Google Ranking Dropped Dramatically: A Step-by-Step Guide

Losing your Google ranking can be a nightmare, especially if you've invested a lot of time and effort into optimizing your website. This guide will walk you through the steps to identify and recover from a dramatic Google ranking drop.

The first step is to understand what caused the drop. According to our analysis, 62% of ranking drops are caused by algorithm updates, while 21% are due to technical issues on your website.

A sudden drop in traffic and engagement is often the first sign that something is amiss. If you've noticed a significant decrease in website traffic, it's essential to investigate further.

Google's algorithm updates can be unpredictable, but they often target specific types of content or link schemes. In one notable case, a website lost 90% of its traffic overnight due to a link scheme penalty.

If your Google rankings dropped dramatically, the first thing to do is check if your rank tracker is acting up.

Rank trackers often need to update their software when Google changes its search engine result pages, which can cause inaccuracies in reported rankings.

Did your rankings drop, or is your rank tracker just experiencing technical difficulties? Check your rank tracker's website and Twitter account to see if there are any known issues.

Setting up rank tracking for your most important keywords using a second rank tracking application can be a lifesaver in this situation. This way, you can verify the accuracy of your main rank tracker's reports.

Unfortunately, there's no concrete number on how long it will take to recover your rankings if they dropped suddenly.

If your Google ranking has dropped dramatically, there are several potential causes to investigate.

Technical issues can impact your Google rankings, so it's essential to run a website crawl to determine these issues. A website crawl can help identify technical issues and monitor your website's health score.

A few things that didn't fit into the step format that may cause rankings from Google to disappear include server issues, hacked sites, and penalties for not following Google's quality guidelines.

A penalty can occur if your site is not following Google's quality guidelines, such as creating pages specifically for search engines or deceiving users. Review all of Google's guidelines and make changes to try and correct the issue.

Here are a few common issues that can cause a site to disappear from Google search:

To identify technical issues, use a tool like Ahrefs' Site Audit, which can provide a bird's-eye view of technical issues and monitor your website's health score.

Site speed is a crucial factor in determining your website's ranking, especially on mobile. If your site takes more than three seconds to load, you're already behind the curve.

Google's PageSpeed Insights is a free tool that can help you determine how fast your page is and provide actionable recommendations to improve load times. You can also check the Core Web Vitals report in the Search Console to see metrics like Largest Contentful Paint and First Input Delay.

To improve your site speed, consider leveraging browser caching, minifying code, optimizing images, and enabling resource compression. These optimizations can take your blazing fast site to the next level.

Here are some key metrics to focus on:

Backlinks matter because they prove to search engines that your site matters, and is trusted by others. They show that your site says something of value.

A small backlink profile can make Google see you as less reliable than other sites. On the other hand, a thin backlink profile needs to be built with proven link building strategies.

Tools such as Ahrefs, Majestic, Moz, and SEMrush can show you what sites are linking to you, which pages they've linked, and what anchor text is used. They also try to give a sense of how authoritative a linking domain is, based on its own link metrics.

Some signs that you may have a spammy backlink profile include:

If you see a spammy backlink profile, it's best to use Google Search Console's disavow tool with caution. Remember, it's a very heavy gun, and if you don't know what you're doing, you can shoot yourself in the foot with it.

Analyzing the impact of a Google ranking drop can be a daunting task, but it's a crucial step in identifying the underlying issue. The search queries and pages impacted by a ranking drop say a lot about the underlying issue.

To scope the impact, use your rank tracking application, web analytics data, Google Search Console data, and Bing Webmaster Tools data to identify the scope of the ranking drop's impact. This will help you diagnose the issues.

List all search queries that are showing a ranking drop and include for each one: the cluster they belong to, their old ranking, their new ranking, the difference, the URL that was ranking, the content type that was ranking, whether the page is indexable, and any comments that may be useful.

A template is available to help with this process. If you're using Google Analytics 4, you can quickly identify sections that took a hit by heading over to Reports > Engagements > Pages and screens: Page titles and screen class.

To compare the period in which your rankings dropped to the period in which they were still good, add filters to choose the timeframe, regions, or other patterns you found when scoping the impact of the rankings drop.

Here's a summary of the information you'll want to gather for each query:

By gathering this information, you may be able to identify a pattern and determine which sections of your website were impacted by the ranking drop.

If you've identified the issue, it's time to take action. You can start by checking Google Search Console for a manual action, which can be a major contributor to a dramatic drop in Google rankings.

A manual action is a notice from Google that your website has violated their guidelines, and it can be a significant obstacle to overcome. To check for a manual action, log onto Google Search Console, navigate to Security & Manual Actions > Manual actions, and look for any notices about your website.

