Keywords Dropping Out

[BeckyKey]

Hi

In March I've seen a lot of keywords go from being ranked, to dropping out completely. We usually get under 1000 drop in and out each month, but 2,500 dropped out this month.

Some are not focus keywords I'd be concerned about, but then some are....

I am trying to work out why and could use some help.

We haven't changed anything on the pages & here are some examples:

• http://www.key.co.uk/en/key/dollies-load-movers-door-skates - previously ranked for 'Dollies' position 6 now unranked
• http://www.key.co.uk/en/key/sack-trucks - ranked position 11 for 'Folding Sack Truck' now unranked
• http://www.key.co.uk/en/key/portable-workbenches-trestles - ranked position 7 for portable workbenches now unranked.

These pages do still rank for other keywords, so aren't out of Google completely.

I'm just trying to identify if we have any other issues

Thank you

[Ria_]

I often find that the biggest reason for a page fluctuating so wildly in SERPs for a keyword is because there are other pages too closely targeting that specific keyword, creating cannibalisation issues and Google confused about which page should be ranking. Do you believe that there is any possibility that this could be the case?

[BeckyKey]

Hi

Yes I have just checked some of these and it seems that I now have product pages ranking instead of category pages.

With some many products which are very similar, I'm not even sure where to start with this?!

Thank you for highlighting it

[EGOL]

Sometimes this targeting comes from your content on other websites.  It could be your content on one strong website or many weak or even spammy websites.  These weasels grab your page and slap it on their website(s) and then Google gets confused about "Who owns this content?".  Google says that they are pretty good at knowing who owns what content, but I don't think that they are as good at it as they think they are or as good as what they are saying.

This problem can be especially bad if you publish lots of new pages and the spammers can easily identify them, grab them and republish.  Blog content with posts identified by month all on a same page or retail sites with a "new products" page could easily be targeted.

[Ria_]

I would begin by prioritising which pages are most valuable for that keyword ranking, and fixing up the content to emphasise what differentiates that product from the others, highlighting its unique features, etc, to reduce the amount of conflicting pages with "thin content". Ensure that you also work closely on the competing product pages of all the priority pages you are initially targeting. Take it one page at a time, and monitor the changes as you go.

**EDIT: **Sorry, I misread your reply. You have product pages ranking where you want category pages to be ranking. In that case, ensure that your category pages are not considered "thin", but avoid over-optimising product pages for the keywords that you want category pages to be ranking for. Maybe also naturally insert a link to the parent category page from the product page. Product pages should still highlight features that differentiate it from other products, don't be afraid to get specific, but think about how you can de-optimise the product page for its broader term that you are targeting with the category page. Product pages are perfect for long tail search terms.

[BeckyKey]

Hi

Thank you, is it such a bad thing for a product page to rank over a category page? Ultimately we want to give the customer a choice of products if the term they've used is broad enough.

For something like 'Folding Sack Trucks,' I'd prefer a category page to rank, but there aren't many long tail search terms we could use on product pages for this keyword, so how can you avoid targeting 'folding sack trucks' on product pages selling this just in slightly different variations?

I mean in terms of content the category pages are 'thin' as the company want to list the products available without putting lots of content to distract the customer...

Thanks

[Ria_]

It's not necessarily a bad thing to have a product page rank over the category page. As you said, it depends on what experience you want to give the searcher. If they've searched broadly, they might expect a broader result and will therefore result in a higher conversion rate with the landing page as they are given the options they were looking for. Rather than being given a specific product page that they weren't exactly looking for, and bouncing immediately back to search despite you offering what they were looking for on another page...

If there is really not much at all that differentiates the products in a certain category, it might be worth having a look to see what kind of traffic/keywords the product page pulls in. If the category page is stronger for that term and the products, I'd even go so far as to "follow, noindex" it and work on optimising the category page for search instead (including all the long tails that the products would otherwise pull in. Optimise it for both the category _and _the product), and focus more on user experience on product pages. Obviously, this would be a case-by-case basis and I would not recommend applying this en masse.

If this tends to be a pattern with your products, that you have a lot of products that are similar differing only in things like size or colour, then maybe it's time to rethink your site structure and system. Could all these product pages be a single product page with different options for ecommerce? Would this not benefit your user too, as they could land on the page and see all the options available from the single product page? Think about clothes websites (for example), you choose the model which takes you to the single product page where you can choose colour/size/etc. Would probably make SEO easier for these kinds of products too.