SEO

Google Ranking Drop: Causes and Solutions

Google ranking drop can be a mystery to business owners who rely on their website to generate leads and sales. When your site suddenly drops in the search engine results pages (SERPs), it can be difficult to determine the cause and find a solution.

In this blog post, we will discuss some of the most common causes of Google ranking drops and offer solutions to help you recover your lost rankings. All these causes care summarized by SEO Malaysia.

Ranking on Irrelevant Keywords

One common reason for a Google ranking drop is that your site is optimized for the wrong keywords. If you are targeting keywords that are not relevant to your business or website content, you will not rank well for those terms.

For example, if you sell women’s clothing, but you are optimizing your site for the keyword “men’s clothing,” you will not rank well for that keyword. Instead, you should focus your optimization efforts on keywords that are relevant to your products or services.

To determine if this is the cause of your Google ranking drop, take a look at the keywords you are targeting. Are they relevant to your business? If not, it’s time to adjust your keyword strategy.

Lost Backlinks

Another common cause of a Google ranking drop is the loss of backlinks. They are an important part of SEO because they help search engines determine the quality and relevancy of your site.

If you lose backlinks from high-quality websites, it can cause your rankings to drop. There are a few ways to check if this is the cause of your ranking drop. First, use a backlink analysis tool like Moz’s Open Site Explorer to see which websites are linking to your site.

If you notice that you have lost links from high-quality websites, that could be the cause of your ranking drop. Second, check your website for any broken links.

If you have broken links on your site, that could be the reason why other websites are no longer linking to you. To fix broken links, redirect the old URL to a new page on your website.

Depend on Geolocation

If you depend on geolocation for ranking in local search results, then a change in Google’s algorithm could be the reason for your ranking drop. In recent years, Google has made a number of changes to its algorithm that have affected local search results.

For example, the “Pigeon” update was designed to improve the accuracy of local search results. If you depend on geolocation for ranking in local search results, then it’s important to stay up-to-date on the latest algorithm changes. You can do this by following the Google Webmaster Central Blog.

Manual Actions

If you’ve been working hard to improve your website’s SEO, it can be frustrating to receive a manual action from Google. Manual actions are usually applied when Google detects violations of their Webmaster Guidelines.

This can include anything from keyword stuffing to participating in link schemes. If you receive a manual action, it’s important to take immediate action to fix the issue. Google will usually provide specific instructions on how to do this.

Once you have fixed the issue, you can submit a request for reconsideration. Google will then review your website and, if the issue has been resolved, remove the manual action.

In some cases, however, a manual action may result in your website being permanently removed from Google’s search results. Therefore, it’s important to be diligent about following Google’s guidelines in order to avoid receiving a manual action.

Click-Through Rate Changes

Your website’s click-through rate (CTR) is the percentage of people who click on your listing in the search results. A low CTR can cause your rankings to drop.

There are a number of factors that can affect your CTR, including the position of your listing in the search results and the title and description of your listing. If you notice a sudden drop in your CTR, it could be the reason for your ranking drop.

To improve your CTR, start by taking a look at your listing in the search results. Is the title and description of your listing relevant and appealing? If not, make some changes. You can also try experimenting with different positions in the search results to see if that has an impact on your CTR.

Changes in Search Behavior

Just as fashion trends come and go, so too do the trends in SEO. In the early days of the internet, keyword stuffing was all the rage. Webmasters would stuff their pages with as many keywords as possible, in the hopes of attracting more traffic.

However, today this practice is heavily penalized by search engines. As search algorithms have become more sophisticated, they’ve been able to better identify spammy content.

As a result, keyword stuffing is no longer an effective way to improve your rankings. Instead, it’s now important to focus on producing high-quality content that is relevant to your target audience. By keeping up with the latest trends in SEO, you can ensure that your website continues to rank highly in search results.

Page Speed

The speed of your website can have a big impact on your SEO. In 2010, Google announced that page speed was a ranking factor in their search algorithm.

Since then, they’ve continued to place an emphasis on speed. In 2018, they even announced that they would be rolling out a “Speed Update” that would further penalize slow websites.

If you want your website to rank highly in Google, it’s important to make sure it loads quickly. You can test the speed of your website using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights and Pingdom.

Once you’ve tested your website, you can start making changes to improve your page speed. For example, you might need to optimize your images or minify your CSS and JavaScript.

User Engagement

Your website’s ranking can also be affected by how users interact with it. If users click on your listing in the search results and then quickly return to the search results (known as a “bounce”), this sends a signal to Google that your website wasn’t relevant to their query.

On the other hand, if users click on your listing and then stay on your website for an extended period of time, this tells Google that your website was relevant and useful. Therefore, it’s important to focus on creating a website that provides a good user experience.

This includes having well-written content as well as fast loading pages. By improving the user experience of your website, you can improve your ranking in Google.

Final Thought

If you’ve noticed a drop in your website’s ranking, there could be a number of different causes. To troubleshoot the issue, start by taking a look at the factors that can affect your ranking.

Once you’ve identified the cause of the problem, you can start making changes to improve your ranking. By following these tips, you can ensure that your website continues to rank highly in Google.

This article is posted on Marvel DigiTech.