SERP Lost in Google

[OnlineDownloads]

Till August 13, 2007, I did have a decent SERP in Google, but the next morning all of the sites disappeared from the top places. No where in the top 20..or even top 40. Even the blog results disappeared overnight. What could be the reason?

That was the issue when Google Webmaster tool reported that the site has been crawled on Aug8. But today when i checked out the same, the last crawled date was on Aug13. Interestingly from Aug13th onwards, I'm facing this problem.

Last week may be on Aug6th or so ... I've changed the images in my site something like from kaspersky.jpg to kaspersky-internet-security-suite-graphic.jpg .

Is this anything to do with the fall of SERP? Except this change i've nothing added or deleted.

Please help me in this regard.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Do you have a 301 re-direct so the http version of the site redirects to the www url or vice versa. Not sure if G still has a problem with the canconical issue, but I got dropped once due to that.

Does your site show up when you search for the exact url without the .com?

 

[OnlineDownloads]

Do you have a 301 re-direct so the http version of the site redirects to the www url or vice versa. Not sure if G still has a problem with the canconical issue, but I got dropped once due to that.

Does your site show up when you search for the exact url without the .com?

I didn't use 301 redirect till now.

without .org, my url shows up in the 3rd page.

Is it necessary to have a 301 redirect? If so how should i do that?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Well sometimes then Google sees 2 identical versions of your site and dings you.
But that may not be whats up. Hard to tell without seeing it. If you are comfortable letting a couple of us look, then put the site in your sig and we'll see if we can find out any obvious problems.

Here's advice about the canonical issue direct from Matt Cutts.
SEO advice: url canonicalization

 

[iceforever.diamonds]

Last week may be on Aug6th or so ... I've changed the images in my site something like from kaspersky.jpg to kaspersky-internet-security-suite-graphic.jpg .

Is this anything to do with the fall of SERP? Except this change i've nothing added or deleted.

Please help me in this regard.

I would just like to know if the reason for your changing of the filename of the images is the thought of, it may also be crawled... i believed you know about the "alt tags"

because if you are thinking that the file name will be crawled, it's not like that ^_^ you will be needing alt tag for it ^_^

 

[OnlineDownloads]

I didn't change the alt tags.

 

[Teli]

Hi PSP,
Chances are a small change like that (changing your image file names) *can* have an impact in your rankings.

This is just speculation, but there's really no reason for you to extend the length of the filename that much and it appears that you're trying to spam the search engines. (I assume you're trying to "optimize" your image filenames?)

Instead of kaspersky-internet-security-suite-graphic.jpg, which isn't even good for usability, rename it to kaspersky.jpg or even kaspersky-antivirus.jpg and move the "Kasperky Internet Security Suite Graphic" to the alt attribute the way it should be.

Regarding the canonical issue, Google *says* they resolved it, but Matt Cutts also recommends choosing a version that you like and sticking with it. So, while it may not be what's affecting your site necessarily, it would be a good idea to have your site redirect to either the non-www or www version, but not both.

Google is getting smarter than we think. I'd suggest reviewing any other changes you made to the site, no matter how small, and consider how it may be adversely affecting your site. Double check to make sure your site isn't giving off any errors which may be telling Google-bot to stop dead in his tracks (for instance, internal server errors, 404 errors with no links, etc.)

Also, make sure that you continue to develop quality back links. Once you stop building back links to your site, it's like saying "okay, my site's outdated now, move on". The only time you'd want to stop actively building your backlinks is when you have a tremendous number of them or when the building becomes passive (i.e. the links build themselves).

~ Teli

 

[Teli]

I also forgot to add, you want to make sure and TEST whatever you're doing and changing on your site and documenting the effects.

When I'm testing some SEO theories for my own sites, I make sure to have an Excel spreadsheet and Notepad open to document *what* was changed, *when* it was changed, and *what effect* it had in the long run.

If anything goes amiss after making a single change, I can usually recover quickly by reverting that change.

Just a head's up.

~ Teli

 

[Linda Buquet]

Really good points! Especially about tracking changes. When you have a bunch of sites or even just a couple and are constantly tweaking, it's hard to remember what you did, when, to see if that's what could have made an impact - positive or negative. Thanks Teli.

 

[OnlineDownloads]

Thanx Teli! Definitely noteworthy points. I'll make a note of it.

Back to my SERP problem, Last night i noticed that my site got its place back into the Google...this time on 2nd page. But sometimess i see there...the other times...it's again off...no where again. May be something like DANCING. So presently what i could do is...leave that for sometime.

Most of the members feel that I should add the content to the site. But in my website I review the products ... so addition of the content on regular basis is not possible. Only possibility is that the content can be modified.

So keeping in mind, I've started a BLOG at my site with something like http://www.example.com/blog . I used to post articles in the BLOG. Even that got good SERP. But last week, I've started a new blog (http://www.someXYZ.com) thinking that a new domain will be fresh and seperate.

So the present problem is should i consider updating the old blog which has url extension ....or should i go with a brand new domain.

Please do suggest me the BEST option.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Well I'm not sure you should just abandon the old site. It sounds like Google's dancing and didnt drop or ban you. If it's a new domain it could have gotten sand boxed for a bit and could come back. Sometimes you need to just weather the storm with Google and not do anything too drastic and see if things get better. A brand new domain is sometimes harder to get ranked because Google likes domains that have some history and longevity.

Could you use both domains and just come from a different angle on the topic or are the domain names different enough you could blog about 2 slightly different subjects. I think I would start building the new site out and still keep adding some topics to the old blog and sort of keep them both going to test and see which one wins.

Now everything I said above is based on the assumption this is a site or subject you want to keep for the long haul and feel it's worth investing the energy into.

 

[OnlineDownloads]

So you mean to say that i should run both the blogs with different subjects. I admit that I'm investing my energy for a long term. So suggestions on this perspective would be more helpful.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Well IF you've already started the new blog and registered a new domain, which is what I think you said then...

Different topics, or different slants on the same topic or slightly revised articles on the same topic.

So you keep both going but don't have duplicate content and see which one wins. Realize the brand new one could rank at 1st then get sandboxed and pushed way down or out of the serps. So if you have the time and energy to keep them both going for awhile that would be best.

 

[OnlineDownloads]

I think I should concentrate my resources only on ONE BLOG. Concentrating on 2 blogs may result in duplication moreover time and effort are diversified.

As the old blog was established with regular content, I feel it would definitely jump back to its SERP if I get the unique content on it.

Am I wrong?

 

[Steve Morris]

Ive been having a similar problem but i put it down to being a new site. My site would rank well for a day or two disappear and then reappear, ranking well for other terms. for example this Sunday I got a shed load of hits from goggle by Monday my site wasn't showing up for the search terms that I had received hits for just the day before.

 

[Linda Buquet]

psp not knowing all the details or seeing your site, my best guess is yes, stay with the old one. If you work and don't do anything wrong it will pop back.

I only suggested doing both because it sounded like you had already invested in and started #2 and so I was encouraging you not to drop#1. But if you only do 1 then 1 would be the 1.

 

[Steve Morris]

Seems like something is happening with google

Just a quick update about serps being lost on google seems like other people are experencing the same thing
check out Is google dancing - SEO Chat

 

[iceforever.diamonds]

as i can see we SEO should be really aware of the latest happening in google but we should never be nervous about it what we should only do is that continue with our usual work of optimizing a certain site so that whenever the problem is already solved we will never be caught unaware, our site was able to survive ^_^