You can put a tremendous amount of work into getting this right. Whether it’s through engaging blogs, a smooth web design, multiple keywords, or optimised metadata, climbing the rankings is a long journey that requires time and effort. So when that ranking begins to drop, it can feel like everything you have achieved is collapsing around you.
The important thing is that you can rebuild. And fast. Typically, there are five key reasons why a Google ranking can suddenly drop, so the key is to recognise the reasons that are relevant to you and work to counteract them. To help you out, we’ve listed these reasons below, as well as a few notes on how you can begin the recovery process.
Your Website isn’t Technologically Proficient
When determining your authority and relevance, Google initialises search robots that crawl and index your site’s content. Technical SEO, however, determines the usability of your website, which can be substantially damaged if it’s not technologically proficient. For instance, if your server receives heavy traffic from a high Google ranking – yet it is not able to deal with it – then your site might go down, and your ranking will drop.
Page speed, too, can influence how Google views your website. The more images and files you have, the longer it takes for a page to load – and the longer it takes a page to load, the less likely it is that Google will see you as authoritative. If you’re looking to upgrade your technological efficiency by migrating to a new server, then this should also be considered carefully. A lot of the time, businesses fail to set up redirects, which can subsequently lead Google to assume you are duplicating content.
Competition Has Improved
Another key reason why your Google ranking has dropped might simply be an increase in worthy competition. Because the world of business is constantly evolving – as well as the landscape of SEO – it’s common to fall behind now and then.
To counteract this, you need to conduct competitor analysis and attain the necessary data to understand how other companies are succeeding, and where you can replicate their newfound success.
Obviously, the recovery process will vary depending on your specific industry, but it’s important to realise that a ranking decline may not be the fault of your strategy, but the efficiency of others.
Keywords are not Relevant Enough
Speaking of data analysis, you must conduct continuous research on keywords and their relevance. Akin to this, you need to consider user intent. Let’s say that your site has been ranking highly on Google for a few years, based purely on transactional queries.
If you’ve been writing content with a specific, informational angle, then Google might decide that your site better suits informational intent over transactional.
For this reason, the way in which your site ranks – in conjunction with informational intent – has changed, and you have subsequently dropped in the rankings. To counteract this, you need to guide Google back to the original intent by adding transactional keywords such as ‘buy’, ‘purchase’, or ‘order’.
You will only know this, however, by checking the SERP, analysing performance, and configuring the relevant keywords that you’re ranking for.
You’re Writing too Much Content
We wrote an entire blog on this pointer earlier this year, so we won’t go into too much detail now. But when it comes to a decline in ranking, writing too much content can be a common pitfall.
A lot of people think that an overabundance of content is a good thing for SEO, but actually, too much content can negatively impact your ranking and decrease your website’s authority. Instead, you need just the right amount of content.
In order to avoid cannibalization and Google penalising you for duplication, it’s important to consolidate your content and ensure you prioritise quality over quantity.
The UX is Poor
With quality in mind, the UX of your website might be another key reason for a fall in ranking. While Google can do a lot to get users clicking on your website, if you don’t have a strong UX, it won’t be long before they click off it.
It’s important to remember that the results obtained from a strong UX are intertwined with SEO metrics – if your UX is good, then more users will engage with your content, and you’ll have a higher chance of Google rewarding you.
If you’ve found yourself dropping down the Google ranking, look into the performance of your UX and put it up against other competitors. A lot of the time, the consumer is just as important to SEO success as algorithms, so always strategise with their experience in mind.
