My Rankings Keep Going Down - Needs some more ideas on why...

[DTOSI]

Hi Everyone,

I have been working on the website www.PetsSpark.com for a while now. I used to be on the first page for many of my keywords, now I am lucky if i am on the 2nd or 3rd. I stopped my SEO efforts for about 3 months while making changes to the website, its whithin these 3 months that I started dropping from the first page.

The biggest thing I notice is the "type" of website now ranking for my main keywords. Mostly Forums, Blogs, or Product Review websites.

Take for instance Dog Tear Stain Remover. I used to rank at about #5 for this keyword and now i rank at #20.

I'm not sure if my loss of ranking is a combination of things like who Google is letting rank now or if there is something wrong on my website, etc.

Can anyone give me a little insight?? Please....

I will also be happy to give more information about what has been going on if needed.

[TammyWood]

I would try to externalize a tremendous amount of your coding and comments within the code. If you can use internal links more effectively to direct your users to the interior pages within the site, also your content isn't organized in a themed website ( with silo structure reflective of the main topics).

I would most certainly, review your on page coding for crawlibility for the spiders. Update your sitemap and organize your content into themes that are cross linking based on the main relevant topic and of course your keywords.

I would also move your content up higher on the page, so it is clear that the text is answering the user query, not just retail website. Review your main competitors who have outranked you in the latest decline, my guess is that your rankings have dropped due to at least two updates from Google. Including the ever popular muffin top.

[MarieHaynes]

I do audits to help sites determine the reasons for their traffic drops.  I'm not sure if it is ok to post a link to my audit information, so the best thing to do would be to contact me by private message and we can talk.

[DTOSI]

We are considering hiring an outside consultant to help on this issue. Is that what you do for a living?

[MarieHaynes]

This is probably good news then.  It means that it is unlikely that an algorithm change is affecting your site.  I can't say for certain without having a detailed look at your site and your competitors but it's possible that other sites are just outperforming you. Your niche is a competitive one!

It's interesting that you noticed that forums, blogs and review sites are outranking you. Google has been making changes to reward sites that add significant value when someone is searching for a product and not just using standard product descriptions.  I didn't have a thorough look, but a quick search of text from your tear stains page shows me 29 other pages that are using the same description.  In order to rank better you may need to create more unique stuff.

It is challenging for stores to rank well these days!

However, there could be other factors, but that is my best guess.

EDIT:  I just went back and looked.  I didn't realize your whole site was about tear stains.  You do have additional information too.  Sorry...I don't know the reason for your rankings drop.  I wish I had more time to dig into this.

[DTOSI]

I took a look at my organic search visits since March. There is no defining day that the visits dropped. Just a slow progression of fewer and fewer visits from my targeted keywords.

[MarieHaynes]

Can you pinpoint the day of your traffic drop?  Take a look at your organic search traffic.  Does it drop on the same day as a Panda update?

[Dan-Lawrence]

I just had a quick look on ahrefs.com and your backlinks (well the ones ahrefs have clocked anyway) have dropped by aprox 15% over relatively short timescale (since 20th Jan aprox), but that doesnt really fit your 3 month timescale but thought would mention it just in case

I cant see G+ in your social properties so definately worth developing G+ pers page/authorship and link to your content (if not already) and of course G+ company page and link that to site too

Sorry prob not much help but my 2 cents worth from having very quick look