Can't figure this ranking out..
-
Hi,
This is puzzling me. I've been in the second/third position for a week or so for my best keyword. That is for Google US unpersonalized, which is the one that brings more traffic, as far as I understand.
It can't get MUCH better. Well, I can be first, but second and third position is really awesome in my case (highly competitive keyword according to SEOMOZ PRO).
Then, why on earth my traffic for that keyword was 8 times better a year ago??
I mean, a year ago I received an average of 800 visits per day and now I can barely reach 90 visits per day being in the second / third place. Visits can't increase from 90 to 800 just for increasing one spot.
I've never seen in my stats such drop in my rankings. I thought that due to google updates my site was sent below the 20th position or something. But my I was shocked today when I saw that I still have the second/third position
Am I crazy or this looks wrong? The page title and description that shows in google hasn't changed, so people looking for that keyword are seeing the same as one year ago. It is not a seasonal or time sensitive keyword.
My best guess is that people are now always logged in and results are personalized. Don't know much about personalized results but I don't think you can optimize much for those. If that's the case, then how on earth can we optimize a page if everybody is using personalized results?
Is there a way to improve your rankings in those cases?
Thanks,
Enrique
-
I agree with Ryan. Without being more specific it's impossible to tell what is going on. It could be any number of things. One thing you could do is look at GA for your top pages, then look at what keywords are bringing people to those pages. If a large majority is "not given" you may be able to guess what some of those words are if that makes sense.
-
If you can share the actual keyword and your site name, we could offer better details. Without that information, we are left to generalities. A few things to consider:
-
Google now considers searches by those logged in as private. A chunk of searches for your site no longer show for the keyword involved.
-
While I love the SEOmoz toolset, a rating of "highly competitive" has little meaning. There is not a meaningful way to rate competitiveness without an experienced SEO examining the rankings and factors involved.
-
Any change in rankings (from 2 to 3 for example) would certainly impact traffic
-
The ads can change and impact traffic
-
Your competitors might be using more compelling titles or meta descriptions (i.e. Free Shipping or 25% off)
-
keyword volumes can fluctuate wildly throughout the year. For example "gift basket" searches are much higher before mother's day, then the term drops
-
Many keywords fall out of favor as they are replaced by other keywords over time. A singer/actor's popular can fluctuate wildly from year to year. Interest in various topics can change wildly
-
Google has made hundreds of changes over the past year which impacts search results. One example is the increased importance of local search. You may rank #2 in organic search, but the way the search results are displayed you might not even show as above the fold. There could be 3 ads, then the first organic result, then 7 local results, then your second place organic position.
There are other factors as well. You can continue to apply SEO best practices to improve your ranking over time.
-
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
-
Mobile first indexing but can you force Google to index your desktop url instead?
Hi Guys So I just wanted to know if there is an option to force google to index your desktop version instead of the mobile version after the mobile first indexing by Google. Cheers Martin
Reporting & Analytics | | martin19700 -
Image ranking plummet help
Hi Moz Community, I need help understanding why my site is dropping rankings and traffic significantly. We were hit the hardest with doing a image query filter ~6/2-6/3 (image attached). We also had a site migration on this exact date, but didn't change URL structure or domain names, just switched hosting sites. I'm assuming this plummet is from the migration, but can't figure out why. I may also not be understanding this filter clearly so let me know. Shoot any questions my way that could help your understanding of the problem be more clear. Thanks,
Reporting & Analytics | | IceIcebaby
-Reed yVzQRTK0 -
Google Analytics Content Experiments - Experiment Conversions and Goal Figures Don't Match
Hi, I set up a new content experiment 6 days ago, the experiment says there have been 2 conversions but the goal associated with it says 5. The experiment is set to target 100% of traffic, distributed evenly among the variations, the goal is a destination URL goal. I've doubled checked the goal set up and everything seems fine. How can the content experiment report a different figure to the goal associated with it? Has anyone else noticed the same problem? Is this a bug? Is there a workaround available? Or is there a setting I need to be aware of when creating content experiments to prevent this from happening? I need to know I can trust the results the content experiments provide.
Reporting & Analytics | | UNIT40 -
Had suspicious spike in Adsense clicks, next day site ranking tanks
Yesterday, one of my sites had extreme Adsense clicks for several hours in the morning, which brought it up to CTRs of around 120%. My normal CTR is about 10-15%. It added several hundred dollars income over and above my normal amount. After that, it went back to normal. I have waited to see if Google would adjust the income down, as someone or some bot seemingly clicked the heck out of the site's ads. Nothing has been adjusted; it's been 24 hours. Question #1: what usually causes this type of insane clicking to occur (i.e. competitors messing me?) Then, today I noticed something else disturbing. I cannot find my site in the top 100 SERPs for the main keyword. I was at #1 for a couple years, then, when I changed themes from Thesis to Genesis (site otherwise exactly the same) a couple months ago, I bounced around various positions on the first page. In the last couple weeks we've been bouncing between the teens and the thirties. Two days ago we were at #15. (the site is still indexed when I use "site:" to check. It seems awfully coincidental that yesterday I had the Adsense click explosion, and today I'm not even in the top 100 for the first time in my pretty stable two-year history, and have no idea how far behind 100 I am. I went to Google Webmaster Tools and see no errors or warnings relating to this. Adsense has not sent me any messages. So... Question #2: does Google search apply some sort of penalty to site that have suspicious Adsense clicking? By the way, I don't have any funny business going on with any bad SEO practices, it's all above board, and I have thousands of real readers each day Liking and commenting on the pages. It's a very real site. Note: I have been checking the ranking each day via a Google Incognito window and searching for the term. Of course I use MOZ but I do the Incognito search for a quick real time check, which I've found to be accurate.
Reporting & Analytics | | bizzer0 -
Can 500 errors hurt rankings for an entire site or just the pages with the errors?
I'm working with a site that had over 700 500 errors after a redesign in april. Most of them were fixed in June, but there are still about 200. Can 500 errors affect rankings sitewide, or just the pages with the errors? Thanks for reading!
Reporting & Analytics | | DA20130 -
My rankings report dates from 10 june. How is that possible since it is supposed to happen every week ?
My last rankings report dates from 10 june. How is that possible since it is supposed to happen every week ?
Reporting & Analytics | | suntrails0 -
Can you filter referring keywords in Google Analytics by language?
Hi All! So yes, I know that you can see/filter the language that the computer or browser was set to (en-us, ru, fr, etc.), but if you look at the keywords used by visitors falling under "fr", some are in English. Is there any way to get, say, just the keywords in Russian - regardless of what the visitor's browser language was set to? Thanks! Aviva
Reporting & Analytics | | debi_zyx0 -
Why isn't Google showing the first keyword result in Analytics anymore?
Just checked my Google Analytics traffic sources under organic search and it dosen't display the first keyword, it says "not provided" is there another way of determining the #1 organic searched keyword that my site was found under?
Reporting & Analytics | | Randog0