Reduced numbers in SERP Results

[Ramsweb]

Hello all

I have been tracking my site very closely after it dropped ranking pretty badly. I noticed that there were 2.2 million results just 10 days ago for the keyword but now it is showing just 1.90 Million results. I was ranking 8 before but I am now at 62 with the reduced results

I just checked a couple of days later and it was up to 1.97 Million results. Why are these numbers fluctuating so much. They were pretty stable before. Also, when the results got reduced, some pretty clean sites do not even show up in the results anymore when they were as high as 15 before. I ran checks and they are all indexed.

What is going on here? Is this some sort of an update and will Google come back with the old 2.2 Million results that were showing just 10 days ago. Also, my site has affiliate links to one of the sites that got excluded from the 2.2 million results although they are clean and very well optimized.

I am hoping that this is just some sort of update and that my site will gain back its original ranking when the SERP results increase and come back to normal.

Anybody have any thoughts, please let me know as it is really making me worry.

 

[Bartholomew]

google has been ill for about two weeks already

 

[ljt3759]

I would be worried however, google do most things on purpose perhaps they were testing some new way of ranking?

 

[Ramsweb]

I would be worried however, google do most things on purpose perhaps they were testing some new way of ranking?

Yeah, I initially thought it was just a dance but then started noticing the reduced numbers in SERP results and am really worried now.

 

[ljt3759]

If its still the same in two weeks worry, meanwhile i would think about some new keywords. lol

 

[Ramsweb]

hmmm..not sure what the lol was for but I am targetting other keywords too. This is however my main keyword and would hate to lose the top 10 spot for it.

 

[aftershock2020]

I would be worried however, google do most things on purpose perhaps they were testing some new way of ranking?

Well, keep in mind that it can be the usual song and dance bit of google testing but that wouldn't explain the drastic drop in search results. However, if the niche is a saturated, infected or dead market, you are going to tank, as the people simply aren't looking for your site and aren't checking you out anymore. Time to move on to new keywords and test your content.

Is your site a real site or is it just a cpa/adwords stuffed page? That makes a HUGE difference since google's latest changes in the last couple of months. They are targeting onpage content as a real authority factor, now more than ever.

 

[Ramsweb]

Well, keep in mind that it can be the usual song and dance bit of google testing but that wouldn't explain the drastic drop in search results. However, if the niche is a saturated, infected or dead market, you are going to tank, as the people simply aren't looking for your site and aren't checking you out anymore. Time to move on to new keywords and test your content.

Is your site a real site or is it just a cpa/adwords stuffed page? That makes a HUGE difference since google's latest changes in the last couple of months. They are targeting onpage content as a real authority factor, now more than ever.

My site has 5 pages that offer a medium level of information. They are of course designed to encourage the click to the paid product page for which I am the affiliate, but they are in no way keyword stuffed. The keyword density is just 1.3% in my site. I had only recently climbed to the top 10 and was there for just about a week when the SERP results started showing reduced numbers. They went from 2.2 Million to 1.9 Million to 1.94 Million but it is back up to 1.97 Million now which makes me hope that it is just a temporary thing.

 

[aftershock2020]

My site has 5 pages that offer a medium level of information. They are of course designed to encourage the click to the paid product page for which I am the affiliate, but they are in no way keyword stuffed. The keyword density is just 1.3% in my site. I had only recently climbed to the top 10 and was there for just about a week when the SERP results started showing reduced numbers. They went from 2.2 Million to 1.9 Million to 1.94 Million but it is back up to 1.97 Million now which makes me hope that it is just a temporary thing.

Good to hear that you aren't doing that, not that I made any assumptions, just asking for sake of covering the bases.

As for the volume of search...that keyword just may be a dead horse. Do a search for related keyword search results and expand your keyword list to reach more of the associated like words and phrase. The number 1 mistake that people make is locking down too tight in their micro niche market to the point that they choke off all of their potential traffic resources.

My websites as a standard practice all have at least 20+ keywords in them, however, they are spread through the site as targeted content relevance would require. Don't stuff them into one page, or you'll get busted for stuffing in the end anyway, even if you aren't.

Expand your market search.

