SEO Ranking Drop? Here’s How You Can Fix It

SEO Ranking Drop!! Isn’t that an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) horror story?

It can be a small number of pages with high rankings, or it might be a significant drop overall.

In any case, your traffic has decreased and your rankings have fallen.

Now, what do you do?

Although fluctuations are unavoidable (Google tells us that revisions are made every day), it is never good news when your search rankings begin to go the wrong way.

Don’t panic if you notice SEO ranking drop when examining the SERPs, the search console, or another rank monitoring tool. Your rankings can be saved and the needle can start moving in the correct direction with proactive, careful troubleshooting.

So, identifying the problem would be your first step. 

In this blog, you are going to learn about why your website is going down and how to fix it. 

So, let’s get started! 

Reasons Why Your Website Has SEO Ranking Drop (Ways To Fix It)

Numerous things, like increasing competition, a human action by Google, an algorithm change, or even an inadvertent character in your robots.txt file, might result in a sharp decline in your SEO results.

Now, Let’s Understand The Reasons Behind The Dropped Ranking in SEO: 

You’ve Been Issued A Manual Action

A manual action is a punishment that Google imposes on websites that violate its webmaster quality standards. A manual action truly only occasionally results in a drop in ranks. 

Nevertheless, it’s one of the simplest causes to identify, making it an excellent spot to begin your research.

Visit Google Search Console, expand the “Security and Manual Actions” page, and click “Manual Actions” to see if you have received a manual action.

That’s how you can check:

Step 1: Go to Security & Manual Actions

Step 2: Click on Manual Actions

Step 3: Check out if your website has any manual action

Your Google ranking in SEOchanges ordecline is not the consequence of punishment if it states, “No issues detected”. 

If you have received a manual action, the precise action for which you were penalized will be listed on the website, along with advice on how to correct the situation and submit your site again for review.

The problem that led to the issuance of a manual action must be resolved immediately and fully. Your website may be completely or partially removed from Google’s index as a result of a manual action.

Google lists 12 reasons why a site may receive a manual penalty, some of which you may have done (such as buying backlinks) or others that may have been done by third parties (e.g. user-generated spam in blog comments).

Your Site Has Been Hacked

Your site has been hacked, although this is also one of the less common reasons for a dramatic drop in SEO rankings. Again, since it’s simple to diagnose, it’s a wonderful idea to check for it first.

Click “Security problems” after expanding the “Security and Manual Actions” tab in the Google Search Console.

If it reads “No issues found,” your SEO rankings decline is not the consequence of a hostile entity attacking your website. Go on to the following action.

Your website has likely been hacked or infected with malware if it does show a problem in our report. 

Not just to get your rankings back, it’s essential to restore a compromised site right away. Right now, both customers and staff who visit your website run the danger of getting affected. 

Read More: How To Prevent Data Breach On Your Website

Someone Mistakenly Tagged Your Page(S) As No index

On website pages, developers can mistakenly leave the no index robots meta element. This frequently occurs when updated pages are transferred from a development or staging environment to production. 

If you use WordPress and a plugin like Yoast SEO, writers and editors could also accidentally include this tag.

This is how a “noindex” tag looks like when you inspect any page of your website. 

If Google has found the no index robots meta tag on any of the pages of your site, it will remove that page from its index since it instructs Google not to index that page.

By accessing the page in your browser and selecting “View Page Source” from the context menu, you can view the page’s source code. Then, to use the find feature, press Control + F for Windows or Command + F for Mac, and type “index” into the search box.

Your rating hasn’t dropped because of this if it doesn’t turn up any instances of that phrase.

Go on to the following action.

Ask your developers to remove any index meta tags that may be present on your website. If they were added as a result of a setting change in Yoast SEO, simply reset the setting back to “Yes” and edit the page/post.

Additionally, you could wish to visit the Google Search Console and request that Google reindex that website. Simply enter the page’s URL into Google Search Console’s search field at the top. 

The page will then be added to Google’s crawling queue once you click “Request Indexing.” Be aware that the page may not be crawled and reindexed for several hours or days.

Use a Chrome plugin like Robots Exclusion Checker (free) to quickly acquire a report of the indexing directives on each webpage if you don’t want to bother with digging into the code on each page. 

Disallow Protocol Might Have Been Added To Your Robots.Txt File

The Disallow protocol instructs search engine crawlers not to index your website or particular pages, much like the index robots meta tag does. Again, when developers transfer changes from a testing environment to production, problems of this nature can arise accidentally.

