Ranking drop
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Hello there,
Based on Moz's rank tracker our keywords ranking have been dropping in ranking.
Does anyone know what might be the cause?
We have been building quality "white hat" links which are very relevant to our niche
Thanks,
Robert
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Hi Robert,
It is hard to help you with this without having more details on your site itself. There are many things that could cause a ranking drop. Have you run your links through Opensite explorer to gauge their spam score? What sort of anchor text do these links have? What changes did you make around the time of noticing the ranking drop? How long has it been going on?
Sorry to answer your question with more questions but there are so many factors that can cause a ranking drop, so establishing more detail will help the community help you further.
Best
Matt
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Yes I have run the site through OSE. Our spam score is 0 out of 17.
Anchor text for our root domain is as follow:
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wallpapered
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61
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258
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52
|
137
[no anchor text]
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10
|
92
world map wallpaper
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9
|
13
|
8
|
15
here
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8
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25
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7
|
38
http://www.wallpapered.com/custom-map-wallpaper
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6
|
19
wall murals
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5
|
388
wallpapered
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4
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25
[no anchor text]
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4
|
5
custom map wallpaper
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4
|
10
www.wallpapered.com/custom-map-wallpaper
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3
|
4
executive world map
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3
|
3
source
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2
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2
2
|
2
|
8
standard world map
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2
|
2
i sell on wallpapered
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2
|
4
old map wallpaper
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2
|
2
bryant park wallpaper
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2
|
2
1
|
2
|
8
custom area map wallpaper
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2
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3
921653 wallpapered com
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2
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4
black white world map
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2
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2
classic spring wallpaper
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2
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2
vintage map wallpapers
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2
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5
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2
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5
design blog
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2
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6
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2
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3
wallpaper maps
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2
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2
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2
|
5
elizabetholwen rootsandpods
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1
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5
find out more at the wallpapered com website
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1
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1
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Hi Robert
When did you start to see the ranking drop and was it for all your terms?
Thanks
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It has happened in the last few months. Nothing major but most keywords appear to drop one position down regularly.
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Robert
Panda 4.2 rolled out on the weekend of 19 July. It is going to be very difficult to track Panda 4.2 the way google is rolling it out.
Can you go to your WMT's and in search analytics and run a comparison on all 4, but the result I am after is page position from 20 july to date and pre 19 july as far back as you can go. ie run a comparison on page position. Â The green line.
Is there a difference in page position?
If that is not clear ask and can clarify.
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If unable to see a sharp drop - unfortunately it is back to basics. SImply have to work through the below. Make differential diagnosis's along the way. Do not discount anything until you are 100% certain.
1. https://moz.com/google-algorithm-change
2. Â https://moz.com/blog/how-to-perform-the-worlds-greatest-seo-audit
3. Â https://moz.com/blog/technical-site-audit-for-2015
4. Â http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2207168/how-to-conduct-a-link-audit
5. https://moz.com/blog/content-audit-tutorial
Hope that assists. Though it is the long way home.
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Hi Robert,
It sounds to me like you might just be getting out-competed. Gradual declines in rankings in the absence of content changes or penalties are typically the result of competition. If it had something to do with your link profile, you would expect to see large-scale drops - ditto for Panda-related issues.
I can't see any problem with your anchors, so my guess is that you just have to get back on the link-building grind and perhaps add some new content to freshen up the site itself.
Sucks, but that's the game!
Best of luck moving forward,
Rob
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Hi Robert,
I recommend this all the time, but one thing that may shed some light is the Full SERP Report in the Keyword Difficulty Tool in Moz Pro. It can give you a sense of what your competitors on the SERPs are doing that's helping them pull ahead.
Cyrus Shepard made a quick video on it here.

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Keep it easy man. If it is a one position drop, monitor your CTR and whether there are new competitors in your SERPs that have maybe just pushed you down.