 

[Bartholomew]

Offtopic somehow related to this thread
I have a site
I'm on the first page for "buy [name of pill] xx mg "
I'm on the first page for "[name of pill]" as well
I'm nowhere for "[name of pill] xx mg", even "[name of pill] xx mg" site:.mysite.com returns 0 results. Two weeks ago I used to be on the first page for this keyword, and deep down for the two former ones.

Could anyone enlighten me what's happening?

 

[seorebel]

It's the Google Mayday update.. Here are some links on the subject:

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/whiteboard-friday-googles-may-day-update-what-it-means-for-you

http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/022128.html

http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4125460.htm

http://www.netchunks.com/news/internet-news/google-mayday-update-leaves-webmasters-in-a-frenzy/

 

[ipopbb]

Yeah, I initially thought it was just a dance but then started noticing the reduced numbers in SERP results and am really worried now.

The best theory I've heard to date is that google is stirring the pot to force more business to spend on adwords instead of getting search traffic for free organically.

 

[aftershock2020]

Offtopic somehow related to this thread
I have a site
I'm on the first page for "buy [name of pill] xx mg "
I'm on the first page for "[name of pill]" as well
I'm nowhere for "[name of pill] xx mg", even "[name of pill] xx mg" site:.mysite.com returns 0 results. Two weeks ago I used to be on the first page for this keyword, and deep down for the two former ones.

Could anyone enlighten me what's happening?

The " site: " prefix is for searching access points for pages within your site that are recognized by google. You may not have anything listed. if your site is less than 3 months old or hasn't had an proper seo done to it, you may not have had any crawls.

Another couple of factors that play into that:

Sitemaps, visitors not going past the first page/clicking into other pages within the site, de-indexing by google of your site.

Might want to check if it is blacklisted, as google has been having a whole lot of fun lately with de-indexing subpages but leaving the legitimate, well working pages up.

They are being sneaky as of late, trying to shake things up.

 

[kurkapan]

my niche got shrinked 3 times. there were 15 million results now they are 3-4 millions

 

[Vance]

Yeah, this has been happening for sometime now, you can do much except invest in adwords or target new keywords (been doing the latter more fiercely nowadays).

@ipopbb I've heard a lot of rumours on that too but I REALLY hope it's not true.

 

[Chronos]

I would go into Google Analytics, throw some analytics up, and use the "Google suggestion tool".

If it says your site is alright, then you're probably getting the dance around and/or don't have enough backlinks to be consistent with top results.

 

[Sky Knight]

Have you made a change to your site ? a little bit of change can cause temporary dramatic drop. Also keep building link until next cached and see that your site is back to page 1 or not.

 

[Ramsweb]

Have you made a change to your site ? a little bit of change can cause temporary dramatic drop. Also keep building link until next cached and see that your site is back to page 1 or not.

This is true. I did make a small change where I put a banner promoting an affiliate link at the top of every page. However, all my pages have only from 2-5 affiliate links in them, including the banners.

Could Google really penalize me this much for just adding one link?

 

[Ramsweb]

I would go into Google Analytics, throw some analytics up, and use the "Google suggestion tool".

If it says your site is alright, then you're probably getting the dance around and/or don't have enough backlinks to be consistent with top results.

I do everything I can to avoid Google services and will definitely not be using their analytics. I have very good quality backlinks when compared to the competition. I have about a 100 Ezine articles pointing to pages on my site. I have very relevant blog comments. I have recently started some profile backlinking as well. So, I would say that backlinks are probably not the reason. It could be the May Day Update and just Google jerking everyone around.

 

[Bartholomew]

The " site: " prefix is for searching access points for pages within your site that are recognized by google. You may not have anything listed. if your site is less than 3 months old or hasn't had an proper seo done to it, you may not have had any crawls.

Tried it. All the pages that were indexed before May update are still indexed atm. The page for that particular pill is on the first page for several keywords, even quite popular ones.
It looks like google deindexed just one keyword: "[pill name] xx mg".
Maybe it's coincidence, but I recently added on every product page the following text: "<SAMP>[page pill name] xx mg</SAMP>, <SAMP>[page pill name] yy mg</SAMP>, <SAMP>[page pill name] zz mg</SAMP> are available in the shop". Maybe google thought that I overspammed the keyword. But why the key "buy [pill name] xx mg" went up on the first page then..?