Why Is My Website Losing Rankings?

If it's English you're welcome to message it to me and I'll have a quick look.

I don't have time to do an in-depth analysis, but I don't charge for help. I don't like consulting. I prefer my time is my own and I have enough money already. What I need is more time. :-)

Also, backlinks don't work as a quantity metric.

The more a site ranks, the more natural backlinks it will acquire which is why you'll often see backlinks spike after traffic goes up. This creates the impression that you need X numbers of backlinks to rank.

It's always quality, and all you risk doing with more backlinks is hurting your site. The only type of backlinks you should build are

1. Homepage links
2. Guest posts (Doing your own outreach)
3. Niche edits, known in the wider world as "link insertions". Most webmasters won't know what a niche edit is. (Again, do your own outreach unless you're overflowing with money)
4. Business listings
5. Business directories/niche directories.

4 and 5 are more about looking like a real brand. 2 and 3 are for sending PR and a freshness signal and 1 is for sending PR and trust(when you get homepage links that have links from strong sites, so you get a cnn links to homepage, homepage links to you. A->X->You. You are 2 hops away from the trusted source. This is actually the secret sauce in backlink building, but the hardest to get.

A guest post for example, you have cnn -> links to some page, some other page-> your site. You don't have a direct connection to it. You are diluted through 4 or 5 internal links.

It's like me saying "I work at the same university as <world renowed professor>" vs "I work on <world renowed professor>'s team"

which would you value more?

You also do get a boost if you get more relevant links. Relevance doesn't *matter*(at the site level, there should still be a contextual connection between the content), but I have observed that getting links from strong sites in your niche has a particularly strong effect.

It's like it passes some extra metric on. It could be trust, like in the case of being close to seed sites, or it could be a relevance strengthening effect like you'd get from having more topical authority. The exact technical nature of the metric isn't important, just that it exists, and if you CAN get any sort of link from sites in, or close to your niche, it will help a lot.

But think of the relevance links as a booster. You still want your regular outreach. This is your bread and butter and it keeps the site looking fresh. If people stop linking to you, it's a bad sign.

You dont have a clue what your talking about and use the tone of voice as if your God himself.
As if Google will read a quadrillion webpages to compare contextual connection? Totally stupid backpackers knowledge without any form of proof.
 
You dont have a clue what your talking about and use the tone of voice as if your God himself.
As if Google will read a quadrillion webpages to compare contextual connection? Totally stupid backpackers knowledge without any form of proof.



angry-little-girl-annoyed.gif
 
I run a website in a highly competitive niche.

I made various backlinks including BH, WH, etc., but a few months ago the site went down for a few days and my site's ranking dropped significantly.
Since then, I have consistently worked on backlinks, and the number of organic kws terms has increased.

However, my site rarely reaches the top 10 rankings, and it feels like it's slowly dying.
Meanwhile, I see competitors with new domains and fewer backlinks outranking me.

Im looking for an expert who can accurately diagnose why my website is losing rankings and provide effective solutions.

*** If your goal is simply to sell backlinks or offer generic advice, please do not contact me.
*** If you can provide real, in-depth analysis and actionable strategies, I'll pay for it.

Thanks.

(brace yourself, essay coming)

Looks like the backlinks are not really the answer here. This short guide might give some insight.

You said it yourself that competitors have much less backlinks and even new sites dominate.

For new domains, this is just initial ranking stage, it will probably change so I would not worry too much. For the rest, I always suspect a hidden PBN but it is probably not the issue here.

Backlinks should be considered like a cherry on top, let's say 10% of the focus these days. Looks like it is the reverse here. (unless niche is pure spam)

No offense but seems like the other SEO aspects are neglected here. I suggest to focus on those.

Analyze (or hire someone) top competitors and see what makes their websites work. It will give you an idea of what search engine wants to rank. Content, on-page elements and even technical aspects.

You have to be self-critical here and actually deeply analyze them. Because I noticed most people just open the page, scroll up and down and say "it's worse than mine and should not be ranking". This will not do here.

Content will be most critical. What is talked about but also how. And not just the ranking pages but overall website. How the pages topically complement each other and interlink.

To put it simply: check what major facts and entities they mention and smaller ones they expand on. How they structure their sentences and paragraphs. Which topics get talked about more and which less. How sub-topics are ordered on the pages. Do they open new page for every small topic or merge them into fewer, more comprehensive ones?

In general, I find it that writing shorter, factually correct. to the point sentences with no fluff is appreciated by both users and search engines.

