Sudden Ranked Drop? Google Algo Update?

[bahus]

Another problem is some guys are thinking that Google doesn't do mistakes ever

Well, they do but for those mistakes, they don't acknowledge it's better to adjust than doing the same thing over and over again because obviously that doesn't work. Aside from that if the 'indexation issue' some people experience here was widespread you'd hear about that all over the net. Unfortunately, the net is silent. There are some posts on webmasters forum but when you look at the websites they link to in those posts, well, they aren't that good. There was even a fake pharmacy website complaining about that. I'm not saying that all websites affected by this are bad, they might be great, just over-optimized be it on-page or anchor text. I know it's a hard pill to swallow but when google algo keeps removing the URLs no matter how many times submitted maybe it's time to realize that the issue isn't with indexing but with a website/content and make some adjustments.

 

[soa0611]

Well, they do but for those mistakes, they don't acknowledge it's better to adjust than doing the same thing over and over again because obviously that doesn't work. Aside from that if the 'indexation issue' some people experience here was widespread you'd hear about that all over the net. Unfortunately, the net is silent. There are some posts on webmasters forum but when you look at the websites they link to in those posts, well, they aren't that good. There was even a fake pharmacy website complaining about that. I'm not saying that all websites affected by this are bad, they might be great, just over-optimized be it on-page or anchor text to name a couple. I know it's a hard pill to swallow but when google algo keeps removing the URLs no matter how many times submitted maybe it's time to realize that the issue isn't with indexing but with a website/content and make some adjustments.

please make some adjustments and get back to us with some positive results

 

[bahus]

I listened for about one hour without any success sorry
So, any other amazing suggestions?
Do you want an example? I have one website that got hit really hard with Fred update (2017), I did nothing since 2017 and in January update 2020 this website increased a lot. So, what I have to listen in this case?

I see the opposite, one of my websites was hit hard in 2018, didn't work on it until May 2019, fully recovered by Sep. wasn't affected by any Nov. Dec. 2019 updates until Jan 7th, 2020. After spending hours on SERP looking and analyzing what's ranking on top, I guess I need to deoptimize it even more to get back the traffic. On the positive, at least none of the URLs were deindexed
BTY, I've seen many websites that fully recovered from 2018 updates that were hit again on Jan 7th, 2020.

 

[bahus]

please make some adjustments and get back to us with some positive results

What works for me may not work for you, the google algos are more sophisticated now and websites are graded individually. A high authority website will get away with a high keyword density, a small one not so. Not long ago I watched a video of Gary Illyes accidentally explaining how it works. This is what he said, a website can well rank for 'Nike shoes' with no links based on the keywords that's on a page. Another website can rank well too with no 'Nike shoes' keyword on a page purely based on 'Nike shoes' anchor text. So for one website keywords on a page may be the ranking factor and for another anchor text. This just tells you how sophisticated the algos have become.
BTY, combine high keyword density and exact anchor text and you're heading for a disaster.

 

[N1mrod]

What works for me may not work for you, the google algos are more sophisticated now and websites are graded individually. A high authority website will get away with a high keyword density, a small one not so. Not long ago I watched a video of Gary Illyes accidentally explaining how it works. This is what he said, a website can well rank for 'Nike shoes' with no links based on the keywords that's on a page. Another website can rank well too with no 'Nike shoes' keyword on a page purely based on 'Nike shoes' anchor text. So for one website keywords on a page may be the ranking factor and for another anchor text. This just tells you how sophisticated the algos have become.
BTY, combine high keyword density and exact anchor text and you're heading for a disaster.

Yeah, I agree that this algorithm is that sophisticated that no one really knows what to do with it, neither do you, saying this about keyword density and anchor text in your last sentence. How many times I heard many bigger or smaller seo "gurus" that were arguing with each other which factor ranks and which isn't. How many times I heard this whitehat BS about content, relevancy etc. and then seing completely opposite things on serps. Guys, acknowledge that SEO (especially Google SEO) is a lottery and sometimes you can't do shit, but only wait what other brilliant idea Google will have now. I learned it after medical update in August 2018, when a huge amount of complete whitehat sites got hit dramatically, and people's businesses that were thriving for a few years were vanished.

