We often receive calls from restoration company owners when there are changes to their Google rankings. While it can be scary to see your website slip from the top page, this is a common and completely natural attribute of SEO. It is not unusual for your rankings to fluctuate. Still, there are times when a serious fall from the first few results is not a result of the natural flow of search engine optimization. We are sharing a few reasons your rankings may have fallen off and how we address these issues.
Why Isn’t My Website Ranking?
When you notice a big dip in your rankings, do not panic! Although this can be a frustrating time, we are well-versed in responding to changes. We troubleshoot the issue by considering the following factors that can cause your rankings to fall:
1. Google Algorithm & SERP Updates
Google makes no secret of the fact that they update their algorithms and SERP periodically, both of which can affect how and where you appear in the results. Sometimes even a minor change can have a major impact on your site.
If you notice your rankings have fallen, it can be helpful to research to see if it corresponds with a Google update. Barry Schwartz offers a helpful Google update tool you can check. Do note though that algorithm and SERP updates do not always yield instant impacts. Even a consistent drop over time may be attributable to such an update.
2. Slow Site Speed
In our last blog post, we talked about reasons for slow website speed. While many sites can take up to six or more seconds to load, most of your clients are not willing to wait more than three seconds. Google takes engagement metrics into account when determining whether your site is valuable enough to searchers to rank. Slow site speed can be a huge drain on your rankings if not properly optimized.
3. Your Website Is Not SEO-Friendly
It is not enough to just have a website for it to rank. Your site should be credible and informative to your customer base. Tons of spammy backlinks can take a toll on rank, as can outdated, duplicate, and thin content across the site. Similarly, failing to target the right keywords could mean that, not only are you not ranking, you are missing out on entire verticals of the industry. Finally, without regularly released content, it may be difficult for potential customers to know if you are still a viable company, pushing you down in search results.
There are also other factors to consider when it comes to making your site SEO-friendly. This includes having the proper SSL certificate, as well as meta data, structured data, and linking structure. Fortunately, Restoration Digital Marketing is highly trained and experienced in these facets to help your website perform at its peak.
4. Indexing Issues
Indexing notifies search engines whether or not they should crawl, and in turn, rank, your site. This helpful directive can hinder your rankings if not used correctly though. For instance, you may set certain pages to be no-index. However, if you have accidentally selected this option on a major service page, your site will not be found, crawled, or indexed, meaning that you will not rank at all.
Be sure that your pages are set to index to ensure Google finds them.
5. Your Competitors Have Gained Some Ground
Competition is the name of the game in search engine optimization. If you notice that your rankings have fallen, be sure to take note of how your competitors are doing. Have they moved up and taken your space as #1? Or, have they also moved down? Depending upon the answer, this can be a helpful starting point for determining the next course of action.
Restoration Digital Marketing Helps Your Site Rank Well
We understand how frightening it can be to see your rankings fall. Our team is able to troubleshoot potential problems while assessing the further impacts of any corrective actions. A balance of patience, adjustment, and monitoring is often the best solution for site decline. Let us see where we can improve your site today!