Slapped by Google update

[nvs.nim]

Last couple of days we read things about Google algorithm and some things about companies or people doing "negative seo"..

At first, nothing was wrong... if you play the game by the rules you won't get penalized you think... right?

Today I checked rankings for some sites we're optimizing, and I fell of my chair! A site that was building better rankings week by week just dropped heavily and we have no clue if it's the algorithm update...

Attached there are some screenshots, the first one showing the ranking for one of the most important keywords for that business, the others are link profiles & moztrust & rank for that root domain.

As you can see, link profiles are much stronger that competitors, but that important keyword is dropping in rankings...

We still have to do some on page optimizations (double title tags & some some canonical tags that have to be added, but that can't be the reason for this major drop??

Or am I missing something??? Any ideas? Are External Followed links growing to fast?

(The blue line in screenshots is the site we're working on)

rankings-may.jpg moztrust.jpg followed-links.jpg

[ZephSnapp]

It's doubtful that you are the victim of negative SEO, as you would have seen a spike in links (that is what negative SEO is, they attach spammy links to your site).

Seeing some variation in the rankings is not uncommon...Especially with the recent updates there is going to be an adjustment period.  The rank dropped this week.  They could very well get back on track next week.

Another question.  Did anything big happen in your niche recently?  Maybe there was a big announcement, and that changed the SERP's.  News stories can change the rankings significantly because of Google's interest in providing fresh content.

Also, if you notice in the rankings graph, you did have a previous drop in rankings, only to have it come back again.  So don't panic.  As long as you are doing the right things, you should be fine.

[polarking]

If you want to see if something is happening in your niche. For example I got a huge surge in my traffic after the cinnamon challenge. I had no Idea why until it was already starting to die out. I would suggest setting up Google Alerts for your niche keywords. Google will scan for new posts and webpages with those keywords. So if your keywords hit the news you will be the first to know. -Great answer Zeph

[ZephSnapp]

Good call on the Google Alerts!  Everytime I add keywords to my campaigns, I set up Alerts.  Actually, I use that for link building prospecting as well.

[polarking]

Interesting on the link building. Do you guest post on blogs and forums? A lot of my products get in the news because of illegal uses of it LOL

[nvs.nim]

Thanks for the answers & tips! It scared the hell out of me, because we were getting closer and closer to our objective, but it's true that it isn't the first time rankings dropped.

I will keep you updated on any changes next week.

[nvs.nim]

2 weeks later the rankings have recovered and are getting higher step by step, so I don't think we got penalized... Thank god

Another lesson learned: be patient, and believe in your own seo-strategy 

[ZephSnapp]

Glad to hear it...Any chance you could give me a "Good Answer" on this?  It seems like my perspective was helpful, and I'm trying to reach Journeyman status ASAP.

[nvs.nim]

will do! How many moz-points do you have atm?