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Are you running around worried in your office after Google’s ranking drop? 

Do you think you are unfamiliar with SEO Services tactics to help you recover your rankings? 

Are you not being able to see the same volume of Search Traffic that you were experiencing? 

Is Google’s ranking drop adversely affecting your revenues and sales conversion? 

If you are one of those brands that they no idea how to recover from Google’s ranking drop, this is the right article for you.

In the recent past, I have helped dozens of brands recover from declining traffic, metrics and rankings. A run-of-the-mill SEO service might not be able to help you recover.

Very simply, they do not have the expertise to deal with such issues and problems.

There are many reasons why websites experience Google’s ranking drop. Some of it can be because of your own, while others because someone else is engineering it. 

In 2023, you will be shocked to hear how competitors are jeopardizing their competitors’s websites. This is the reality of our times. If brands and SEO services agencies are not on their toes, they will lose their digital credibility forever.

Table Of Content

What Losses Can You Expect From A Google’s Ranking Drop?

What Losses Can You Expect From A Google’s Ranking Drop 

Anyone who has an elementary understanding of digital marketing will tell you how important rankings are.

Just to give you a figure- 90% of all clicks happen on Google’s first page of search. If your website is not on the first page, you will see 90% less traffic! 

The entire SEO services industry is based on helping brands climb Google’s Search Engine Rankings Page (SERPs).

However, there is one fundamental problem in the industry. Everyone can help you strategize on how to climb the SERPs from scratch.

On the other hand, there are only a handful of SEO services agencies, which can help you, recover. 

Let Us Look At Some Of The Direct Effects Of Google’s Ranking Drop:

  1. Your website will see a marked decrease in website traffic.
  2. You will most definitely see a decrease in your Google Ad Sense revenues.
  3. If you are selling a product or service online, you will see fewer sales and queries. 
  4. Your site metrics will come down drastically.
  5. Google and your Hosting Provider will mark you as a problematic domain.
  6. Your organic search and visibility will also take a drastic hit.

The biggest disadvantage of Google’s ranking drop is that it happens quickly. The second biggest disadvantage is that in 90% of the cases, Google will not tell you the reasons.

Google expects webmasters to know the reason for their websites seeing a drop in search rankings.

Or the reason can be what some of my SEO services experts tell me- 

Google is some kind of a Batman, who just makes effects real. Google maintains secrecy and gives webmasters a sarcastic smile- along the lines of ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer.’ 

Top Reasons Why Websites Experience A Google’s Ranking Drop

Experiencing a drop in rankings is a nightmare for SEO professionals.

Imagine waking up to find that the article you worked hard to get to the top of the search engine results page (SERP) has suddenly slipped away. It’s the worst thing that can happen to your website ranking.

If that has happened to you – before you actually take any action, figure out what went wrong.

Here are the possible reasons that might negatively impact your rankings.

1. Google Algorithm Updates

Google Algorithm Updates

This is the number one cause of any website experiencing a Google ranking drop.

Google’s algorithm updates are now becoming increasingly routine.

As Google pushes for more and more authentic information on the web, updates keep rolling out. Websites that are not complying with updates are the ones that see a rankings drop.

Thousands of sites saw their rankings drop from the Panda Update to the Penguin Update. 

 Google’s recent March 2019 Core Update also affected sites like the Daily Mail and Crypto Currency Network (CCN).

2. Google Manual Action

Google Manual Action

The other major reason why websites see Google’s ranking drop is Manual Action.

These manual actions by Google are like specific instructions to websites about particular issues. 

This usually happens when Google, while conducting its indexing notices something out of the ordinary. Google informs the webmaster of the Google Search Console Platform.

This might relate to bad quality backlinks, copied content, or problems in URL and hosting.

This is very hard to correct, as Google’s manual actions are stringent. In many cases, this is usually followed by de-indexing.

3. Competitor Interference

Competitor Interference

As digital marketing is evolving and becoming revenue-driven, competition between brands is happening.

I once had a client who could not figure out why his rankings were dropping. It was only after we conducted a detailed analysis did we found his backlinks in PBNs, Directories, Gambling, and Adult Sites.

He was not paying for his website links to be placed on such sites. We narrowed it down to a competitor who was not able to rank his website.

Found 50 such spurious backlinks that all referred back to the pages we were ranking for earlier. We immediately contacted the websites and pulled our backlinks.

