What Could Have Caused A Drop In Google Positions? Semalt SEO Expert Gives The Answer
Drop in position in Google - these words keep every owner of an online store, blog, or internet portal at bay. This is bad news as it announces further, more intense activities to promote the site again. Of course, this type of action should be preceded by an appropriate SEO analysis, thanks to which it will be possible to check what exactly caused the drop in Google's position, as well as what actions can improve this result.
Why is the position on Google dropping?
There can be many reasons for this, and they are also very diverse. Some will take a while to repair, others will have to be exhausted. However, it is important to find out which option fits our case in order to be able to reliably remedy it.
- Introducing changes to the structure of internal links - (e.g. changing the names of categories on a blog or in an online store, changing the names of subpages) - such an action carried out by inexperienced people may cause the pages and subpages for which positioning was commissioned not to be visible to the search engine. There will be no so-called crawling and the search engine will not display the position in the results. It is also likely to cause the site to malfunction.
- Sharing the website under a new domain - here the problem may be related to a bad redirect within the website. It must be redirected to work properly. This can be done using the 301 redirects. If this solution is not applied, it may turn out that several pages with the same content will appear, which the search engine will treat as duplicate content and therefore our position in the ranking may drop.
- Duplicating content - the above-mentioned duplicate content applies not only to content within one site. You can meet with copying content from other sites all the time. It is common practice to repeat product descriptions in online stores. Such action exposes the website not only to a decline in position but also to other unpleasantness. It is much better to invest in well-prepared descriptions and content, also in terms of SEO, that will support the website positioning, but also affect how customers perceive it.
- Excessive optimization of the website - it is worth recalling that typing out keywords has a negative impact on our position in the search engine. It should be ensured that the phrases exchanged are related to the general subject of the entire text and have a natural overtone.
SEO analysis - why is it worth doing?
SEO analysis is the first step to take when it turns out that our website has lost its high position in Google very quickly. It turns out that there are often drops, even of several hundred positions. A well-conducted SEO analysis will allow you to quickly identify the problem and give you the tools to solve it. The basic activities that should help achieve a high website position, depending on the problem, are:
Appropriate redirects
They allow you to redirect the website address and avoid duplicate content. Such activities also enable people interested in our offer to find it quickly, in the case that the main address or addresses of individual subpages are changed.
Internal linking
In the event that changes in internal links contributed to the change of position, it is worth trying to restore their previous structure, which allowed for a high position in the search engine.
Website optimization
Texts and graphics on the website should be properly optimized. It is worth delegating this task to a specialist who will audit the website and determine what exactly needs to be changed. Sometimes it is enough to refine the texts, other times it may be necessary to introduce thorough changes not only in the content but also in the graphic design of the entire website. Attention to these details will positively affect both the positioning and the opinion of users who will appreciate the hard work on the content of the page.
Regular audits
You should systematically make sure that the website is functioning properly. One element that is easy to forget is backlinks. It may turn out that the very valuable ones have been lost, which has also affected the quality of our website. Then it is worth finding out where exactly the links came from, why we lost them and whether there is a chance to recover them. Whether you are a blogger, a SaaS company or a local business, the Dedicated SEO Dashboard tool is 100% necessary to make regular SEO audits and to be competitive in search engines.
What else could have made a page fall on Google?
When you have noticed a drop in Google's position, it is worth checking if the website has been fined by Google (ban or filter). This is usually due to the use of illegal positioning techniques. But maybe someone from your competition decided to act unethically and hurt your website. Possible causes of decline include:
Google updates
Google is constantly evolving and changing to provide its users with the best possible experience. Therefore, it introduces updates that may temporarily and also randomly or even recurrently affect the search results. It is worth monitoring whether the decline in Google's position occurred only due to the so-called "Google dance" or changes initiated in the process of innovation, which permanently downgraded our site's position in the ranking.
Competition
It is always worth following the competition and its actions, especially in the case when the position of a given page has been dominated by them. Perhaps they have better-refined keywords, and more interesting graphics, or maybe they raise more intriguing topics in their texts. If you have trouble controlling the actions of the competition and then analyzing them, or you simply do not have time to do it, it is worth contacting professionals. With their help, you will learn what to do to raise the position of your website in the rankings.
Cloaking
It is also possible that due to hacking activities, the page has been subjected to the so-called cloaking. In this case, the content that is visible to the user does not match the content shown to the search engine. Google sees this as black hat SEO activities and will apply a filter or ban to the page, causing it to drop in Google rank.
Page efficiency
The speed at which the page loads and whether it works at all is very important. A user who waits for a long time, sometimes with zero results, for the expected content to be displayed, may abandon the domain and thus increase the bounce rate. Obviously, this has a negative impact on the position in the search engine. You should optimize your website in order to speed up its performance, but also regularly check whether the domain fee has been paid and whether the owner of the server you are using cares for the service provided. It also does not hurt to take care of creating an efficient mobile version that will make it easier for people using a smartphone or tablet to find and navigate the site.
Where is my page on Google?
In order not to panic asking yourself this question, it is best to make sure that SEO analysis is carried out by a trained team. Thanks to this, the reasons for the decline in Google's position will be found more efficiently, as well as solutions to this problem. This will save the owners of the domain time, money and nerves, and provide its users with the best possible experience. We invite you to familiarize yourself with our SEO tool the Dedicated SEO Dashboard to do the SEO analysis of your site!
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