All we can do is to wait and observe.

 

[bahus]

Yeah, I agree that this algorithm is that sophisticated that no one really knows what to do with it, neither do you, saying this about keyword density and anchor text in your last sentence. How many times I heard many bigger or smaller seo "gurus" that were arguing with each other which factor ranks and which isn't. How many times I heard this whitehat BS about content, relevancy etc. and then seing completely opposite things on serps. Guys, acknowledge that SEO (especially Google SEO) is a lottery and sometimes you can't do shit, but only wait what other brilliant idea Google will have now. I learned it after medical update in August 2018, when a huge amount of complete whitehat sites got hit dramatically, and people's businesses that were thriving for a few years were vanished.

All we can do is to wait and observe.

The keyword density and anchor text in my last sentence was to illustrate how the algos have become more sophisticated and ranking is based on an individual website/page basis. There are other things google uses for ranking but if you look at the big picture it's going to come down to, keywords on-page, links, anchor text and how they relate to each other. That's assuming a post is on topic and the technical side is spot on.

The days of a uniform approach to SEO are over. Just because one SEO 'guru' says something that doesn't mean it'll work for everyone. You need to analyze it in the context of your website. That's what I do when reading a post from an 'SEO guru' I always ask myself a question, how does it relate to my website, ranking. Will this improve or hurt my ranking in the long term? If I come across an idea that sounds good I always test it on a post or two to see if it works, if it does, I might apply it sitewide, if it doesn't I scratch it and revert back. The best results I've ever had came from testing my own ideas and tracking the ranking.

As for Google, they are on the mission to confuse the SEO community as much as possible. Can't blame them for that seeing so many people trying to game the SERP or get an edge. And you can't blame the people trying to get an edge because a new website (no matter how good it is) has basically zero chances to get to the top without giving it a push. The game has become more sophisticated.

Sitting and waiting will get you nowhere, that's what I had done back in 2018. It got me nowhere, making changes and tracking progress will give you an idea which way to go. And I never said that I know what to do with this algo. Testing, switching things around is way better than doing the same thing over again or waiting for a miracle.

 

[N1mrod]

Sitting and waiting will get you nowhere, that's what I had done back in 2018. It got me nowhere, making changes and tracking progress will give you an idea which way to go. And I never said that I know what to do with this algo. Testing, switching things around is way better than doing the same thing over again or waiting for a miracle.

You're right with this. I didn't mean to do literally nothing, because for example I'm going to work on new projects. I think though that this case is on Google side and our impacted sites can't be cured other way. Why? I see those sick and totally random fluctuations day by day, I see totally crap sites on top, while people's really cool sites are vanished. That's something that I've never seen before.

 

[DenHoeven]

following

 

[BigG2020]

I‘m one of those guys with a „cool site“ which is really helpful for users but vanished from the index. I started accepting things now and no longer hoping for automatic recovery due to a bug or sth else.

At the moment the team is working on adjustments for all the 300 articles in terms of keyword density (especially in the headlines). I will keep you updated!

When you guys say anchor text related do you mean both external and internal links?

Regards

 

[bahus]

You're right with this. I didn't mean to do literally nothing, because for example I'm going to work on new projects. I think though that this case is on Google side and our impacted sites can't be cured other way. Why? I see those sick and totally random fluctuations day by day, I see totally crap sites on top, while people's really cool sites are vanished. That's something that I've never seen before.

Don't be fazed by those thin, crap sites showing on top, they might vanish any time, look for those with quality (ignore big brands) and ask yourself why they are there.

 

[bahus]

When you guys say anchor text related do you mean both external and internal links?

In my posts, I meant external links.