4. Plagiarised Content

Plagiarised Content

You might not plagiarise content and create 100% original content at all times. However, other sites can take your content and push it elsewhere.

This is where the real problems arise. If you know that the content on your website has been plagiarised, you need to take immediate action.

Run your content through a plagiarised content scanner like Copyscape or Viper.

If you find other websites are using your article, contact them immediately and ask them to remove the content. You can also contact a Hosting Provider of the other website and ask them to take action.

It matters if you have copied content on your website. It also matters whether other websites are also carrying your content.

5. Technical Errors By Developers

Technical Errors By Developers

Sometimes the biggest mistakes happen when we are not paying attention. I have seen that websites, which restructure their architecture, face Google’s ranking drop.

Some websites do design and development work routinely. (This is good for the health of a website).

However, Sometimes The Developers Make Some Careless Mistakes Like- 

  • A developer no-indexing a web page.
  • Some developers add a no-follow to a page.
  • 301 redirects are being placed inadvertently on sections of the website.
  • Forgetting to provide access to robots.txt.

You should always ensure that your developers regularly check the above-stated aspects. They might not be doing it intentionally. However, a simple human error can lead to a massive Google ranking drop.

How To Fix Your Website After A Ranking Drop?

How To Fix Your Website After A Ranking Drop

Most SEO services experts and agencies might be able to tell you the reasons for the declining rankings. However, most of them cannot tell you how to fix it.

In this section, I will look at some of the top ways in which you can regain your rankings in a single week.

Let us begin… 

1. Contact Google Immediately

Contacting Google in case your website sees Google’s ranking drop should be top of your priority list.

Always remember that you need to contact Google if someone else is trying to hurt your rankings.

Google is very proactive when it comes to such complaints.

They will help you with steps and take action against the other party.

You can report to Google about wrongdoing in many ways. The best one is through the Search Console. Google responds almost immediately.

2. Redo The Entire Content On Your Website

This is the first thing that I do for my clients. Most brand websites have content that can be completely changed within a week.

If the website has a blog section, you will need to use tools like Siteliner to check for copied content. The sooner you redo the content, the better your chances of recovering.

Redoing the content on a website is probably the most important way of recovering from Google’s ranking drop.

If Google does not take action, and you do not see any change in the rankings, you can request Google for indexing.

3. Guest Posting And Blogger Outreach

These are the two best ways by which you can improve quality backlinks for your website. The first step is to remove all backlinks in low authority or spam sites.

The second step involves reaching out to industry authority sites and requesting guest posting. A good SEO services agency will be able to reach out on your behalf and do this. 

Sometimes this can take a paid route. However, if your content is of top-notch quality and the site is good, you do not have to fear anything.

100 good quality backlinks in a couple of months will again see you climb to the top of the SERPs.

4. Increase Content Frequency

Most websites are downgraded when Google indexes.

The indexing part happens as routinely as Google sees your activity.

In other words, the more regular you are with regard to your content the better the indexing.

Content regularity is very important for sites that have seen a ranking drop. You want Google to index your site as often as possible.

If you have a blog section, try uploading at least two articles during the recovery mode. This should be done for at least two months. Following this you can go back to one article a day.

I keep emphasizing content as Google considers it to be one of the top three ranking factors! 

5. Run A Detailed On-Page SEO Analysis

If your website has been experiencing a drop, there might be some on-page issues, which you need to, fix or optimize.

This can be because of a range of issues- from not-optimised images to 301 redirects.

By conducting a thorough On-Page SEO analysis, you can rectify if there are any errors.

One standard problem that keeps happening is slow loading speed. This happens because someone forgot to compress a file and the website becomes very slow over time.

This is a routine process. A good SEO services agency conducts an On-Page Check-up every quarter. This is something that a brand should not even tell their SEO agency. If you have a disciplined agency, they will do this on their own.

6. Outrank Your Competitor

Most brands take it easy after reaching the first pages of a search. They get complacent and lose their position to competitors.

You cannot imagine how much of a drop you can experience just because of your competitors ranking better.

This is because of what Google sees as happening.

When websites start climbing, they do so as a trend. The spiral upwards means a site that is improving and more people are tuning in. This makes Google promote the site organically as well.

The algorithm game is complicated.

