Sudden ranking drop, no manual action
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Yes, it was the homepage that dropped and I'm doing just fine on all of the other key phrases.
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I understand the algorithm changes and updates all the time, but a 40 spot drop all at once on just one key phrase is a little drastic, IMO
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You originally shared "Monday morning, I realized that my website, which had been showing up at the bottom of page 2 for a specific result, had now been demoted to the bottom of page 6 (roughly a 40 spot demotion). No other keyword searches were affected."
What is the URL of the specific web page which was affected? What is the keyword phrase which experienced the drop?
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The URL of the affected page is http://jimferguson.me
The keyword phrase is "web design greenville sc"
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I like some aspects of your site, but I don't believe you earned a 2nd page ranking for the target phrase. There is seemingly a lot of competition for the keyword. Many developers from around the world might create a "web design greenville" page and attempt to compete with you. Here are some suggestions:
1. Your home page title and header presently target two keywords: "Website Design & Graphic Design Greenville, SC". If you perform a Google.com search for "Website Design & Graphic Design Greenville, SC" you are the #2 result. Your title and header represent the phrase for which you wish to rank.
If the most important phrase is "Web Design Greenville SC" then change your title and header to match. You will likely notice an immediately improvement in ranking once the change is made and crawled by Google.
2. You do not have a single backlink to your site using the phrase as anchor text. While you don't want all your backlinks to use the phrase, some of them definitely should.
3. Add your physical address and phone number to your page. Saying you are providing service for Greenville in your header is not enough. There are tons of companies in Los Angeles, NY, Miami, India and the rest of the world who are offering similar pages. You have the advantage of being authentic. Leverage that advantage by publishing your information on both your home page and the About page.
4. Use your target phrase at least once in your content. "I have been providing Web Design to Greenville residents for 5 years". There are many other ways to present the phrase but it needs to be there on your page. Preferably 2-3 times.
There are other changes you can made but these four changes alone have a great shot at bumping you to the first page of results. At the very least, you will dramatically improve your ranking.
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Thanks for the input Ryan, I'll definitely look at implementing some of these things. I'm a bit gun shy about using the exact anchor text after getting pushed back so far in such a short time period, but I know that's important. I'm still scratching my head as to why I was on page 2 for this exact phrase one week ago and now I'm on page 6. Guess we'll never have a definitive answer on that one.
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Hi Jim,
I like everything that Ryan stated above and would like to add a little about local search factors. I noticed that you are in Simpsonville, not Greenville. This can be problematic in local search, but not insurmountable, but the first task is a little house cleaning.
Google is hyperlocal these days and will NOT trust a site that doesn't list their physical address which I'm sure you have chosen because you are not in Greenville. I see you used Simpsonville in the title tag here.
http://jimferguson.me/web-design/sandlapper-studio
Google likes consistency and relevance.
Including place names in searches adds a different dimension to your SEO tasks all together and can be summed up by Name / Address / Phone number. (NAP). For businesses targeting local searches, they should include their address and phone number in the footer in readable text. It's easy to do and not unreasonable to have it there from a user's standpoint.
The key is consistency
Your NAP should read (ideally) the same throughout the web, with the same punctuation and the same text. I tend to follow the punctuation that Google chooses to use for phone numbers. (xxx) xxx-xxxx and so on. The first thing I do on a local search check is to Google in quotes the NAP. At first I thought you hadn't claimed your directory listings then I realized that your company name is Sandlapper Creative. (Or was) I also found you place page which includes a keyword derived title. ("Web & Graphic Design - Jim Ferguson") your physical address and phone number. Google might just slap you in cuffs for using that title.
Being consistent is better than using keywords on your place page. Google "knows" the game well. To continue numbering from above:
#5 Change your title to your business name.
#6 Scrub the web. Find any and all references to your phone number, business name and address and change them to what is identical to your business page.
#7 Since you are in Simpsonville and want to rank in Greenville Try titles like this... Web Design Greenville SC | Sandlapper Creative - Simpsonville SC It may seem somewhat counter intuitive to what you are trying to accomplish, but until you gain trust from Google about your actual address and and area served, you'll be in the abyss for the others.
#8 Add service areas to Google places. I bet within a few weeks you'll see your place page showing up in search and you'll be able to tackle Greenville after that.
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Thanks for the time and effort you put into your reply! Here's some background info that might help paint the picture of what I'm doing/after...
I'm a freelancer that works from home in Simpsonville, a suburb of Greenville (by just a mile or two). Most of my client base comes from Greenville, and anyone in the area searching for creative services is going to be looking for "xxxxxx in Greenville, SC."
As far as my business is concerned, I started out just under my name but then registered with the government under Sandlapper Creative (and I'm using this in directories, as it sounds more professional).
I've actually been trying to standardize the listings, as you mentioned (and Google did come down on me for the keyword related title on my place page - fixing/updating that as well). Obviously, I have no problems giving my business name and phone number but I am a little reluctant to give my home address (if possible). Would just the city/state/zip be sufficient information on-site?
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And to follow up with the initial question, I'm now back at the bottom of page 2. Still not sure what happened there, but it appears to have cleared itself up.
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Jim, this just goes to show that there's no sense in freaking out over a change in rankings based on 3 days' time. I can't even count the number of times I've seen a site drop after link building - only to come back to the same place or a higher placement a week later. This is typical and almost expected when I'm doing SEO. As long as you're not doing anything blackhat your site will be just fine. There's no way Google is going to single your tiny site out among billions of others.
In the future, give your site a minimum of 2 weeks. I think of it like this:
I do solid SEO. No blackhat. No crap. Because I do solid work I should be rewarded by Google and never penalized. With that in mind, if my site starts moving around in Google I know its a GOOD thing because it means Google is reevaluating my site. I also know that because I only do good work a reevaluation by Google is always going to show me in a favorable light. I want to see fluctuations in my rankings. It can only mean good things for me.
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You are on page 3 from a PC in houston!
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Are you utilizing an unused browser, and clearing out all the cookies/history/data before checking rankings?
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Yes, seems to be dancing between around #20 - #25. This dance would happen a good bit before this whole process started as well, so nothing new there.
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The bad advice on this thread is rampant.
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How about some real valuable input.
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