RE: Keep Losing Keyword Ranking Position for Targeted Keyword Terms Can't Figure It Out, Please Help!!!

[maxcarnage]

Hey Mozzers,

I am pulling my hair out trying to figure out why one of my clients keeps losing their SERP for their targeted keyword terms. We're actively pursuing local citations, making sure their NAP is consistent across the board and refining on-page content to make sure that we're maximizing opportunities.

The only thing I've found is a 4xx error that my Moz 'crawl diagnostics' keep returning back to me, however, when I check to see if there's any problems with Google Webmaster Tools, it doesn't return any errors.

Is this 4xx error the culprit? Are there any suggestions any of you could give me to help me improve the SERP for my targeted keyword terms.

Anyway, any and all insight can help. I'm at my wits end. Thanks for reading and for all of your help!

[MattAntonino]

What site & keyphrase are you looking at? Happy to take a look for you but without more info, we can't check backlinks, can't look at your onsite and can't see what else may be affecting you. Technical issues are typically very site-specific so they would depend on your site itself.

If you can't publicly post the URL, happy to get a PM but would rather solve here if possible so more people benefit.  Either is fine though.

[MattAntonino]

Got your PM & replied. You have mail.

[MattRoney]

Hi J.P.!

I'm glad Matt is helping you; he knows his stuff. There's actually a Moz tool that could provide some insight, too—the Keyword Difficulty tool. It can give you an analysis of all the sites ranking 1-10 for any given keyword, including which factors are most likely to be helping them. You may be able to glean what's helping them pull ahead.

I'd recommend Cyrus's video on the tool.

Good luck!