We empathize with you; a fall does always hurt. We all do dream of a summit; we all work hard and smart towards it; with time most even realize those dreams manifesting around. But the world remains in a constant flux and things change. Tragedies happen, people get hurt, emotions get hurt, and there we cower down in dread and hope along. We wander here and there too, to look for what could have gone wrong. When it comes to SEO, the complexities go up further. What you see today in SERP could not be there a week later. But these are minor fluctuations. Things worry us when we see a giant drop in our rankings. We had worked days and night, paid big bucks for SEO services in Sydney, Tokyo, Delhi, and where not, just to see our name on that first page. But things are no more joyful, for the rankings have gone, and reasons are still unknown. We feel your dread, and thus reveal to you the possible reasons for the drop. Once identified, there are big spaces for repairs.
SEO is something that takes many factors into account, and above it, Google keeps on updating its algorithms. This hardens the process of ranking for those keywords. Although the reason usually relates to some recent update, there could be other underlying issues as well.
Why do websites’ rankings fluctuate?
Google is infamous for the number of algorithmic changes it does make a year. But the changes it makes are to help the internet be a better place to surf. And you can’t really do anything about it. This comes down to coming aligned with the SEO guidelines. Google or any other search engines take various factors in consideration to decide which website to show in SERP against the query raised. This ranges from the quality of content, quality of links, the mobile friendliness, content optimization, to a more technical issue from the back-end. Another reason could be how you are checking your rankings. If you opt for SEO services in Sydney, chances are your website will rank in Sydney alone. So check for the region you are seeing your rankings for.
When Google had revealed its Panda update, back in 2011, nearly 12% of search results had gotten affected by it. Why? Because people were trying to stuff the content with keywords and bland phrases, users were not really getting any value out, and this lead to such change. It is just one example of how rankings drop. Google makes around 3000 changes a year. A common person really can’t do a thing about it. This is where SEO services (in Sydney) come in. They, with their expertise, try all possible sorts to deal with the drop. But if you live in Sydney and don’t have that Sydney’s No 1 SEO agency (or at any other place of course), then there are things you can do to check where the short-circuit is at.
How to check a ranking drop if you don’t have those SEO services.
The reasons could be many. Suppose you had observed a trend in the world around Insta reels, and you wondered about the opportunity. Thus you posted a lot of content about how to do Insta reels, how to not, when to, when to not, why to, and much more. Soon the results came and it uplifted your websites ranking alongside. But then a few months later, certain guidelines came about short-video apps, or some other app stepped in, leading to a change in global behavior. This lead to a drop in the trend, thus the drop in those pages you had ranked for, and thus the drop in the ranking. This is one example alone. Here are the other factors:
- Some security issues leading to a negative user experience.
- Algorithmic changes leading to a drop.
- Change in the user behavior.
- Technical issues at the back end hampering Google crawlers in its work.
- Google Penalties due to noncompliance of certain guidelines.
- Negative-SEO done by some competitor.
So to check for the reason, here are a few things you could do if you don’t have those SEO services in Sydney to do it for you.
Use Google Search Console:
Google Search console allows you to analyze the user behavior against the keywords you are targeting. In brief, Google Search Console is a great way to see how different pages in your website, different keywords, and competitive keywords are doing in the world. Check the pages ranking for those similar keywords and compare their content with yours. It might be that their content is easier to read, or is super engaging. Try to alter your content accordingly.
Check for any warning or penalties:
Google introduces certain guidelines and then want netizens to follow those. It leads to a better user experience. When it sees a website violating those guidelines, it either sends a warning or penalizes the website. The reasons could be many, but the prime one is the use of black hat techniques to rank. Check if you’ve got one. To check, log in to your search console, go to the security and manual action tab, and there they’d be.
Check for the range of drop:
Drops occur due to many underlying factors. Check if the drop is around a certain keyword, a certain URL, a certain time in the year, a certain trend, etc. There are ways to check this range of drop. One such way is to learn to use Google Analytics. Go to your google analytics, site content, and explore different options there.
Know if you have made any recent changes to the Robot.txt:
Changes to this file can lead to sections of your website. If you made a change recently, check if all the sections have been correctly crawled by the crawler.
Check for negative SEO:
Negative SEO is when someone else wrongly or intentionally reports your website. This leads to a drop in ranking. The good news is you can report about it. Raise a request to review the report. Negative-SEO is a black hat tactic that many use to rank higher by suppressing their competitors.
Changes could just be seasonal or due to an algorithmic update:
Check if Google or other Search Engine has released any core update. Google keeps on releasing small changes that lead to small fluctuations, and big core changes that lead to big drops. You need to come aligned with these changes. If you are an individual, then it might get tough for you to track all the changes. But try to track for any core update.
Another reason could be a seasonal change. We behave differently at different times of the year, this change in user behavior leads to a change in ranking. You rarely can do anything about it.
A drop in ranking does happen, to everyone, the thing comes to when it is happening. SEO services easily track down these changes with their expertise. So try to look for one if you can. It helps the brand value of your website and returns the value manifold.