Ranking drop Feb 2013?
-
I'm trying to get to the bottom of why Directholidays.co.uk suffered a drop in rankings for the term "cheap holidays" in February 2013.
Im looking at this recently and as an outsider so I haven't got access to Webmaster tools and I haven't been tracking rankings/link profiling.
They moved from 2nd to 10th temporarily and then recovered at 7th the new 10th!
I've looked at keywords improved/declined on, keywords lost/gained, traffic, traffic price but im failing to see exactly what I can use to show whether Panda #24 (officially 22nd of January) had a significant effect.
Can anyone shed any light on this? It would be massively appreciated!
-
No worries re: parrotting. If you look here in the Q&A and on things like Disqus, you'll find me repeating myself pretty often.
Travel sites like yours can be really difficult. There are so many of them, most have virtually the same content, and it seems that most are extremely committed to link spam (and are often still succeeding with it).
My gut instinct would be to try to come up with some really useful travel planning guides as a linkable asset like a PDF or maybe video. Some general guides for specific parts of the world (things like "How Not to Offend People in _____"), and maybe some for more specific locations. Then the tricky part is promoting that content in a non-spammy way so it will get shared, Liked, linked to, etc.
That's a lot of work, but if Google ever drops the hammer on the travel site niche which is competitive and pretty spammy, you will have a better chance of survival.
-
Thanks Nick,
I was trying to assess the "SEO landscape" at the time, but i'll hopefully cover that by discussing the progression towards a deeper, more naturally distributed valued content based SEO strategy.
I'm still keen to identify if there are any obvious factors besides general algorithm updates competitor growth that resulted in the observed ranking changes.
It would give me a better idea of how to plan an effective strategy on re-gaining the #2 ranking.
Thanks in advance and apologies for sounding like a parrot!
-
Not every ranking change is due to a named algorithm update.
I want everyone who uses the Q/A to have to repeat this 10 times before they are able to post a question. Well said
-
I am not sure how knowing whether or not one particular piece of Google's algorithm found a problem with the site is going to help, but since Panda is generally going after copied or thin/weak content, I think it is safe to say that a lack of unique and "quality" content is to blame. All those links using the anchor text "cheap holidays" are also a potential problem, though not specifically a panda thing.
If I understood correctly, the site dropped from #2 to #10 and back to 7. Still on page one, so count your blessings. With a relatively small drop like that, it is probably just the Google algorithm in general or external factors like lost or devalued incoming links, rather than a specific filter against the site. Not every ranking change is due to a named algorithm update.
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
-
New Google Update - weird ranking
Hi I wanted to get your thoughts on this keyword ranking. This page - https://www.key.co.uk/en/key/albatross-heavy-duty-office-chairs-24-stone is now ranking for heavy duty office chair 30 stone We don't mention 30 in the content anywhere, apart from the USPs at the top of the page - could this be it?! I don't know how to change this, or I guess Google is still figuring things out and maybe this will drop off? Love to get some thoughts on this! Becky
Algorithm Updates | | BeckyKey0 -
Bad Grammar's Effect on Rankings
Mozzers, I have a client who's brand style guide dictates that they write in all lowercase letters. Do you think this will hurt rankings? Nails
Algorithm Updates | | matt.nails1 -
Website dropping from page 1google uk
Hi all, Firstly let me stress I am not really SEO minded, I know the very basics and that is about it. I am a driving instructor in the UK and have had my website (Wordpress) on page 1 for about 3 years now round the position 3 mark but for the last few months it has been dropping and is now right at the bottom of page 1 so no doubt a few more days and it will vanish completely from page 1 of google.co.uk . I was wondering if someone could just have a quick look at the page to see if they can see anything obvious that wouldn't be seen by me! The search term is " Driving Lessons Worcester " and the page that has always show on page 1 of google is .. http://www.passlee.com/driving-lessons-worcester.html I also had another site on page 1 for about 2 years which was www.drivinglessonsworcester.com this has also vanished to page 5 over the last 3 to 4 months. What really hurts is I made a website for another local instructor using WP and with similar setup to mine and that is now showing as No.1 on page 1 of google.co.uk!! So how is it the website I did for him is doing amazing yet mine is dieing a death when they are setup the same way but obviously different content! As I said I barely know the basics , I am sure a lot of you are thinking " Just go research " which I know I should and no doubt will, but I just wanted someone to have a very quick look to see if there was anything obvious! Kind Regards Lee Francis
Algorithm Updates | | germinus0 -
How to increase Alexa Rank?
Hi All, I have a website mexat.com and continuously my Alexa rank decreasing before a month my website Alexa rank was approx 3500 but now it is 4,487 so I am worried about that and want to get Alexa below 2000. So please suggest me what I can do to get good Alexa rank. I am waiting for your valuable feedback. Thanks Mike
Algorithm Updates | | afycon0 -
Local Vs National SEO Rankings
Hi Guys, I just had a quick question, is it truly possible to rank number one worldwide/nationally for a keyword phrase these days such as, Computer repair services. I'm not too concerned with the local serps that come up above the fold. I'm just more concerned, if Google is looking to serve more local results into the regular serps listing? I hope that makes sense thanks. Best, Peter
Algorithm Updates | | PeterRota0 -
Ranking drops over weekend
Hi all, Has anyone noticed any ranking changes over the weekend? I've noticed an almost uniform drop of a few positions across almost all of my chosen phrases. Nothing major has occurred on our site, no messages in webmaster tools. An analysis of our competitors positions (which we track the top 10) doesn't reveal any clues. Cheers Aran
Algorithm Updates | | Aran_Smithson1 -
Does the browers type affect rankings?
This may be a rooky question so apologies in advance if it is! A client of mine has asked why his site's rank is different when he searches for it from his iPhone or computer (where he uses IE) and also on Bing. Obviously I know that there will be differences between Bing and Google so I can explain that to him. But he seems to be implying that the different browsers are affecting the results on his iPhone and computer. I've tried this myself using Firefox and IE and on Firefox the site ranks page 1 but on IE it ranks page 3 (both using Google). Is this likely to do with the browser having information about my past search habits or is it actually the browser affecting the SERP? Again, sorry if this is a stupid question! Thanks in advance.
Algorithm Updates | | WillCreate0