Help identifying cause for total rank loss

[jmorehouse]

Hello,

Last week I noticed one of my pages decreased in rank for a particular query from #8 to #13. Although I had recently made a few minor edits to the page (added an introductory paragraph and left-column promo to increase word count), I thought the reason for the decrease was due to a few newly ranked pages that I hadn't seen before.

In an attempt to regain my original position, I tried to optimize the meta title for the singular form of the word. After making this change, I fetched and rendered the page as Google (status = partial) and submitted the page for indexing (URL only, not including on-page links). Almost immediately after submitting, the page dropped from #13 out of the top 50.

I've since changed the meta title back to what it was originally and let Google crawl and index the page on its own, but the page is still not in the top 50. Could the addition of the page description and left column promos tipped the scales of keyword stuffing? If I change everything back to the way it was originally, is it reasonable to think I should regain my original position below the new pages? Any insights would be greatly appreciated!

[PatrickDelehanty]

Hi there

One of the best ways to track your positions is to pay attention to your Average Position in Google Webmaster Tools. Reason being, with Google Personalized Search, the rankings you see while doing a search are going to be completely different than the search I would do. You can learn more about personalized search from this Whiteboard Friday. What Google Webmaster Tools does here is takes keywords and queries across multiple factors (location, device, browsing/search history, etc), and returns an average position for your site.

You can also look into Moz Keyword Tracking and SEMRush.

Before you change things, check the resources you have to see if in fact you are really losing positions, or if it's just a fluctuation.

A couple of suggestions I do have for you:
Product Schema.org
Check your sitemap and make sure it's properly submitted to Google and Bing Webmaster Tools I would also check your URL structures and canonical tags Check your information architecture
Lastly, check this KISSmetrics ecommerce SEO resource and this one for Search Engine Land Hope this all helps! Good luck!

[EGOL]

You made a number of changes in a very short time.   Keep in mind that google has lots of different servers, delivering SERPs pulled out of different data bases, with experimental algos running all of the time, new data going in, old data going out, and normal daily flux overprinting all of that.

To determine what is really happening, make one change and wait at least a couple of weeks before you make any judgement.

Also, for a query like "foam roller" there is going to be some competition, enough that a small tweak to a title tag is unlikely to make a huge difference.

If you change "Foam Rollers | OPTP" to "Foam Roller | Shop Premium Foam Rollers | OPTP".... that is a really small tweak that does nothing but make it a little repetitive.   I would, instead go for something that.....

*** adds a value proposition like "free shipping"

*** elicits clicks such as...  "over 100 varieties"

*** or broadens your keyword reach such as.... "for therapy and massage"..... "for painting and texture finishing"... depending upon what type of rollers you sell.

[jmorehouse]

This post is deleted!

[jmorehouse]

Hi there,

Thanks for the reply. I thought the same thing about an adjustment to the title tag making a small difference. That is why I was so surprised when the page dropped in rank so significantly. Unfortunately the multiple changes to the page make it impossible to isolate the detrimental factor, but if I revert all of the changes, is it reasonable to think the page would return to a similar position next time it is indexed?

[jmorehouse]

Hi there,

Thank you for the quick reply! I am actually getting my ranking from a keyword tracker I have configured in Moz as I realize performing a search would yield inaccurate results from personalized search.

As for the sitemap, it has been properly submitted and is updated on the first of each month. Canonical tags are also set up correctly and have not been recently modified.

I'll take a look at some of the other links to see if I can find any helpful information there.

Thanks!

Joel

[EGOL]

is it reasonable to think the page would return to a similar position next time it is indexed?

I can't give you a confident answer.  I know of situations where people made a lot of title tag changes in a short amount of time and the pages went deep into the SERPs and did not recover to any reasonable rankings for a long time.

At our office we rarely tweak title tags, when we do, we enter the details into our SEO log and wait a month or more before trying something new.  Also, when we write title tags today we focus on a very readable message that is enticing instead of gunning keywords as was common a few years back.

[PatrickDelehanty]

^ This is a great practice.

[jmorehouse]

Thanks for answering. Luckily we have other pages that rank on page 2 for that term. They are not really optimized for that keyword, but I'm reluctant to make any changes at this point!

Focusing on a readable message makes the most logical sense. We second-guessed this strategy based on the decreasing rank and thought we might be losing out by not including the singular form of the word, which is searched about 10 times more often than the plural.

[PatrickDelehanty]

Awesome Joel! Keep me posted if you need anymore help!

[EGOL]

We don't even think about singular or plural any more when writing title tags.

Here is a suggestion.  When you visit a news site and see the content promotion ads from Taboola, Outbrain and others, read their captions.  Those captions are designed to elicit clicks often to the point of being spammy, suggestive, explicit or vulgar.   The people who write those title tags are experts. They know how to get the clicks and getting the clicks, I believe, is a huge ranking factor in the organic SERPs.

I have learned a lot from them and although I really dislike a lot of their ads they can give you an education.  So, if I was selling foam rollers, I might consider title tags like...

Foam Rollers - Get yo' bones straight 

Foam Rollers for when you back is out of whack !

Those are just very quick efforts and you can certainly do better because you know the product and how people use it.    If there was a lot of money to be made selling foam rollers I would be spending a LOT of time to get a great title tag that makes people want to click into your webpage.

[jmorehouse]

That's a very interesting approach! I like the idea, but although it may be effective in gaining clicks and thus positively impacting our rank, our organization is very focused on maintaining a high level of professionalism, so informal title tags may not be suitable for us. I appreciate the suggestion, though!

[EGOL]

lol...  I understand.

Still, I would toss something like that out at the next meeting and tell them that it could be a Rocket Fuel.   :0

[jmorehouse]

I'll certainly bring it up. Maybe we can use the general concept and agree on a page title that accomplishes the same goal without sacrificing brand consistency.

Thanks again for the great suggestions.