Why Did My Google Rankings Drop?

Do you have a website? Is it ranking on google? Has your google ranking dropped or ever dropped? Are you wondering why your website ranking dropped? Then read through this article to clearly understand why sometimes websites can drop in ranking. We will go through a few of the reasons why your website ranking can drop suddenly. Below are a few reasons why your website can drop in google SERPs rankings.

1. Google Algorithm Updates.

One of the reasons why your website might drop in rankings is a google algorithm update. Google regularly updates its algorithms for better services. These algorithm changes, come with changes in how google search operates. Some of the things that google used to value in the previous algorithm, it might not value them in the new algorithm. Some of the bad behavior that google used to ignore in the previous algorithm might become a problem in the new algorithm. Hence if there are some bad SEO things you used to do and the previous algorithm let you get away with it, the new algorithm will hurt you. Just because of the new algorithm update, the new algorithm might punish your website. Hence resulting in a drop of your website. Think about this hypothetical example. Imagine if you normally write 1000-words-long articles on your website. The previous algorithm considers a 1000-words-long article as okay. Then there is a new algorithm update that considers a 1000-words-long article as short and shallow. This will definitely lead into a ranking drop.

2. On-Page SEO Changes.

Changes in your on-page seo can lead to a drop in google ranking. Some of these things do not seem so big or so influential but can seriously impact your rankings. If you change things like article titles and meta descriptions can seriously impact your rankings. Actually, the worst is a change of URL structure. Platforms such as WordPress have a feature where you can change the URL structure of all your pages and posts. If you do this, it means that all your links will be broken. Hence all the urls ranked on google will be broken meaning google is ranking broken links. This will definitely lead to a drop in google ranking. It is not advisable to change the URL structure of your website after it gets ranked on google. However, if you ever change them, you have to request google to re-index all your links. In addition to that, you have to create a redirect of all your links.

3. Technical Issues.

Other reasons why your website ranking can drop on google is technical issues. Other than content on your website, there are so many other things that google considers to rank your website. Some of these factors include the speed of your website. If your website suddenly becomes slow or starts loading very slowly, then you can be sure that google will drop your ranking. In addition to that broken links will also lead to a drop in ranking. In addition, problems like crawl errors can lead to a drop in your google ranking. The reason for this is because google needs to get access to your website. The reason for this is so as to make sure that what google is ranking you for actually exists on your website. Thus google keeps recrawling your pages to make sure that the content is still available. Another technical issue that can lead to a drop in your ranking include things like the noindex tag on your pages. If you have some main and important pages that you want google to rank but they are marked with noindex, then it will affect your ranking. A noindex tag will remove such pages from google rankings which will make google drop your ranking.

4. Backlink Loss or Toxic Backlinks.

One of the main causes of google rankings drop, is toxic backlinks. Let us address backlink loss first. If you used to have many great backlinks linking to your website then you loose them, then your website will suffer for that. Google seriously values backlinks. Especially backlinks from high DR or high DA websites. When you loose such backlinks, then you can be sure that google will lower your domain ranking on the SERPs. As for the toxic backlinks, these are links linking to your website that are from bad websites. By bad websites we mean low DA, DR websites that are mostly spammy websites. If you get backlinks from spammy websites, google considers those links as toxic and will punish your website for that. Hence a drop in SERPs ranking. The advise if that if you have such toxic backlinks, disavow them using the google disavow tool.

5. Competitor Improvements.

Remember that google SERPs is a competition. Businesses and websites are constantly competing to rank on google. They are all competing to rank top on google. The best wins and the others loose just like any competition. It is a survival for the fittest. Hence if your competitors do better in SEO than you, then you will drop in ranking. You know the google number one, two or three positions can only be occupied by one site each at a time. Hence if it is not you, it is your competitor. The advise for this is work harder on your SEO. Beat your competitors for the top position. Once you get back to the top position, then your google rankings and traffic will return.

6. Changes in Search Intent or SERP Layout.

Google is a search engine. People search on google for a reason. This is the search intent. If your website is matching with the search intent of the people, then you get better rankings and clicks. The vise versa is also true. If your website is not matching with the search intent then you will rank lower. For example, if google starts showing videos say from youtube for certain queries that you used to rank for, it can lead to a drop in your ranking. Before, google used to rank your website for that query but now, google is ranking youtube videos for that query instead.

7. Mobile/UX Issues.

In addition to all the factors we have discussed above, google considers so many other factors when it comes to ranking. One of those factors is the mobile usability problem. Most of the people in the world today use internet through smartphones. The biggest percentage of people using internet today are on smartphones. Hence if your website is not optimized to work on a smartphone, then you can be sure google wont rank your website for smartphone searches. For all the people searching on google using smartphones will not be shown your website. Hence you will not rank for such searches. Google also considers user experience when it comes to ranking. If your user experience of your website is bad, then it will lead to lower ranking. Make sure that everything on your website is working just like it is supposed to work. Make sure that scrolling to buttons to menu to everything else is working properly.

8. Content Issues.

If your content is not good enough for google ranking, it will also affect your google rankings. For example, thin content will affect your ranking negatively. Its better to not have it than to have it. Its better to not have content at all than to have thin content. Why should google rank your thin content rather than another website that has better and deeper content? Other content problems include duplicate content. If you keep duplicating content on your website or websites it will lead to a drop in ranking. Copyrighted content will also lead to a drop in ranking. This means that if you publish on your website unauthorized content taken from other sources on the internet, it will hurt you. This will lead to google dropping the ranking of your website.

Conclusion.

Now you know why your website dropped in google ranking. Use the information we have in this article to help you climb back to the top of google.