As A Brand, You Need To Keep On Increasing- 

  • Quality Content
  • Backlinks
  • Social Media Sharing 
  • Ad Spends 

It is an endless pursuit, as most brands try to keep competing for specific keywords. The key is to rank for keywords and outrank your competition.

7. Update Your Security And Hosting

In the last few months, Google has acted heavily against websites that are unsafe and unreliable. Hosting providers are also becoming one major issue of Google’s ranking drop.

How? Google values safe and secure websites. If your website is operating on an HTTP platform, it is high time to change it to an HTTPS platform.

Google considers HTTPS to be much more secure and safe. One suggestion that I often give clients is to always go for a dedicated server. A dedicated server is more secure, increases speed and takes backup every day.

If your website is down even for one day and people are searching for it, you can expect a significant drop. Updating the security protocols and hosting providers can give a bump to your search rankings.

8. Increased Activity On Google’s Eco-System

This is something that I have tried on an experimental basis with some of my clients. I am happy to state that it works.

What I refer to as Google’s Eco-System is Google My Business and YouTube.

If you want to attract Google’s attention, please be as active as possible on these two platforms. This also means reconnecting your website’s backlinks on both these platforms.

For Google, backlinks and engagement from GMB and YouTube are key markers of analysis.

Once Google sees that a recurring URL pops up and that people are clicking on it, Google will improve search rankings.

This is dependent on the quality of your content. It also depends on how active you are on GMB and YouTube.

9. Comprehend The Underlying Meaning Of Your Ranking Drop

Examine the search queries and pages affected by ranking drops.

Use various tools like rank trackers, web analytics, Google Search Console, and Bing Webmaster Tools to gauge the impact.

For each query, note its cluster, old and new ranking, URL, content type, and indexability. This reveals patterns and helps isolate specific issues on your site.

10. Check Google Search Console

If your website’s ranking drops, you should contact Google immediately.

Google promptly handles complaints.

You can take action against the other party with their help.

There are many ways to report wrongdoing to Google. Search Console is the best option. It takes Google almost no time to respond.

Check Google Search Console for manual penalties if your website’s rankings drop. Google issues these when a human reviewer finds violations of Webmaster Guidelines.

Common Reasons For Manual Penalties Include:

Google may remove or impact sites engaging in these practices.

11. Perform Content Audit And Take Corrective Measures

This is actually one of our first steps when working with a client. In most cases, brand websites can be completely updated within a week.

High-quality content is vital. Is your content original and engaging? This affects your rankings.

Check if competitors provide better answers. Learn from them, and avoid worse tactics.

Content needs to engage users. Use metrics like user duration and bounce rate.

To check for copied content on a website with a blog section, use tools like Siteliner. Moreover, you can also use Copyscape. Then, rewrite or expand accordingly.

Redoing the content as soon as possible will increase your chances of recovery.

Request Google’s indexing if you don’t see any improvement in the rankings after Google doesn’t act.

Backlinks are vital for SEO rankings. Losing them can lead to a Google ranking drop. The decline’s pace depends on link quality and quantity.

Figure out if you need any links or not. To recover, identify lost links and their content. SEO experts or apps can help. Keeping track of backlinks regularly is wise to prevent losses.

Moreover, Please Be Cautious About The Following:

  • Unnatural links
  • PBNs
  • Low-quality directories
  • Spammy links
  • Hacked sites

Please be cautious – these links can harm your rankings. You can use Google Search Console’s disavow tool to address problematic links.

Conclusion

I keep harping on the fact that brands need not worry about Google’s ranking drop if they have a good SEO services partner.

Most websites, at some point or the other, have fallen behind. This is nothing to be ashamed of. If you are serious about recovering your position, the above eight points are going to help you.

Experiencing Google’s ranking drop is not the end of the world. I have seen some of my clients drop from the first page to the seventh page. I have also seen them recover and assume their rightful position.

All it needs is a strategic SEO services team at the helm of affairs.

If you want help with regard to recovering from Google’s ranking drop, get in touch with us today. 

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Tuhin Das-image

Being in the content writing landscape for 4+ years, Tuhin likes to go deep into the minds of his readers through his writing. He loves sharing content related to SEO, digital marketing, content writing, copywriting, Education, and lifestyle. Besides his inherent inclination towards creating content, he is also a sports enthusiast and travel freak.