Slow Decline in Website Rankings Over 5 Years

Hey BHW folks!

Reaching out to the collective mind here to figure out what’s going on with one particular case.

The patient:
- Domain and site are 8 years old
- Actively promoted over time with backlinks of various quality, including strong PBNs and guest posts – on par with competitors
- High-quality content, optimized for target keywords – again, comparable to competitors
- Solid site structure, all the right pages for the niche are there
- Clean, fast UI/UX – everything optimized
- Has branded searches, a stable audience, returning users, and direct traffic
- No errors in GSC, no issues on the site
- Anchor profile also looks natural and competitive

Symptoms:
- Over the past 4 years, rankings have been slowly declining. Every core update brings a sharper drop. In total, traffic is down 5x.
- Most keywords are now ranked 20+. Former top 5 keywords dropped to 20+, and former top 10 are now around 30+
- Even major content changes don’t seem to help much – rankings still float in that 20–30 range
- Buying very strong backlinks hasn’t made any visible difference

It looks like some kind of long-term degradation is happening. Meanwhile, competitors are growing steadily – even brand-new sites.
What’s most frustrating is that even big changes to the content don’t move the needle much.

Feels like there’s some sort of filter or a ranking ceiling on the site.

One possible solution I’m considering is migrating the site to a new domain with a 301 redirect and moving over all the content.

What do you guys think? What could be causing this kind of decline? Any ideas for fixing it?

you mentioned slow but steady decline after each update. But did you attempt to fix what each update penalized? Building strong links is not always the solution, sometimes you need to update the content (which you did but didn't work, so this doesn't seem to be the issue), sometimes it's the orphaned pages (which you need to delete if they don't perform), sometimes it's the internal links, etc...

And speaking of internal links, try to point some of them using exact match anchors to the pages that lost rankings. It might help bring some of them back....

Also, what's your site's authority vs your competitors? I know that you said that even fresh sites outrank you, but I'm still curious....

And what about the EEAT crap? If you're in YMYL niche EEAT will probably be needed.... How good is your competitors EEAT vs yours? Check and try to match / surpass (I have a feeling that the EEAT is not the problem, but I mentioned it as a last resort)

RoyRoyan said:

Feels like there’s some sort of filter or a ranking ceiling on the site.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't be surprised if google's doing this to push you into buying their ads, they sometimes do this to successful sites...

RoyRoyan said:

One possible solution I’m considering is migrating the site to a new domain with a 301 redirect and moving over all the content.

Click to expand...

this might work, and I'd like to see the results to be honest....

Thanks for the detailed reply!

tazarbm said:

you mentioned slow but steady decline after each update. But did you attempt to fix what each update penalized?

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The decline has been going on for all 5 years. After each update, there was a sharp drop, then the slow decline just continued at the same pace. Yes, after the updates I made adjustments to both content and backlinks. I’ve been tracking update data closely.

The site isn’t YMYL. And all the EEAT-related pages are pretty much the same as my competitors’. Everyone’s DR/DA is in the 40–60 range, just like mine.

tazarbm said:

I wouldn't be surprised if google's doing this to push you into buying their ads, they sometimes do this to successful sites...

Click to expand...

As for the theory about paid ads—honestly, sounds more like a conspiracy theory to me

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But I do have one observation and a hypothesis.

The thing is, my site fits into two categories of keywords. About 4–5 years ago, Google seemed to treat them as synonyms—the same SERP results, just different rankings. But that changed over time.

When I said the rankings were slowly dropping all these years, I was talking specifically about the second keyword group. The first one stayed stable the whole time.

Any attempts I made to optimize for the second group—buying backlinks, optimizing anchors and text—had zero impact.

So my guess is: Google split those two keyword groups and now ranks me only for the first group, while mostly ignoring the second one.

Ever seen anything like that?

I checked the SERP snapshots for the main keywords from both groups from back in 2020–2021. Around 70% of the sites overlapped back then. Now it’s barely 10%. So yeah, it really looks like Google has completely stopped ranking my site for one of the keyword groups, even though the content was specifically optimized for it. Meanwhile, it permanently locked in other sites for that group of keywords.

Just for context, the two keyword groups basically mean the same thing. The only difference is that for one group, Google shows mostly mobile apps in the results, and for the other—it shows SaaS products.

What was average daily views earlier and what is it now? What type of websites have replaced you in search engines?

RoyRoyan said:

As for the theory about paid ads—honestly, sounds more like a conspiracy theory to me

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why? Do you trust google so much?

But yeah, let's hope it's just that

RoyRoyan said:

When I said the rankings were slowly dropping all these years, I was talking specifically about the second keyword group. The first one stayed stable the whole time.

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oh, so duplication / cannibalization issues then...

In this case you can probably sprinkle the second group of keywords into the content of the 1st group (the one that still ranks) and then delete the pages of the non-performing group

RoyRoyan said:

Any attempts I made to optimize for the second group—buying backlinks, optimizing anchors and text—had zero impact.

Click to expand...

I'm not surprised after what you've just said

RoyRoyan said:

So my guess is: Google split those two keyword groups and now ranks me only for the first group, while mostly ignoring the second one.

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yeah, this is probably the problem...

RoyRoyan said:

Ever seen anything like that?

