Sudden drop in rankings
-
I've been working on a site since it launched in April and the rankings for all targeted keywords have been creeping up in that time. For example the site was position 5 for "satchel" and 6 for "satchels".
I've just had the latest rankings report from SeoMoz and it is showing "not in top 50" for both keywords and big drops on most other keywords. What is the likely explanation for such a big drop?
The website is Z atchels.com
-
Thanks for your help in tracking this down!
-
If the report is not appearing correctly, my recommendation would be to contact the SEOmoz help desk for assistance. They could further analyze your issue from the back-end and if there is a bug, they can capture the details so it might be fixed.
Good luck.
-
As you can see it is set to use Google UK.
-
Any chance the setting was changed to use Google.com instead of .co.uk?
-
Thanks, I'm pretty pleased with the site and the client is certainly happy with their sales so far!
-
Hmm, it looks like the SeoMoz rank checker is reporting rankings incorrectly for Google.co.uk then.
I've taken a look at google.co.uk and you are right the rankings are pretty much the same as they were before. SeoMoz Rank Tracker tool is reporting the positions correctly but the Campaign rank tracking is way off.
-
You stated "no changes have been made to that page in the past couple of weeks". It is entirely possible a change you made a couple weeks ago is just now impacting your ranking. Your site DA is low and you may only be crawled once every couple weeks.
I again need to ask, what search engine exactly are you using? When I check Google.co.uk you are presently ranked #9 for "handmade leather satchels" which seems reasonable. You are also ranked #19 for "satchels". Is there a possibility you were ranked his in google.co.uk and you are presently checking google.com?
-
They ranked position 6 for handmade satchel on 23/8/11 which is when the rankings were updated on SeoMoz. On the last update on 30/8/11 it is not in the top 50.
All of the keywords I have mentioned are being tracked by SeoMoz and were ranking highly up to and including the 23/8/11 update but dropped significantly in the 30/8/11 update.
-
My main question is when? When was the last time you can confirm it ranked at those levels? Was it back in April? Or can you confirm it was ranking at that level in the last week or two then suddenly dropped?
Which search engine had these results? How do the results compare with other search engines?
-
It is set up to track rankings as a SeoMoz campaign I've just double checked and satchel and satchels were actually around the 13 mark, now they are not in top 50. Handmade leather satchel was rank 6 and is now not in top 50.
-
great, thanks, let me know what the resolution on this is. Ryan had asked when the last time it was ranked at 5 or 6 was, do you recall?
-
When was the last time you checked and noticed your site as rank #5/6?
I was under the impression that it was better to have a single link to a page than multiple routes?
I would agree with that statement, but if you do provide multiple links to the same page on your site, then I would follow all the links. There are a few instances where you could nofollow an internal link such as if you have a "print" copy of a page, or perhaps for tag/category pages. In those cases it's an all or nothing thing.
-
They don't do anything at the moment that a 17" Macbook would fit in but if they do in the future then I will let you know!
-
The page that was ranked was the site homepage. No changes have been made to that page in the last couple of weeks and very few changes have been made to the rest of the site.
I have changed the 302, I hadn't realised that the redirect that Magento applies by default is a 302!
The delivery and payment information links are no followed as their are multiple links to that page from the homepage. The main link doesn't have a nofollow on it. I was under the impression that it was better to have a single link to a page than multiple routes?
-
The site is new but has had a lot of PR which has gained links from high profile blogs and sites like Grazia and various UK national newspapers. I suppose one reason for the drop could be that these links are ageing?
-
I just realized, I need a satchel...Thanks..
PS,
the site looks very good and is designed smoothly..Good work.
-
If you were ranked #5 and are not presently ranked in the top 50 there are numerous possible causes. A few of the more popular ones are:
-
the page previously ranked has been removed from your site
-
the page previously ranked has been altered in such a manner that it had a negative impact on SEO
-
the site has been altered in a negative manner. For example, another page might be cannibalizing the keyword
-
the site has suffered a manual penalty from Google or whichever search engine is involved
-
the site has suffered an algorithmic penalty such as Panda
-
the site has lost backlinks
EDIT: I looked at the site. A major issue which should be fixed right away is the non-www address is 302'd to your www address. You should change it to a 301, then check your site to ensure that no pages are 302'd. No link juice is passed from a 302 redirect, whereas over 90% of the linking page's value is passed from a 301.
Also, remove all the nofollows from your home page links. You are nofollowing links to your own facebook and twitter page. Those are trusted pages under your control so the links should be followed. You are also nofollowing links to your "Delivery and Payment Information" page. That page has backlinks and unique content which some users may find helpful. Let your internal juice flow naturally.
