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How to Diagnose a Change in Rankings
| Guest post by: Michael Marshall |
Article Overview: There are generally 3 things that affect your performance in SEO. You change something on your page(s) or links Your competitors change something on their page(s) or links The Search Engine changes something in the data or algorithm
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Free Download - Calculating ROI for SEO By Michael Marshall |
How to Diagnose a Change in Rankings
Three things that affect your SEO Performance
There are generally 3 things that affect your performance in SEO.
- You change something on your page(s) or links
- Your competitors change something on their page(s) or links
- The Search Engine changes something in the data or algorithm
To simplify things, we're not going to include influences like localization or personalization this time around.
When a change happens in your positioning, don't automatically presume that you did something. You need to investigate these possibilities in the correct order if you are going to assess your situation most efficiently.
First, look at whether something changed with regard to the Search Engine.
Secondly, if you've ruled that out, look at whether some change(s) in the competitive landscape is the culprit.
Third, if you've ruled out both of the above, look at changes you may have made.
Next, I will discuss how to investigate each of these areas and go deeper into why.
First, look at whether something changed with regard to the Search Engine.
When you notice a sudden change in your positioning for important target keyphrase(s), it may not be because you made some terrible mistake. There may be a change in the search engine that is responsible. If there is a significant change in the search engine's algorithm, there will most likely be a buzz in the SEO community because others will have been affected by it as well.
Check places like:
If the change is significant enough, you'll usually find it discussed in one of those places.
You also need to look at your positioning on other pages and for other keyphrases. Look to see if your positioning for other keyphrases on that same page was also affected. Look to see if your positioning for other pages were also affected.
When a change in the search engine is the answer to your problem, you will usually find other pages and keyphrases affected at the same time.
If you see the effect on other keyphrases and on other pages as well as a buzz in the SEO community, you could be facing an algorithm change as the cause of your troubles.
Next, look at whether some change in the competitive landscape is the culprit.
Let me explain what I mean by this.
Search engines use a relative scoring system when evaluating competing pages - like grading on a curve in school. So, how well or poorly your competitors give attention to certain SEO factors actually influences the degree to which those factors are going to be important for that target keyphrase.
It can often be the case that you lose some visibility in the search results listing because your competitors have done something that significantly changes the rules of the game for that competitive landscape.
You can save months of trial and error tweaking the wrong things if you can figure out first whether and how your competitors may have affected the competitive landscape.
If you see some other competitors who have moved the same time you did while most others have remained the same, you should study those challengers closely and that will give you insight into how the competitive landscape has changed.
At some point this summer, I may do a walk-thru of a case study that shows this concept in action with measurable results.
Next, check whether the Search Engine changed something in their data or algorithm.
Matt Cutts says there is at least one change per day to Google's search engine. Many of these may be interface changes but there are algorithm changes as well. See what he says in the video below.
One of the places you should check for possible algorithm changes in Google isMatt Cutts' blog.
The main indicator of an algorithm change being responsible for a change in ranking for your page(s) is that you should see a similar change on other pages in your site and on keyphrases unrelated to the target keyphrase and page in question.
An algorithm change is generally going to have a widespread impact not an isolated effect causing a drop in ranking, for example, on only one of your keyphrases or pages.
So that's what you want to look for when determining if an algorithm change is the culprit.
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Article Tags: algorithm, diagnose, rankings, search engine changes, seo
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About the Author: Michael Marshall RSS for Michael's articles - Visit Michael's website I am also a contributing author to SEOToday.com, the premier website for SEM professionals, and a contributor to "Building Your Business With Google for Dummies" by Brad Hill. I am a frequent presenter at Ultra Advanced SEO Symposiums, a meeting of select masters of the search engine marketing industry, at Search Engine Workshops. I am also a certified instructor at the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Search Engine Academy, an SEO certification program approved by the US educational system. Three SEO Tools I've created: SEM SCOUT - Content Relevance SEO Sniper - Keyphrase Research SEO Recon - SEO Competitive Intelligence Click here to visit Michael's website   SEO Google and Flash The Semantic Web Fish or Cut Bait Link Reputation and Your Website Personalization of Search and SEO Lost in the Shuffle |
Related Forum Posts
Re: Alexa Ranking Goals
- Thanks for posting the Alexa Rankings again Evan.
Well done Mal that is a tremendous improvement, just keep on doing what you have been doing but really don't worry too much about the AR, it just nice as a way to keep us on track.
David I had the same problem with Alexa and Google, who knows why they do what they do either we are in favor or not but I just keep on and hope for the best.
MichelleJ
Re: Spellcheck?
- [quote="TheAnonymousMan":2f894q6j]When discussing the majority of people I would definitely say that most people hit the "Change" or "Ignore" button without thinking too much about the correct spelling of a word. All bosses are concerned about is getting the report to the Directors meeting on time.[/quote:2f894q6j]
That probably depends on what the "majority" are trying to accomplish. I have word set to alert me about misspellings and grammatical problems, so I fix most as I go. But I also add names etc to the dictionary because I get tired of seeing the red and green squiggles when I know the info is right.
If you're only going to click "Change" or "Ignore" then why bother to take the time to use spell check????? Business people that I work for want the info compiled in a timely manner and they want it right - which is fine because that's the way I strive to do any project. Sending out a memo, letter, report etc with obvious spelling and grammatical mistakes makes the person and the company look bad as far as I'm concerned.
Shri
Re: e-Commerce and e-Payment providers
- Hi GT
It is only fairly recently that people in South Africa have been able to get full use of Paypal as we were only able at one time to make payments but not receive them. Fortunately this has now changed. I have received money through Global X Change for one of the affiliate programs that I promote and have found them pretty good as the money is normally transferred directly into my bank account within 2-3 days and I have not had any problems with them.
MichelleJ
Re: Obama Wants Social Security for Illegals
- [quote="Alan Mater":3kaa8sg4]
Obama WILL make changes... but they're not the changes we as a country need or should look forward to.[/quote:3kaa8sg4]
Sad but this is exactly how I feel about it. Change is coming - but unless I'm really wrong, it is not a change this country needs. Amazing how much a good speaker with a good speech writer can do. If you paid attention to the things he said "off script" - much of it is frightening.
Chris
Re: Alexa Rank - How To Get A Better Alexa Ranking
- Here is a suggestion an ebook marketer had for successfully choosing a topic for a new market niche:
[quote:3027goy0]To find profitable subjects, visit the larger forums like Warrior Forum and Digital Point. Look for posts that have huge numbers of page views and replies. These are the subjects that people are interested in. Take notes and learn. After you have isolated four or five potential subjects, do a search on these potential subjects. Make sure you find a number of similar products that are being offered for sale.
Start out by visiting the sales pages of these competing products. Check their Alexa ranking. The lower the Alexa ranking, the more popular the site. If all of the sites have Alexa ratings in excess of 5 million, you may want to find another subject. [/quote:3027goy0]
Are Alexa Rankings a good way to find a profitable niche?
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