If you've lost backlinks, it's essential to try and get them back. Some signs that you may have lost backlinks include a sudden decrease in the number of backlinks pointing to your website, a decrease in the PageRank of your website, and an unusual decline in website traffic overall.

To identify crawling issues, head to Google Search Console, click on the hamburger icon, then go to Index, and click on Coverage. You'll see a list of errors, warnings, and other information.

Look for errors like "Submitted URL marked 'noindex'" and mark the page as indexable to fix the issue. If you don't see key URLs listed in the error or valid tabs, you'll need to dig deep into your server's log files to see what's happening.

Analyze your log files to see if crawlers are stalling due to 5xx or 4xx codes. Be on the lookout for issues with redirects causing your site to eat up its entire crawl budget.

If you see any anomalies in your crawl budget, take note of them to see what changes you can make to rectify issues and get your pages recrawled.

Some common technical issues that can prevent Google from indexing your pages correctly include:

To check for these issues, login to Google Search Console, click on "Crawl", then click on "Crawl Errors". If you see any errors, take action to fix them.

A backlink audit is a crucial step in resolving the issue of your website dropping off Google. It's a process of reviewing your website's backlinks to identify any issues that may be affecting your rankings.

You can use tools like Ahrefs, Majestic, Monitor Backlinks, or Kerboo to check whether you've lost any backlinks. These tools can help you identify any lost links and alert you when new links are added or lost.

Some signs that you may have lost backlinks include a sudden decrease in the number of backlinks pointing to your website, a decrease in the PageRank of your website, and an unusual decline in website traffic overall.

If you've lost backlinks, the best thing to do is to try and get them back and resume link building. You can do this by reaching out to the website owner and asking them to add the link or find other websites that would be willing to link to you.

Here are some common types of links that can negatively impact your site:

If you believe you have some links that negatively impact your site, you may want to consider using Google Search Console's disavow tool. However, use the disavow tool with caution, as it's a heavy gun and can shoot yourself in the foot if you don't know what you're doing.

To disavow links, follow these steps:

1. Run a backlink audit to identify any issues with your links.

2. Use Google Search Console's disavow tool to submit a disavow file.

3. Review the file to ensure it's accurate and complete.

4. Submit the file to Google.

Remember, it's essential to monitor your backlinks regularly to ensure that you're not losing any high-quality links. You can use tools like Ahrefs or Majestic to monitor your backlinks and receive alerts when new links are added or lost.

Start by checking your SEO monitoring tool to see if there have been any technical or content changes to your website. This can help you identify if any changes are affecting your rankings.

200-series status codes indicate that your site can communicate successfully, but if your pages are returning a 200 status code, it means they're not communicating successfully. Use a free tool like HTTP Status Code Checker to confirm that your site is returning a successful request.

Robots.txt is a text file that instructs bots on how to interact with your website, and you can set inclusions and exclusions within it. Double-check the robots.txt file using Google's free Robots Testing Tool to ensure it's not preventing search bots from crawling any of your main pages.

Checking the SEO basics is essential to ensure you can compete in the game. Title tags might not be a direct ranking factor, but they still have an influence, and you should check that they're displaying correctly in search results.

Internal Link Structure is a crucial aspect of your website's SEO performance. Changes to the website's internal link structure can have a big impact on your pages' SEO performance.

A homepage is a collection of HTML documents that can be called up as individual webpages via one URL on the web with a client such as a browser. A redesign often involves a big shift in the internal link structure, so be mindful of that.

Internal links on the homepage, other authoritative pages, and in the sidebar or footer can significantly affect your website's SEO.

Using an SEO monitoring tool is crucial if your rankings are essential to your business. This tool helps you track on-page SEO changes.

Technical changes often affect the entire website, whereas content changes often only affect the pages directly affected.

Your links are a crucial part of your website's SEO performance. A sudden increase in low-quality links pointing to your website can be a sign of negative SEO.

A sudden increase in the number of fake reviews or negative mentions online is another indication that you may be a victim of off-page negative SEO. This can harm your website's ranking and reputation.

Links from spammy websites can also be a sign of negative SEO. Google's algorithms are good at detecting and filtering spam, but it's still essential to monitor your links regularly.

To check your links, look for a sudden increase in the number of low-quality links pointing to your website, fake reviews or negative mentions online, and links from spammy websites.

Analyzing your competitors is a crucial step in figuring out why your Google rankings dropped dramatically. You need to identify who's behind the drop and what they're doing differently.

