL and keyword. It will then give me a score and suggestions on how to improve it. With that being said, is there an easy way to find out which pages I should be optimizing those keywords which rank at 51+ for, besides typing the keywords in Google and seeing what URL it associates with the specific keyword? I hope the question above is clear.
Moz Pro | | trumpfinc0 -
Keyword Research and Planning Flow
Hello, First post here. I am a IT infrastructure engineer that does application and deployment work mostly, but new to SEO. That being said, I am a firm believer in demming wheel and defined process/flow charts. I have a website up, built as best practice, its a Magento CE open source Ecommerce store. After some initial research, it seems I really need to define my keywords before I start branding my landing pages and such. So i am going to have to go back and implement the keywords and evaluate. But as I am reading it seems most SEO people try their keywords in google ad words first? Then implement? I am hoping to find some flow or process sheets on how successful Keyword research is done via step by step process and evaluation. And explanations of each. How many keywords to start with per landing page, how many to try and get in the H1 headers, paragraphs, URL. How long to leave keywords in to test? Also, I am a start up company that is competing with the big boys in my market space. I know I cant compete for the big keywords in my market? What is my best strategy for getting any kind of ranking as a small business in a global market? SEO is a mysterious, intriguing thing to me! Very much reminding me of one of my favorite whimsical quotes I will leave you will now, and thanks for reading. -Alex "Invention, my dear friends, is 93% perspiration, 6% electricity, 4% evaporation, and 2% butterscotch ripple." - Willy Wonka
Moz Pro | | iamgreenminded0 -
Ranking fluctuations from week to week
Over the past couple of months I have seen a couple of my campaigns have key phrases that change from week to week from being in the top 3 to being >51. I worked pretty hard on the sites to get them mostly #1 for their preferred key phrases, and haven't been working that hard lately, but not sure what to make of it. It looks as though those keyphrases that dropped this week to >51 will probably be back in the top 3. Makes it diffuclt when you are trying to prepare a report for your client. Any suggestions are welcomed, and Happy New Year!
Moz Pro | | chill9861 -
Rank Tracker For IRAN?
Hello dear. I have a client in IRAN and I want to track Persian keywords.But the MOZ tracker keywords doesn't support that country. Please help and advise me how can I use track keywords in IRAN?
Moz Pro | | allyunit1 -
Colors in keyword Difficulty Report
Hi Everyone Two quick questions today 1. How can I find out hat the different colors within the keyword Difficulty Report represent and how can I see examples of how this information can help us with our data analysis? 2. The second question I have is regarding the Term Extractor. Seems when I ran a domain it provided the wrong data. For example, it stated that a certain keyword exists certain number of times within the description and title of the page but when I looked at the source this was not the case so it made studying the competition harder.
Moz Pro | | DRTBA
Any suggestions or has anyone else noticed this? Thanks in advance for all your help.0