I also suggest to address/answer the headings right away, with the very first sentence below it. This serves user satisfaction and can also help rank for featured snippets. Then expand in follow up sentences.

For example:

Topic: Benefits of Healthy Eating For Weight Loss


Wrong:
H2:
Why Quick Diets Often Lead to Weight Gain
First sentence: Before we talk about the benefits of healthy eating, let's understand why quick diets usually don't work out well.

Right:
H2:
Why Quick Diets Often Lead to Weight Gain
First sentence: Quick diets often lead to weight gain because they slow metabolism, cause muscle loss, and create unsustainable eating habits, leading to rebound overeating.

You can apply only this "little trick" on multiple pages and observe what impact it has. It alone can do wonders sometimes.

-
 
Really?

You want that on your permanent record?

This is the internet... what you post stays forever and a day.

Plus it was a dick comment and violates @Impulse's 3 rules.

https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/the-three-commandments-of-bhw.950872/
I need to apologize for my language. It might be because im not a native speaker.
I didnt mean to be abusive. The word i should have chosen was wisdom instead of knowledge.
Sorry for this. Hope you all accept my apologies.

@tiiberius, Your post right above this one is really helpfull for everybody learning SEO. You know what i think about backlinks, but imo you are spot on about the rest!
Also the way you communicate is superb. Its not about you and you dont bragg about having 9 figure clients or that your wife doesnt have to work or that you give free advise because you are already very rich, although you are probably in this situation. Very high class!
People who do bragg the whole time are stuck in vanity and deliver seldomly.
 
Backlinks alone may not be enough to restore lost rankings – there are often underlying factors at play, especially in highly competitive fields
 
I think google penalty or technical seo issue may affect your rankings
 
Semantic SEO is working nowadays so pay attention to it.
Optimize your content for the readers.
 
Check your backlinks. I have recovered strongly

1740747421476.png
 
A drop in site rankings may be caused by algorithm updates, content issues, technical SEO, backlink issues, competitor optimization, user experience issues, or manual penalties. By gradually troubleshooting these issues and making targeted optimizations, you can recover and improve your rankings.
 
You called the person stupid... that is not a language issue, it is a polite one.
Did not. Called the knowledge stupid, not the person. Please read. Please be consistent. See your own remark in another thread.

1740755245962.png

And please have a little humour. Do you really think i appologized for using the word 'knowledge'?
 
Did not. Called the knowledge stupid, not the person. Please read. Please be consistent. See your own remark in another thread.

View attachment 425563
And please have a little humour. Do you really think i appologized for using the word 'knowledge'?
I'm not going to war with you about something so minor but this can be seen as calling out the person and not the person's knowledge:

"Totally stupid backpackers knowledge"

It can be seen as calling out the knowledge but the reports that came in indicated otherwise.

In any event, it's nothing in the realm of all the other things we have going on in our lives so why don't we just move on.
 
I'm not going to war with you about something so minor but this can be seen as calling out the person and not the person's knowledge:

"Totally stupid backpackers knowledge"

It can be seen as calling out the knowledge but the reports that came in indicated otherwise.

In any event, it's nothing in the realm of all the other things we have going on in our lives so why don't we just move on.
Lets do that.
Cheers!
 
Check GC, perhaps some errors? Try using an SEO audit service, perhaps changing up your content and re-indexing it.
 
@tiiberius, Your post right above this one is really helpfull for everybody learning SEO. You know what i think about backlinks, but imo you are spot on about the rest!
Also the way you communicate is superb. Its not about you and you dont bragg about having 9 figure clients or that your wife doesnt have to work or that you give free advise because you are already very rich, although you are probably in this situation. Very high class!
People who do bragg the whole time are stuck in vanity and deliver seldomly.

Hello @Frederik Michiel ,

Thank you for those nice words.

Of course, I know your stand on backlinks. Well, I only give backlinks around 10% importance myself, most of the focus goes to other aspects so...

 
First, check for algorithmic penalties, fix any technical SEO issues, and analyze your competitors' strategies for rankings.
 
What hosting you use? Was your website down or hacked recently because this can also cause loss of rankings.
 
This graph really not supporting your statement that the drop or rise has anything to do with backlinks.
Your backlinks were all gone for 1,5 months?
My website was affected by 2 updates in December. and some updates before that. Completely lost the brand, lost all index links on google. So I disavow, remove low quality backlinks. Build more signals right then and wait. I have a lunar new year holiday for about a week. And I just wait
 
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