Keyword Ranking Fluctuations

[CayenneRed89]

Hi Guys

I am currently working on a website where one of the keyword targets is fluctuating.

The keyword is fluctuating between page 2 and page 5.

What makes this strange is that we are not experiencing the issue with any other keyword targets.

They are all ranking fine.   It is only 1 keyword.

The keyword target happens to be the main homepage keyword target - not sure if this makes a difference?

The homepage targets 2 keyword e.g. Business Offices & Accessories.

The homepage ranks perfectly fine for e.g. Business Accessories but is fluctuating for e.g. Business Offices! Very strange.

What makes it even stranger - the keyword variations of the fluctuating keyword e.g. office for business  - these variations are all fine and not fluctuating. Its only 1 keyword.

If anyone has any ideas  or feedback that would be great!

Thanks, Duncan

[RuthBurrReedy]

There are a few different things this could be, none of which are that much cause for concern, thankfully.

Some questions to ask:

• Where are you seeing the rankings fluctuate? In the Google interface? In a ranking tool? In multiple tools? Since Google is testing things all the time and results are more and more personalized, it's pretty common to see keyword fluctuations, especially in rank tracking tools. I would check the keyword in a second ranking tool, and also Google it in a private window, to see if you can duplicate the results - if not, it may be a quirk of the tool and not of the rankings.
• Along those same lines - do you see your organic traffic to that page fluctuate along with the fluctuations in ranking? Since you're on page 2, you may not be getting a ton of traffic from that specific term, but it's worth checking on.
• If that's not the case and the rankings really are fluctuating, what other changes can you note in the SERPs during the changes? One example from my own life: I had a client who was targeting a term that Google seemed to be trying to figure out whether or not it was appropriate to show local/localized results. The presence or absence of that local pack changed that SERP a lot.

Ranking fluctuations like this are pretty common, especially once you drop off the first page. If it's not seriously impacting your traffic or conversions, I wouldn't be too concerned about it. Your best defense here is a good offense - try to bolster that page's rankings and authority to get it on page 1. I know that's easier said than done, but it's a lot easier to deal with ranking fluctuations when they're between spot 4 and spot 7, instead of page 2 and page 5.