Search Engine Position Drop!!!

[watto]

My site Businesses for Sale - Buy & Sell Australian Business for Sale has dropped over the weekend from page 1 to page 4 in Google for my main phrase 'business for sale'. My rankings in Google have also dropped from position 2 to position 7 for the same term.

I have no idea why this has happened. I have been holding these positon for over 1 year and now this. I am very concerned. The only thing different I have done that I can think of is the fact that I added 2 more featured businesses for sale at the bottom of my homepage.

Could this have affected my se results?

All help is greatly appreciated.

Regards

watto

[Janna122003]

Originally Posted by watto

My site Businesses for Sale - Buy & Sell Australian Business for Sale has dropped over the weekend from page 1 to page 4 in Google for my main phrase 'business for sale'. My rankings in Google have also dropped from position 2 to position 7 for the same term.

I have no idea why this has happened. I have been holding these positon for over 1 year and now this. I am very concerned. The only thing different I have done that I can think of is the fact that I added 2 more featured businesses for sale at the bottom of my homepage.

Could this have affected my se results?

All help is greatly appreciated.

Regards

watto

It could be other reason. Do you still continue your link building?

[watto]

To be honest, I submit 1 article per week to 500 directories including ezinearticles.com and I upload 1 post per week to my blog here Businesses for Sale Australia

Other than this, I haven't put much effort into gaining related, quality links.

I proberly just answered my own question???

regards

watto

[inertia]

Hi Watto,

Google has been going through a big update recently. I'm not sure how this works with regards to the rest of the world - i.e. whether Australian data centres update later or whether it all happens at the same time.

Ive been in this similar situation with a few clients and i always advise that they wait a fortnight before panicking. If you start changing things now you could be chasing your tail for months to come.

[Peter (IMC)]

Originally Posted by inertia

Hi Watto,

Google has been going through a big update recently. I'm not sure how this works with regards to the rest of the world - i.e. whether Australian data centres update later or whether it all happens at the same time.

Ive been in this similar situation with a few clients and i always advise that they wait a fortnight before panicking. If you start changing things now you could be chasing your tail for months to come.

I agree, better wait a bit before doing something dramatical. Give it a few weeks to see what happens. More webmasters have been reporting this kind of behaviour. If after a few weeks this problem is still there, let us know.

[kushty]

Yes I have had similar things happen although not quite as drastic as that but we have moved of page one for our main key phrase to page 2. I suspect as inertia says it is the result of the latest google changes. We will hold on a while then see if things go from bad to worse before we start to implement any changes.

[incrediblehelp]

1. D you buy links?
2. Do you sell links?
3. Understand that rankings shift like this is very normal and it is worse since this Dewey update from Google.
4. Are you familiar with Google Previous Query? It can help explains these shifts as well.

[benc007]

Have you changed your meta tags, link structure or anything else?

[RichAtVNS]

Originally Posted by incrediblehelp

1. D you buy links?
It can help explains these shifts as well.

Interesting about buying links it seems that on the days when I am not paying for Adwords I have actually been higher in the search engine results! Wednesdays and Thursdays used to be our best selling days (for the last 10 years) and since the latest google shakeup, it's a wasteland and not worth the ROI for the advertising. And lo and behold on Saturdays (when no one ever stays indoors and buys) has become a good selling day. And I don't pay a single cent in Adwords on a SATURDAY!

[kevsta]

Originally Posted by incrediblehelp

1. D you buy links?
2. Do you sell links?
3. Understand that rankings shift like this is very normal and it is worse since this Dewey update from Google.
4. Are you familiar with Google Previous Query? It can help explains these shifts as well.

this is why i come to this forum. rep added, have missed both of these. thx once again incrediblehelp

[bijan814]

I had a drop too, and I was replaced with irrelevant website instead.