It’s simple to look for problems in the robots.txt file on your website. Simply enter your domain name and the words “/robots.txt” after it.

Check everything that comes after Disallow. You should specifically check for Disallow: /, which instructs search engines to skip over any pages on your website or Disallow followed by any pages or directories that *should* be crawled.

Don’t be alarmed if you notice forbidding instructions in your robots.txt file because you most likely purposefully blocked specific pages. All of your backend pages will be prohibited, for example, if you have a WordPress website.

Speak with a member of your development team if you have any queries or worries.

Any instructions in the file can be clarified to you by your developers, and they can also address any problems with the file. This could also be a reason for SEO ranking drop.

Read More: Best Practices For Robots.txt SEO

Site Migration, Refresh, Or Redesign Without Redirects

It’s conceivable that modifications you recently made to your website—such as moving it to a new domain, updating some of its pages, or redesigning it—were not completed.

In particular, failing to apply redirects—or implementing redirects incorrectly—could be the reason for your rankings dropping if you modified any of your site’s URLs along the way.

Google considers a page to be completely fresh when you change its URL. The hyperlinks pointing to that page and any equity it may have accrued from Google over time are removed. You begin with nothing. The ideal strategy is to never modify your URLs for this reason.

Naturally, that’s not always feasible, so if you must update your URLs, you may prevent these consequences and keep your ranks by 301 redirecting old sites to their new URLs.

Speak with a member of your development team if you have any queries or worries.
Any instructions in the file can be clarified to you by your developers, and they can also address any problems with the file. This could also be a reason for SEO ranking drop.

Visit one of your previous URLs to see if redirects were deployed properly. You must create redirects to point those old URLs to your new URLs if the old page loads. If the page reroutes to your new URL, your rankings fall is probably not due to this.

If missing or incorrectly implemented redirects are the cause of your issue, you can ask your development team to add the needed redirects. Or you can add the redirects on your own.

Read More: A Definitive Guide To 302 Redirect SEO

The Content On Your Page Changed

If you’ve been upgrading the material on your website, it’s likely that the content on a certain page changed and caused a ranking decline for that page. This ranking adjustment might or might not be detrimental.

For instance, it’s possible that the content of the page was changed to be optimized for keywords with higher search volume. 

So it’s possible that while the ranks for a particular phrase you’re watching decrease, they rise at the same time for another keyword with a greater search volume. This can result in less traffic overall, but lower rankings for some keywords.

To determine how it will finally rank for a variety of keywords, it’s crucial to give old material a few weeks after upgrading it and optimizing it for new and different keywords.

When changing site content, it’s also crucial to use a service like AuthorityLabs to track ranking changes so you can ensure the adjustments you’re making are having a good influence and not a negative one.

On the other hand, updating current information might be harmful if it is not properly optimized for search. It’s possible that the updated page doesn’t adhere to recommendations for on-page SEO, is missing an SEO title tag or meta description, or is no longer relevant. 

By switching your content back to the version that was performing well before the update, you might be able to regain your previous ranks in this situation.

You Lost Some Of Your Backlinks

Losing some of your backlinks—in particular, high-authority backlinks—can cause your page to fall in the SERP results because backlinks are one of Google’s top three ranking factors.

You may use Linkody to get notifications when you gain or lose backlinks. This makes it simple to contact websites and ask them why they aren’t connecting to your page anymore.

When a website’s ranking declines or accidentally deletes your link, you may usually get it restored by simply requesting that it be reinstated.

Others’ Web Content Is Better Than Yours

Sometimes, rankings for particular pages may have fallen because a competitor has published material that Google considers superior to yours. The rivalry’s content might be:

• Higher Caliber
• More Thorough
• More Backlinks
• Be More Particular
• Better Satisfy Searcher Intent
• It Offers Resources That Users Like For That Query, Like A Video, And Is More Search Engine Optimized

Reviewing the results that are now outranking yours is the best course of action if you think this is the reasons why your SEO ranking dropped.

• What makes those results unique?
• What makes them superior?
• Exist any further links?

By switching your content back to the original format in this situation, you might be able to restore your prior ranks. 

To make your material more competitive, you should update it. Make sure it’s current, completely meets the intended purpose, and is comprehensive. Think about including a video or some additional unique pictures.

A link-building effort for that page, or even just linking to it from more pages on your website, can be a good idea if you think it’s better since it has more links.