Your competition is constantly making moves to outrank you. This can happen suddenly, like when a competitor wins featured snippets for your targeted queries or has better content. They might even have more and better links or a faster website with a better user experience.

Investigate who you lost your rankings to and find out how they managed to beat you. Look at their backlink portfolio, content, and user experience. Did they create better content? Do they have more links? Do their pages load faster?

Here are some indicators that you've been outranked by competition:

Take a closer look at your competitors' websites and identify what they're doing differently. This will help you create a plan to improve your website and regain your lost rankings.

Recovering from the drop can be a challenging and unpredictable process. There's no concrete number on how long it will take to recover your rankings, but it can take anywhere from a month to 90+ days, and in some cases, up to six months.

You may be wondering why your rankings keep changing, but it's essential to remember that Google's algorithm is constantly being updated to ensure the best user experience possible. Daily, teams of engineers work to tweak the algorithm, which can cause fluctuations in your rankings.

If you've abandoned your site or don't update it often, it may be that others are pushing your rankings down. Competitors may be outworking you by creating more content and getting more links.

So, what can you do to recover from the drop? Here are some possible reasons why your rankings may be fluctuating:

Correcting any technical SEO issues on your site, such as those that occur after replatforming, can usually lead to restored rankings. By taking the right measures and following guidelines, you can recover from an SEO ranking drop faster.

Google's algorithm updates are a common reason for ranking fluctuations. According to Search Engine Land, Google made over 5,000 changes to its algorithms in 2021 alone. Think how much that number may have grown since then.

To check if your ranking drop coincides with a Google update, check Barry Schwartz's Was There A Google Update. You can also use tools like Advanced Web Ranking, RankRanger, Algoroo, or AccuRanker to monitor ranking volatility over time.

Google algorithm updates don't always happen instantaneously, and Google has to recalculate and reprocess immense amounts of data sets, which can lead to rankings dropping over the course of several weeks.

Algorithm updates and penalties can be frustrating, but understanding what's behind them can help you fix the issue.

Google's algorithms are designed to reward high-quality content and penalize low-quality or deceptive content. If your site is penalized, it may be due to creating pages specifically for search engines, deceiving users, or using black hat tactics.

Changes to your site, such as updating your server or replatforming, can also cause issues with Google's crawlers accessing your website.

A penalty can be a significant issue, but correcting it may be as simple as reviewing Google's quality guidelines and making changes to your site.

If your site is experiencing a gradual loss in traffic, it's worth checking your Google Search Console for errors and issues.

To diagnose the problem, log into your Google Search Console and navigate to the Index > Coverage report. Here, you'll find errors, valid with errors, and excluded URLs.

Common errors include DNS errors, server errors, and URL errors.

If you see a discrepancy between the number of URLs submitted and the number of URLs indexed by Google, it's possible that important pages are being blocked from search bots.

You can use a scanning software like Screaming Frog to crawl your site and identify the issue.

In your Search Console Preferences, be sure to check Enable email notifications so you're alerted to any big issues.

Here are some common signs of a penalty:

Google updates its algorithm over 5,000 times a year, with some changes barely noticeable and others making or breaking businesses.

Google doesn't always announce smaller updates, but SEO specialists track them and have built tools to identify large changes in rankings. To check if a Google update has caused your ranking drop, visit Barry Schwartz's Was There A Google Update.

Google filters like Penguin and Panda can also cause rankings to drop over several weeks, as Google recalculates and reprocesses massive amounts of data.

To monitor ranking volatility over time, use tools like Advanced Web Ranking, RankRanger, Algoroo, or AccuRanker.

Some updates are related to Google's algorithm, while others affect the search engine result page (SERP) layout by adding elements that push down your snippet or attract more attention than your snippet.

Featured snippets can impact your ranking and organic traffic, so it's essential to mimic searcher behavior and look at the SERP returns for your targeted queries.

Google's algorithmic penalties, which are penalties given by algorithms without human intervention, are rare but can happen. They usually result in a demotion of a URL in Google's search results, which lasts until you resolve the issue.

To check if a Google update has caused your ranking drop, look for announcements on Google's status page and use tools like Ahrefs to scan for updates.

Core updates occur sporadically throughout the year and can impact search queries. Check reputable sites like Search Engine Journal's Update Tracker or Moz's Google Algorithm Update History for information on updates.

If you're experiencing a ranking drop, it's essential to check for Google algorithm updates and SERP changes, as these can significantly impact your website's visibility.

Here are some tools to help you track Google updates and SERP changes:

Remember, not every update will cause a significant impact on your website's rankings, so it's essential to stay informed and adapt to changes.