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not on my own sites (I've sold them before keyword cannibalization became a thing), but other people's sites do go through this...

Also, since it does look like cannibalization you might also fix the issue by adding cannonical tag to the top ranked pages. I don't know what the effect will be (in terms of rankings) for the 2nd group of keywords, but cannonicalizing is welcome in situations like yours, so I think you should add that tag.

Have you tried finding new keywords and adding new pages? If yes, what's the effects on the new pages in serp?

k2h2 said:

What type of websites have replaced you in search engines?

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Same type of sites. Same niche. But Google seems to have classified my site under a completely different keyword group—one that doesn’t actually match the content and backlinks it was optimized for.

tazarbm said:

oh, so duplication / cannibalization issues then...

Click to expand...

And the thing is, we’re talking about a single main page here The page itself hasn’t changed at all.

To make it easier to visualize: imagine a small shop that sells both fruits and vegetables. For a long time, it ranked well for both “fruits” and “vegetables.” The page is optimized more for “fruits,” but still mentions both.

Then one day, Google shifts things around. Now the site still ranks for “vegetables,” but completely dropped for “fruits.” Even though the content and backlinks are focused on “fruits.” Meanwhile, competitors (same kind of shop) are ranking for “fruits” but not “vegetables.”

So Google decided—regardless of the actual content and anchor text—that this site is about “vegetables,” not “fruits.”

At this point, I’m thinking the only real move is to start fresh on a new domain, optimize it strictly for “fruits,” and leave out anything about “vegetables.” Even though to an actual user, they’re basically the same thing.

That’s the case I’m dealing with.

alternatesword said:

Have you tried finding new keywords and adding new pages? If yes, what's the effects on the new pages in serp?

Click to expand...

Yeah, all the optimization efforts were focused on just ONE main page, since from a user perspective, both keyword groups mean the same thing. But yeah, I think splitting them into separate pages is actually a solid idea. Haven’t tried that approach yet.

RoyRoyan said:

Yeah, all the optimization efforts were focused on just ONE main page, since from a user perspective, both keyword groups mean the same thing. But yeah, I think splitting them into separate pages is actually a solid idea. Haven’t tried that approach yet.

Click to expand...

Consider a subdomain for this.

A slow decline like that usually points to evolving algorithm changes, increased competition, or outdated SEO practices.

Have you recently audited your backlink profile and on-page structure? Sometimes small technical or content issues add up over time. Tools like Ahrefs or Screaming Frog can help spot hidden problems.

RoyRoyan said:

To make it easier to visualize: imagine a small shop that sells both fruits and vegetables. For a long time, it ranked well for both “fruits” and “vegetables.” The page is optimized more for “fruits,” but still mentions both.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure whether you just wanted to give an example, or the example is accurate, but fruits and veggies are not synonyms. And you said in your OP that you've targeted 2 groups of keywords that are synonyms. So which one is it?

If they're synonyms, the cannibalization is justified and most likely the reason for your site's downfall. Although... this shouldn't be happening over 5 years, so something else might be at play here...

Also, just curious: how much search volume do the 2 keyword groups have? Because since you're already ranking up top for group 1 and it has more search volume you shouldn't be bothered by group 2 dropping. Just make different page for that group, or add cannonical tag to page 1

RoyRoyan said:

Even though to an actual user, they’re basically the same thing.

Click to expand...

actually, no. Fruits and veggies are not the same thing.... well, apart from the tomato, that sneaky fruit continues to be called vegetable

But that's not the point....

If the fruits and veggies example is accurate / illustrative then these 2 keywords don't mean the same thing, so they should indeed have their own page.

Anyway, your situation is pretty confusing at this point. If you're OK with it you can DM me your site and some relevant screenshots so I can check it, and I might be able to figure out what the problem is....

Also, congrats on becoming blue! Just don't feel blue, if you know what I mean

RoyRoyan said:

Same type of sites. Same niche. But Google seems to have classified my site under a completely different keyword group—one that doesn’t actually match the content and backlinks it was optimized for.

And the thing is, we’re talking about a single main page here The page itself hasn’t changed at all.

To make it easier to visualize: imagine a small shop that sells both fruits and vegetables. For a long time, it ranked well for both “fruits” and “vegetables.” The page is optimized more for “fruits,” but still mentions both.

Then one day, Google shifts things around. Now the site still ranks for “vegetables,” but completely dropped for “fruits.” Even though the content and backlinks are focused on “fruits.” Meanwhile, competitors (same kind of shop) are ranking for “fruits” but not “vegetables.”

So Google decided—regardless of the actual content and anchor text—that this site is about “vegetables,” not “fruits.”

At this point, I’m thinking the only real move is to start fresh on a new domain, optimize it strictly for “fruits,” and leave out anything about “vegetables.” Even though to an actual user, they’re basically the same thing.

That’s the case I’m dealing with.

Yeah, all the optimization efforts were focused on just ONE main page, since from a user perspective, both keyword groups mean the same thing. But yeah, I think splitting them into separate pages is actually a solid idea. Haven’t tried that approach yet.

Click to expand...

It seems your page is over optimized for that one group; over optimization kills ranking. Just leave that page as it is and create a new page for the non-ranking group.