Read More: Anchor Text: An Ultimate Guide About Building Backlinks

Your User Experience Has Diminished

Page load times, mobile-friendliness, and invasive interstitials are a few user experience concerns that Google has clearly warned can affect your rankings.

It’s conceivable that your page now loads more slowly or is no longer mobile-friendly if you recently altered the content or appearance of your page.

In addition to finding mobile-friendliness concerns in Google Search Console’s “Mobile Usability” report, you can use Google’s free PageSpeed Insights tool to analyze your page’s load speed (aim for a score between 90 and 100).

Google will describe your mobile-friendliness issues in the Google Search Console if they exist and need to be fixed.

You would have had to purposely include intrusive interstitials, which are page overlays that obscure all or most of the page’s content. As a result, you might need to modify the way that For example, a popup appears to comply with Google’s suggestions if you’ve just added one to your site requesting visitors to, for example, subscribe to your newsletter.

Read More: How Does User Experience Affect SEO?

The Keyword You’re Ranking For Has fluctuating Search Results

Some inquiries, particularly evergreen ones, have relatively static search engine results pages (SERPs). Though the SERPs are constantly updated for various inquiries. However, there could be several reasons why this could be the case. 

The following two are the most typical ones:

• The request requires prompt responses. Google would emphasize timely results for news inquiries, but this might also apply to lists like “the top series on Netflix,” where lists from three months ago might not contain something brand-new and well-liked that has just been launched.

As you can see, this keyword does not have volume right now but it has high volume some months back. 

• Google has doubts about the query’s search aim. Google wants to give users the precise information they’re seeking, but there are occasions when it’s unclear what that objective is. In this situation, it may frequently sort the results as it tries to precisely determine the searcher’s goal and the results that best meet that intent.

There are a few strategies for handling unstable search results. You can either reoptimize for a term with clear search intent or refresh your content to make it more evergreen for a certain keyword.

You may also just update your post frequently to ensure that it is constantly current if you are targeting a keyword that requires current information.

Read More: How to Find the Right Keywords for Your Business?

Sudden Change In Search Intent

The general intent of a keyword you’re ranking for could occasionally abruptly alter. This can be the result of current news or a trending subject for which large numbers of people have started searching using the keyword you were previously ranking for.

Simply conduct a keyword search on Google to diagnose this issue. It’s possible that the intent behind your phrase changed if all of the results that are now ranking higher than you are related to a recent development or a popular subject.

You might simply wait it out as a strategy to improve your rankings. The intended tendency will likely fade in time, and your rankings will recover.

As an alternative, you might perform keyword research and identify a separate term to target that is connected to the subject of your existing content but unconnected to the trending event.

Read More: A Complete Guide To Search Intent SEO

Google Algorithm Changes

A modification to Google’s algorithm may be the cause of your rankings’ precipitous decline. We purposefully listed this as the last choice:

People frequently wish to think that ranking changes are the result of an algorithm adjustment, and this tendency can deter people from researching the aforementioned problems.

Because Google makes hundreds of adjustments a year and hardly ever announces when a change has been implemented, it is frequently exceedingly challenging to validate that your ranking shifts are the consequence of an algorithm change. 

Some of the algorithm changes are:

Because Google is rarely precise about what an algorithm change targets, it is sometimes challenging—and occasionally impossible—to recoup ranking losses as a result of an algorithm change. Making sure you’re following our webmaster quality criteria is the standard piece of advice. The advice may also state that “there is nothing in particular to correct.”

Unless Google clearly states, that the algorithm changed or what is being targeted in that adjustment, you can’t truly know for sure if your rank decline is the result of an algorithm update. That knowledge is typically kept secret.

However, there are ways to find out if other site owners and SEOs are reporting potential algorithm changes if you’ve investigated every non-algorithm-related cause and discovered no issues:

To stay up to date on the latest Google news and rumors of algorithm updates, it’s a good idea to subscribe to the Search Engine Roundtable. 

Conclusion

The good news is that if you audit your website effectively, you should be able to identify and fix the problems that are adversely affecting your organic search traffic and rankings. 

So, your SEO ranking plummeted significantly (maybe for legitimate reasons, perhaps not).

If you don’t have much SEO experience, you don’t want to make things worse. No matter how badly damaged your site is, bear in mind that there is always a solution, so you can get past the problem and continue your work. 

For more marketing tips and services, you can schedule a free-of-cost 30-Minute Strategy session with our experts. In this call, our experts would discuss your business and provide you with the free strategies that you can use to boost your sales and revenue.