Huge drop in rankings for specific keywords

[trees426]

Hello BHW!

I have been building guest post and niche edit links that I've purchased here and used exact match anchors for the keywords I want to rank for.

I always make sure the websites have more than 1k/mo traffic (usually a lot higher, I've paid $100-$150ea for most of the links) and are related to my niche.

It's been working pretty well until this week.

I just got an update from Ahrefs that I dropped 30-60+ in rankings for multiple keywords that I was "exact match anchor" link building on.

And it happened to multiple pages. The pages kept their rankings for all of the other keywords that they started ranking for during the link-building process, just not the keyword I used the exact match in the anchors.

I'm unsure of what to make of it, how to fix it, or how to change my strategy moving forward.

Perhaps someone will have some insight; otherwise, I just wanted to let you guys know what happened so it doesn't happen to you!

 

[DeadJoe]

Hello BHW!

I have been building guest post and niche edit links that I've purchased here and used exact match anchors for the keywords I want to rank for.

I always make sure the websites have more than 1k/mo traffic (usually a lot higher, I've paid $100-$150ea for most of the links) and are related to my niche.

It's been working pretty well until this week.

I just got an update from Ahrefs that I dropped 30-60+ in rankings for multiple keywords that I was "exact match anchor" link building on.

And it happened to multiple pages. The pages kept their rankings for all of the other keywords that they started ranking for during the link-building process, just not the keyword I used the exact match in the anchors.

I'm unsure of what to make of it, how to fix it, or how to change my strategy moving forward.

Perhaps someone will have some insight; otherwise, I just wanted to let you guys know what happened so it doesn't happen to you!

You used exact match anchors ... unless you already had a ton of other links going to your existing pages, building exact match is why you are fucked. Ask the sellers if they can edit the anchor text and set it to something more natural.

 

[trees426]

You used exact match anchors ... unless you already had a ton of other links going to your existing pages, building exact match is why you are fucked. Ask the sellers if they can edit the anchor text and set it to something more natural.

i will do that, lesson learned!

 

[PHPInjected]

i will do that, lesson learned!

Moving forward, ensure that you vary your anchor text.
Exact match anchors should be the least amount used. Naked URL anchors, branded anchors, these should be more heavily used that exact match.

 

[HenryObi]

Hello BHW!

I have been building guest post and niche edit links that I've purchased here and used exact match anchors for the keywords I want to rank for.

I always make sure the websites have more than 1k/mo traffic (usually a lot higher, I've paid $100-$150ea for most of the links) and are related to my niche.

It's been working pretty well until this week.

I just got an update from Ahrefs that I dropped 30-60+ in rankings for multiple keywords that I was "exact match anchor" link building on.

And it happened to multiple pages. The pages kept their rankings for all of the other keywords that they started ranking for during the link-building process, just not the keyword I used the exact match in the anchors.

I'm unsure of what to make of it, how to fix it, or how to change my strategy moving forward.

Perhaps someone will have some insight; otherwise, I just wanted to let you guys know what happened so it doesn't happen to you!

The drop doesn't seem like it was as a result of content or just a more powerful site outranking you. Try diversify your anchor texts a bit so as to not look spammy. Lots of exact match anchor is never good.

 

[Webbers UX]

I know niche edits and guest posts are a good asset to rank well and to be stable but at one point you need to add some diversity/natural links using Generic and Brand Name keywords! That's important.

 

[Titans]

You need to diversify your anchor text with more brand, naked, generic and long tail anchors. Don't over do with the exact match anchors and it will affect the rankings for sure.

 

[judealex]

The drop doesn't seem like it was as a result of content or just a more powerful site outranking you. Try diversify your anchor texts a bit so as to not look spammy. Lots of exact match anchor is never good.

I suggest this diversified link profile and I doubt the same other powerful site outranked you.