At the moment the team is working on adjustments for all the 300 articles in terms of keyword density (especially in the headlines).
Regards

That's exactly what I'm doing, striping the keywords (especially in the headlines) to a bare minimum. Pain in the kneck but if this is what's needs to be done so be it. Moreover, I'm googling best [insert your keyword] to see the sentence(s) Google is showing on top of SERP with my keyword. It gives me a pretty good idea of keyword intent. And it's different when I have done it a year ago.

 

[jyciap11]

In my posts, I meant external links.



That's exactly what I'm doing, striping the keywords (especially in the headlines) to a bare minimum. Pain in the kneck but if this is what's needs to be done so be it. Moreover, I'm googling best [insert your keyword] to see the sentence(s) Google is showing on top of SERP with my keyword. It gives me a pretty good idea of keyword intent. And it's different when I have done it a year ago.

And what about the sitemap issue? Why, from day to night, our sitemap are not correctly read?

 

[bahus]

And what about the sitemap issue? Why, from day to night, our sitemap are not correctly read?

I haven't had any issues with my sitemap. Google reads it the way it should. Stick to one way to generate it.

​

Switching from one plugin to another will create chaos as google has to reprocess the whole website.

 

[jyciap11]

I haven't had any issues with my sitemap. Google reads it the way it should. Stick to one way to generate it.

View attachment 127155​

Switching from one plugin to another will create chaos as google has to reprocess the whole website.

YOU haven't any issue, we have issue.

 

[bahus]

YOU haven't any issue, we have issue.

If it makes you feel better, keep believing that's a google issue, that's your prerogative. You can pick on anything to prove yourself right, not sure how far this will get you.

 

[jyciap11]

If it makes you feel better, keep believing that's a google issue, that's your prerogative. You can pick on anything to prove yourself right, not sure how far this will get you.

Mate, I don't think anything at this time, but me (and other users) tried everything. Change content, change website theme, update wordpress, change sitemap plugin, add manually post to index, everything, and nothing it seems to fix this issue. So, what we can do now? You know? Because I don't know.

 

[Psh]

Guys, it's best to just create more sites. Don't rely on one site when it comes to SEO, because there will be a day when your ass gets torn apart. Even create 2-3 sites for the same niche/keyword you're going for.

Mate, I don't think anything at this time, but me (and other users) tried everything. Change content, change website theme, update wordpress, change sitemap plugin, add manually post to index, everything, and nothing it seems to fix this issue. So, what we can do now? You know? Because I don't know.

Honestly, there probably isn't a specific "thing" making sites lose its rank in these latest updates, I believe it's purely random shuffles to get more people over to their PPC ads.

 

[jyciap11]

Guys, it's best to just create more sites. Don't rely on one site when it comes to SEO, because there will be a day when your ass gets torn apart. Even create 2-3 sites for the same niche/keyword you're going for.


Honestly, there probably isn't a specific "thing" making sites lose its rank in these latest updates, I believe it's purely random shuffles to get more people over to their PPC ads.

For sure, I have currently 12 websites and I'm creating more, but 5 got hit and, if I can recover, i'm will be happy.

 

[Psh]

For sure, I have currently 12 websites and I'm creating more, but 5 got hit and, if I can recover, i'm will be happy.

Sounds good! I would honestly just leave the 5 sites that got hit there to rest, and they might get a huge boost in the next update - Just focus on the new ones

And to everyone else who got hit; I'd still renew your domain, because as I just said, they might get their rank back in a future update. Maybe in a month, maybe in a year, who knows.

 

[bahus]

Mate, I don't think anything at this time, but me (and other users) tried everything. Change content, change website theme, update wordpress, change sitemap plugin, add manually post to index, everything, and nothing it seems to fix this issue.

Not sure about that, all I recall from this thread is people keeping reindexing their posts, no one shared their experience with changing content, in fact, they killed that idea right from the start saying their content is the best. At least we know that bulkaddurl works well as the posts are indexed fast, the fact that they are deindexed a few days later is another story. And changing a website theme, update WordPress, change sitemap plugin has nothing to do with it.