There are a few things more crucial to the success of a business than its position on Google’s SERPs or search engine results pages. And a significant drop in its ranking can create setbacks that will negatively impact its overall revenue stream. To make matters worse, several factors can potentially cause the fall, including changes in content, algorithm updates, technical problems, competitor improvements, and incurring penalties, to name a few. No matter how far the company has plummeted in search results, don’t worry; there’s always a way to get back up. I
Here is a useful checklist that should help you address this concern and recover from the drop.
Table of Contents
Stay Calm
Dropping on search rankings can be worrisome. However, it is imperative to stay calm. After all, it is a part of search engine optimization. Some experts would argue that it is the one certainty when it comes to SEO. More often than not, it is usually nothing to feel uneasy about. The problem could potentially stem from an issue with the application for rank tracking, or perhaps the algorithm is being tuned by Google. So, don’t panic and check back on it the following day. If it hasn’t normalized, secure the services of experts like those from a reputable Milwaukee SEO company for assistance and follow the rest of the strategies below.
Assess the Impact of the Drop
Not many realize that the search pages and queries that have been affected by the fall in ranking can often say plenty about the underlying problem. Using an application for rank tracking, web analytics for data, and other relevant software, you can accurately determine the scale of the drop’s impact to diagnose the cause better. From the cluster from where the query belongs to the type of content, listing down all relevant queries can give you a better idea of what the cause is.
Check any Recent Changes to the Website
Search ranking drops can be caused by any changes to the website. Migrating a number of pages, rolling out redesigns, and reworking content can all cause fluctuations in the brand’s position on the SERPs. So before you do anything, make sure to ask your team or firm if there were any recent changes to the site and its pages. You can leverage search engine optimization monitoring tools to check both content and technical changes too.
Technical Problems
Technical issues may be rare, but they can happen. If Google is encountering problems with indexing and crawling your business website, it can affect your company’s rankings. For instance, crawl anomalies can prevent the search engine from receiving any requested data from the site. If this happens, there’s a chance that they’ll be unable to rank your content. Loading times can also impact web pages and force a fall in ranking, so make sure that you check the search console’s crawl stats and the load time through Google analytics.
SERP Updates from GOOGLE
Not all updates in Google revolve around its algorithm. There are times when they change their search engine results page too. The addition or removal of certain elements can push down or take the attention of the snippets of a business, after all. If you plan to use a rank tracker to figure things out, it is crucial to keep in mind that they can treat each featured snippet differently. For example, when snippets appear for specific queries, some reporting rankings may take it into account while others may not. Because of this, you must mimic the searcher’s behavior and check the returns of the SERP for targeted keywords.
Valuable Links are Disavowed
Backlinks that are spammy are usually disavowed by those who refuse to be associated with them. However, in most cases, you won’t need to do so to avoid undesirable penalties. While these links fail to contribute anything positive, they don’t have an impact unless there’s malicious intent involved, such as purchasing a number of comments for blogs monthly. What is more concerning is that disavowing valuable links accidentally can have a negative effect on the overall performance of your search engine optimization efforts. It is for this reason that you must be careful.
No one can deny that a ranking drop can keep a business from achieving success. However, falling in position isn’t something to panic about. Where there’s a problem, there’s always a solution. With the techniques and strategies laid out in this article and the services of a capable Milwaukee SEO company, you’ll be able to figure out the cause for the drop and recover your position quickly.