Big members here may have seen various threads I started about one of my biggest properties which really took a hit in 2010 shortly after a redesign, which included problems like 404s, url changes needed and 301s implemented, duplicate content caused by directory/archive style pages, etc..
But I think I know the biggest problem which killed my site...
BEFORE Aug 2010: I was #2 in 160,000,000
Before the redesign, the site was quite small - less than 100 pages. I ranked #2 for a 160,000,000 comp keyword phrase, #1 for my main keyword phrase targeted on homepage, and I also had many many #1 and top 3 rankings for other important money keywords.
I was building links to most of the pages, and it was a small enough number of pages, so I could do manual link building.
AFTER Aug 2010: Dropped to page 2, then almost every month dropped more until now I'm #192
So how did my site crash so low? Well in retrospect I should have worked with better developers, so i wouldn't have to 301 old pages to new urls and fix a ton of duplicate archive pages and 404 errors. BUT i think the straw that broke the camel's back was all the new content I added!
How My 'Great Idea' Destroyed My Rankings
When I relaunched the site, I started adding a lot of longtail content, plus tutorials to help my visitors with many topics related to the products I'm pushing to sell on the site. I wanted to be more helpful. That's great, except I continued to ONLY build links to the same pages I had been when the site was small.
So my link profile changed from natural-looking to very spammy and in favor of only a few pages on my site with hundreds of pages. So, I scaled up my site by adding tons of new content - much of it very useful and quality, BUT i never scaled up the link profile to match.
My site used to have links to 80% of the pages on it, and now it has links to less than 10%, I think.
Since last week, I started work on linking to more pages of my site. I'm also trying to increase time on site and lower bounce rate by adding more engaging elements to pages that are currently just articles... Even if they're helpful, they are not entertaining enough to keep the user on my site long.... so all this 'helpful' content and longtails I have added, plus my lack of link building to all those pages, has killed my site.
Do you agree? I'm in the dark here - Any comments?
But I think I know the biggest problem which killed my site...
BEFORE Aug 2010: I was #2 in 160,000,000
Before the redesign, the site was quite small - less than 100 pages. I ranked #2 for a 160,000,000 comp keyword phrase, #1 for my main keyword phrase targeted on homepage, and I also had many many #1 and top 3 rankings for other important money keywords.
I was building links to most of the pages, and it was a small enough number of pages, so I could do manual link building.
AFTER Aug 2010: Dropped to page 2, then almost every month dropped more until now I'm #192
So how did my site crash so low? Well in retrospect I should have worked with better developers, so i wouldn't have to 301 old pages to new urls and fix a ton of duplicate archive pages and 404 errors. BUT i think the straw that broke the camel's back was all the new content I added!
How My 'Great Idea' Destroyed My Rankings
When I relaunched the site, I started adding a lot of longtail content, plus tutorials to help my visitors with many topics related to the products I'm pushing to sell on the site. I wanted to be more helpful. That's great, except I continued to ONLY build links to the same pages I had been when the site was small.
So my link profile changed from natural-looking to very spammy and in favor of only a few pages on my site with hundreds of pages. So, I scaled up my site by adding tons of new content - much of it very useful and quality, BUT i never scaled up the link profile to match.
My site used to have links to 80% of the pages on it, and now it has links to less than 10%, I think.
Since last week, I started work on linking to more pages of my site. I'm also trying to increase time on site and lower bounce rate by adding more engaging elements to pages that are currently just articles... Even if they're helpful, they are not entertaining enough to keep the user on my site long.... so all this 'helpful' content and longtails I have added, plus my lack of link building to all those pages, has killed my site.
Do you agree? I'm in the dark here - Any comments?