First of all, don’t panic.
In the SEO world it’s normal for things to be continuously fluctuating. Website traffic rises and falls; algorithms are updated almost everyday; rankings go up and down. There are quite a number of reasons why your website pages are sliding down the search results page.
But whether it’s a slight dip within a few ranking pages or a deep nose dive across the board, you still get a sudden SEO fright.
And if you believe you’re applying all possible best practices, why are the ranks taking a dive?
Here is a 5-step process that helps you identify why your organic search rankings have dropped and how you can resolve the issues so you can get your SEO back on track.
Step 1 – It’s Back to Basics
Perform an SEO audit on your website to check if something somewhere moved. Use an audit tool like Screaming Frog’s site crawler or spider tool (We recommend it. And it’s free version excellently performs a basic site audit).
Check for the following:
Are your website pages are returning a 200 Status Code?
This status code means your site is communicating successfully. If it’s not 200, then the status code indicated also let’s you know what and where to fix.
Were the restrictions set within your robot.txt file too strict that they are blocking search bots from crawling your website’s main pages?
Use Google’s free Robots Testing Tool to check your robots.txt file. If you discover something amiss, adjust and upload a less restrictive file to the server.
Are your page titles and H1 tags fully optimized?
The main heading on each of your main page informs users about the primary purpose of the page. But unless it’s coded into an H1 tag, search bots can’t tell the difference between the title and the rest of the page content.
Step 2 – Find Out What Google’s Been Up To
Google algorithms – What have been recently rolled out or updated?
Penguin and Panda are Google’s core algorithms that are updated in real time. It’s best to be alert to how the slightest tweaks affect your rankings.
Hop onto X (formerly Twitter) and listen in on conversations among SEO gurus and webmasters. If they’re panicking, then something has definitely gone wrong and needs to be made right.
TIP!
If you’re sure your website offers comprehensive and relevant content, has a clean layout with intuitive user interface, and fast load times, then rank fluctuations resulting from algorithm updates shouldn’t scare you.
Google Search Console GSC) – Are there any crawl errors interrupting website indexing or visibility? Are there finding errors with DNS, URLs, or servers?
Content: Freshness and Relevance
Interstitials
SEO can be challenging because anything can happen at any time, and you must stay alert to ensure you get great results. Your efforts may sometimes skyrocket your ranks, but they may also begin to fail. So, stay alert. Make it a practice to regularly perform a site audit.