I like your site's overall design but you do have some opportunities to perform better.
-
-
First, I may be in the wrong business.....I did not realize satchels were such an important item in the world. I am amazed at the number of high DA, high PA sites on page 3, 4, 5 of Google organic for satchel or satchels. So, it makes me wonder how you were ranking in slot 5 or 6 under these terms at all. The reason being that your DA is 29 and your PA on the home page is 36.
Your site is great, you've done a lot right, but you have DKNY on page 5 or 6, Hayden Harnett with DA of 54 and PA of 46 on page 4, shop.nationalgeographic.com...with DA of 92 and PA of 31 on page 3....
I think the bigger question for me would be, "How, with a new site were you up there to begin with?" Even assuming you had a site and all is the same but you rebuilt/remodeled, with your DA and PA, I just don't see how you could move that far ahead that quickly.
It really is an interesting, perplexing, issue. If you find out it would be great to share with all.
Good luck (any good satchels for 17" MacBook Pro, let me know....).
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
-
Adding new categories to my website and getting them ranked
Hi, I currently run a website and have added a couple of new categories lately. The website is Planes Trains Automobiles Co UK. For example I want to add "Planes for sale" as a new category. What is the best way to go about this? Will each aircraft added add content therefore ranking? I don't want to approach an SEO company yet as the service would be free for the time being? Thanks
Moz Pro | | PlanesTrainsAutos0 -
Are seomoz ranking in jeopardy?
A few weeks ago Raventools announced that they would no longer be able to provide tools based on the adwords API, then withdrew that. Rand commented on a thread here discussing that and made similar noises. Today Raventools made an announcement as SERP tracking with wording that sounded a lot like it had more than a little influence from Google. Would I be really paranoid to be wondering whether the Rankings tools in seomoz could be at risk?
Moz Pro | | matbennett1 -
Moztool and on page ranking matching
How does the Moztool compare and filter the search phrases you enter in your campaign? Or more correctly, will it filter out stop words or is it an exact match? For example I enter a phrase to track that say: "book ski trip austria" Identified in Google I see that most users search for just that "book ski trip austria" But in content, I cant write that as that is uncorrect english and I want to maby write something like: "When you book a ski trip to austria you get..." How will this affect my on page SEO report, will it still match and mark a "V" in done or show a an error? Even more interesting is, what happen if you do phrases in different order like "An austrian skip trip will make you feel..."
Moz Pro | | Macaper0 -
Added to product title showing the discount, will it affect the product rankings?
I've added the savings info to a few products to see if I get any more visits from google merchant, example; After Party | Save £5.40. will it harm the products ranking or merchant feed? http://www.thehairroom.co.uk/tigi-bed-head-styling-products/tigi-bed-head-after-party.htm Thank you Mark
Moz Pro | | smoki6660 -
Is Rank Tracker still down?
I have been trying to use Rank Tracker but it still appears to be down. The following message is displayed which dates from 5th September and suggests it would take around a week to get it working. "Due to a server failure, we are experiencing a delay in Rank Tracker results this week. Unfortunately, it may take up to a week to get it working properly again. Thanks for your patience and understanding; our engineers are working around the clock to get this issue fixed. - Updated September 5th." It is now 17th September and I am still unable to use it. Just wondering whether this is the same situation for all or whether SEOMoz have an update on when we can expect this to be up and running. Thanks.
Moz Pro | | simon_realbuzz0 -
Article Directory Page Rank 7
Hi Guys, Would I be correct in my assumption that if I submitted articles to this directory: www . thefreelibrary.com I would recieve a link back to my site of PR7. Could this be correct? Any help with this and any information on Article Directories worth submitting in would be great. Thank for looking, Craig
Moz Pro | | fenwaymedia1 -
SEOmoz Rank tracking
I think this tool is a bit off : ) This morning I checked my ranking for a keyword and every time I recheck it I see my results in a different place. I checked on word 5 times and got three different results. Is Google brocken or is the tracker doing its own thing? This is not the first time I am seeing this issue only today its really acting up. IMHO I think it would be best if the tool just says out of order 🙂 rather than 3, 10, 6 for one keyword phrase within ten minutes...
Moz Pro | | SEODinosaur0 -
Best Keyword Ranking Report Tool
What's the best keyword ranking report tool that anyone is using currently? I have used CuteRank (booo), Rank Tracker, SEOBook.com Rank Tracker, etc. Cost isn't an issue - I'm looking for a free or a paid tool. I need to be able to export resutls in PDF and Excel format. Thanks for the feedback!
Moz Pro | | ezclickmedia0