90 replies to this topic

[thx1138]

Hi,

Following advice from the forum I stopped checking my SERPS on a regular basis, however the last couple of days I've seen my traffic drop off a cliff and with it my sales obviously. At first I assumed there was something wrong with my server but service has been continuous, I then thought maybe I'd installed my SSL cert incorrectly as I renewed it recently, but no, it's fine.

I then thought better check my SERPS and lo and behold nowhere to be seen on Google for my main search terms. Now this came as a bit of a shock because my site seems to have been virtually immune to large movements for a few years now, I've consistently been in the top 3 with almost no noticeable fluctuation, the site is over 6 six years old. I did a search for the site name and it's still in the index.

The only thing I've changed in the last month is that I've added Google Analytics is this likely to have had an effect?

Charlie

[copywriter]

Hmm.. just checked mine and it does seem there's been a shift. A couple of keyphrases I normally rank highly for are now not showing. Not to worry. This happens on a regular basis (i.e., a few times a year on average). With mine, the rankings have always come back once things settle down.

[Jill]

Had an email from someone on this very topic, so something is most likely up.

Usual advice applies, give it a week or two, most likely it's them and not you if you're not doing anything remotely shady.

[Randy]

I definitely wouldn't let panic set in yet Charlie.

Google has established something of a pattern over the past year or two of testing updates over weekends and testing major updates over holiday weekends. This is when the traffic is less so the strategy sort of makes sense.

This is a holiday weekend in the US for many, so while I haven't seen anything (haven't looked at rankings, but traffic is within acceptable norms) it's quite possible that Google is testing something or the other and everything could return to normal in a few of days.

<edit to add>

Damn those gals are fast!

[thx1138]

Thanks guys, I'm not panicking yet, well maybe slightly, two weeks or so of lost revenue makes me feel a bit queazy.

It's come as a bit of a shock as I don't seem to experience these fluctuations that everyone talks about, I guess I've been very lucky.

Charlie

[thx1138]

One odd thing I've noticed on checking the SERPS is that all the other usual suspects remain in place, my competitors don't seem to be affected.

I'm scratching my head trying to think if I've done anything 'remotely shady' but the only thing I can think off is I have a couple of pages on old domains upon which all the links just point to my main site?

Other than that I'm flummoxed, and as I suddenly have a lot of spare time on my hands (no orders to process) I guess I'll be pestering everyone on here more

Charlie

[lunatrix]

One odd thing I've noticed on checking the SERPS is that all the other usual suspects remain in place, my competitors don't seem to be affected.

I'm scratching my head trying to think if I've done anything 'remotely shady' but the only thing I can think off is I have a couple of pages on old domains upon which all the links just point to my main site?

Other than that I'm flummoxed, and as I suddenly have a lot of spare time on my hands (no orders to process) I guess I'll be pestering everyone on here more

Charlie

Hi, I'm experiencing exactly the same thing and am also getting panicky although everyone has assured me things will settle back in a week or two. The same thing happened back in the summer last year presumably after the last big google update and that took about 3 weeks to have everything come back again for searched keywords. Last time I wrote a grovelling e-mail to google but i'm not sure whether it was worth the bother.

[Scottie]

Don't panic- give it a few days.

Now seems to be a good time to look into PPC... why not set up a test campaign? You really shouldn't be counting on the free results to drive your business...but you know that, right?

[copywriter]

Yes, Scottie is right. Now is a great time to review the balance of your marketing strategy. If you've got all your eggs in the Google basket and no other sources of driving traffic to your site, you may want to spend this "down time" looking for ways to diversify. PPC is good, email ads, banner ads, starting a newsletter or increasing the frequency of which you send it, offline ads such as postcard mailings, etc. There are tons of ways to drive traffic to your site that don't involve Google.

[thx1138]

Don't panic- give it a few days.

Now seems to be a good time to look into PPC... why not set up a test campaign? You really shouldn't be counting on the free results to drive your business...but you know that, right?

Hi Scottie,

I do run a PPC campaign alongside my organic results, the trouble is no matter how hard you try if you've been deriving significant revenue from organic results for a number of years, we're talking six or seven here, you do get used to that revenue.

There's no doubt I've become complacent but were my site relatively new or were I used to bouncing around all over the SERPS I'd feel differently, trouble is my site seemed to have almost become a permanent fixture in the top 3 positions, however strange that may seem.

Anyway wait I shall and meanwhile I'll try to work on improving conversions and adding some new content.

BTW I should add, for the industry I'm in this is absolutely the worst time for this to happen with our two busiest periods within the next 6 weeks, how delightful.

Charlie

Hi, I'm experiencing exactly the same thing and am also getting panicky although everyone has assured me things will settle back in a week or two. The same thing happened back in the summer last year presumably after the last big google update and that took about 3 weeks to have everything come back again for searched keywords. Last time I wrote a grovelling e-mail to google but i'm not sure whether it was worth the bother.

Hi Lunatrix, is your site also relatively old and are your competitors unaffected?

Charlie

[Jill]

I do run a PPC campaign alongside my organic results

Maybe you need to ratchet it up a notch while you see what happens with the organic? Especially since you said you're sitting on your hands right now with no orders to fill. Doesn't sound like your PPC is working well for you.

You're definitely in a crappy situation. The same thing happened to my sister's site many years ago. Unfortunately for her, it was gone for her most important phrase for 1 year exactly. No reason whatsoever that we could tell.

Along with learning to hate Google with a passion, she got back to other forms of marketing and publicity, paid a ton of money for it, and made her company better than ever. She no longer had to rely on Google, so when her rankings came back, it was of no real consequence.

Google (or any search engine) rankings should always, always, always be the gravy. We cannot stress that enough here. No site should use SEO as the way they put food on their table. It should be extra so that when it works, it's a nice bonus and when it doesn't, so you lose a bonus that year.

[copywriter]

Google (or any search engine) rankings should always, always, always be the gravy. We cannot stress that enough here. No site should use SEO as the way they put food on their table.

Absolutely true! It's way too tempting to ride the Google train when things are going well. And it's a GREAT source of traffic. But Google's search engine belongs exclusively to Google and they can do whatever they want with it at any time they choose. It would be the same if you relied exclusively on radio advertising and then your local station decided it would switch to a corporate-funded business structure instead of accepting paid ads. You'd be out in the cold then, too.

Please understand... nobody is scolding you or fussing at you. We're just giving friendly warnings and (hopefully) helpful advice so you won't have to face these dilemmas in the future.

[Scottie]

Yep- same story here. A friend of mine completely fell out of the Google index for no apparent reason for about a year. He had to resort to other marketing strategies (and was totally caught unaware.)

When his site did come back, he was already going strong from other marketing campaigns. He hates Google too, but will (grudgingly) admit it was the best thing that had happened to his business.

[lunatrix]

Hi Lunatrix, is your site also relatively old and are your competitors unaffected?

Yes my site is 6 years old, whats strange is it still comes up no1 on google for a couple of specific search terms 'logo design bath' and 'graphic design bath' but everything else has gone completely. I also use google ppc but when you're used to having 500 or so orgainic page hits a day for nothing it isn't really viable to pay for that sort of exposure. I think i'm just going to sit and cry for a bit...

[Jill]

isn't really viable to pay for that sort of exposure.

It is if it makes you more than you spend.