[Stu Wright]

We had a big drop on our catering forum about a month ago, going down to page 6 in a Google search. I checked yesterday and we have gone back up to page 1. I have not done anything different to before, except putting all our sites on different IPs. You would be a very rich person if your could say exactly what it needed for a top position, especially after all of the recent changes. Hope it goes back after a while.

[DoneInStyle]

I did look at your site and I've gotta say, it's a bit spammy for various terms using the word "business". It's possible you went over some threshold, but I do also know from my own experience with serps that google is dancing. Don't start playing yet, but it might be wise to maybe use some SEO tools to see if you're over the recommended limits for keyphrase or keyword density, and in a week or two if you haven't seen improvement, then start doing gentle fixes once a week or so.

[seoboy]

Originally Posted by watto

To be honest, I submit 1 article per week to 500 directories including ezinearticles.com

Wow! How do you submit to 500 directories in a week? Do you submit manually or do you use some software or website? Can you share your method please.

Thanks,

[Peter (IMC)]

Originally Posted by incrediblehelp

1. D you buy links?
2. Do you sell links?
3. Understand that rankings shift like this is very normal and it is worse since this Dewey update from Google.
4. Are you familiar with Google Previous Query? It can help explains these shifts as well.

Jaan,

Are you seeing the previous query algorithm at work already in the organic results? I did some tests, but can't see it working yet, while the Adwords ads are changing all over the place.

[Janna122003]

Originally Posted by watto

To be honest, I submit 1 article per week to 500 directories including ezinearticles.com and I upload 1 post per week to my blog here Businesses for Sale Australia

Other than this, I haven't put much effort into gaining related, quality links.

I proberly just answered my own question???

regards

watto

You better do more link building effort than article submission. Article submission is just a part of marketing but it doesn't help much on SERP.

[kristy7]

How do you submit your article to 500 sites? Do you use a certain tool or do you do it manually? I don't have money to buy software. Is there a list of top sites that are the most important to submit articles to?

[kushty]

Originally Posted by kristy7

How do you submit your article to 500 sites? Do you use a certain tool or do you do it manually? I don't have money to buy software. Is there a list of top sites that are the most important to submit articles to?

Take a look here New list of Article Submission websites

[watto]

Hi Guys! Thanks for all the feedback.

At this point I haven't changed my meta tags, and I don't intend on doing so. Seeing as though I have reached the number 1 position for my main term not so long ago, I should be able to get there again. Not sure when, but my fingers are crossed!

I use a program called Article Post Robot for my article submissions. It is a great tool! (I have no affiliation with APR)

I do not buy or sell links and never have. I have seen sites get completely wiped out of google for participating in the buying and selling of links. I plan on staying away from this.

Can anyone recommend a tool I can use to see if I have crossed any boundaries in regards to my on page keyword density? It is the same as it has always been as I have not made any changes lately. My site seemed to drop for no reason.

I have started doing some more relavent link building. This is something I have neglected lately as I have been putting all of my time into article writing and sbmitting. Already I have had some success with related high pr sites. I like to offer sites a fresh, original, keyword inriched article which includes two links pointing back to my site. They get the benefit of the fresh original content and I get the two links with my anchor text pointing back. This technique has been working for me, so hopefully I will start to see some good results soon.

I will keep you all updated and let you know how things are going.

Once again, thanks for all of your helpfull feedback!

Regards

watto

[activeco]

Originally Posted by Peter (IMC)

Are you seeing the previous query algorithm at work already in the organic results?

I have been experiencing the feature already for a few months, although less lately. It seems like Google switches it on and off for some time. I also have to use quotes more often in my search terms.
However I don't think it can have much influence on rankings. With this you lose something, but you gain something on other places, so the traffic should remain the same. It is only more difficult to track the results.

Originally Posted by watto

The only thing different I have done that I can think of is the fact that I added 2 more featured businesses for sale at the bottom of my homepage.

It could be that you just hit the threshold.

[watto]

I was just thinking the same thing. I'll remove the changes and give it a week or so and see if I creep back up to my usual position.

Regards watto