What to do when SEO rank drops? A drop in SEO ranking is frustrating, especially for those in digital marketing.
So, what to do when SEO rank drops? Is there any way to recover?
A drop in SEO ranking is frustrating, especially for those working in digital marketing in the Philippines and independent website owners. SEO rank drops happen a lot during major Google core updates. Should you worry? Yes, mainly if your business solely depends on your website for a living. Believe it or not, major Google core updates can cause several people to lose their jobs.
Last year, in September 2023, Google started rolling out the Helpful Content Update (HCU) to combat spammy content due to the influx of AI content-generating tools. This was followed by the March 2024 core update. Suppose you’re on X Twitter and Reddit. In that case, you can read statements from several business owners that their websites have been completely wiped out or deindexed by the HCU 2023 and March 2024 core updates despite delivering high-quality and helpful content and not doing a spammy digital marketing strategy. This has forced them to do rounds of layoffs.
Common Causes of SEO Rank Drops
Before we move on to the steps on what to do when SEO rank drops, let’s find out why this happens. Here are some of its common causes:
Not Meeting Google’s Quality Content Standards
Google’s quality content standards often change. Today, Google requires your content to exhibit E-E-A-T, which means Experience-Expertise-Authoritativeness-Trustworthiness. So, it isn’t enough that your content has perfect grammar and is nice to read.
Low Website Domain Authority (DA)
Before, a website could still rank even with a low DA. However, after the HCU 2023 and March 2024 core updates, it is evident that Google is now favoring and ranking websites with high DAs. That’s why the importance of digital marketing in business can’t be overstated, especially when it comes to enhancing SEO rankings and domain authority.
Getting Involved in Shady Ranking Tactics
Shady ranking tactics include link-buying, creating duplicate content, generating doorway pages and private blog networks (PBNs), keyword stuffing, over-optimizing anchor texts, and more.
Not Enough Backlinks
During the past years, Google has denied that backlinks weren’t necessary. But if you stumbled upon the recent Google Leaks, it says otherwise.
Poor Website Experience
If your website isn’t mobile-optimized, loads slowly, has poor graphics, and features hard-to-read text, it will likely experience a higher bounce rate. This signals to Google that your website should drop in search rankings.
You Have a New Website
The definition of a “new website” is unclear. However, if your previously well-ranking site drops after an update, its age might be why. In the past, a 3-month-old site could rank well by consistently creating high-quality content. Many niche site owners find it hard for even year-old websites to rank well.
There’s a New Competitor
Your website’s ranking may decline because your new competitor is more proactive in enhancing their SEO practices. One of the best marketing tips for business owners is to prioritize SEO efforts consistently to avoid losing ground.
Google Algorithm Changes
Your website may be good in the eyes of Google today, but it can suddenly turn south tomorrow, especially when Google sets new standards and rules for its search algorithm. Like the HCU 2023 and March 2024 updates, they wiped out several good websites, even if they follow EEAT.
The recent updates have left even SEO experts needing clarification. Even if you’re not in the digital marketing field, you can see that Google’s search results have declined in quality. Several old articles with outdated information rank solely due to their website age. High DA websites like Reddit and Quora also dominate search results despite lacking EEAT or helpful content.
Steps to Take If Your Search Ranking Drops
If you regularly monitor your website’s ranking, you can easily spot any drops. To check your ranking, visit Google Analytics or Google Search Console. If you notice a drop in your search ranking, try the following SEO tactics and marketing tips for business owners to recover:
Audit Your Website to Identify Issues
As mentioned earlier, Google Analytics and Google Search Console can help determine if your website has dropped in ranking. These are also great and free auditing tools that can help you identify which specific web pages are hit by the algorithm updates. But if you want premium auditing tools, try Ahrefs, Semrush, Screaming Frog, or Moz. Using any of these tools, audit your website’s broken links, loading times, duplicate content, etc.
Review and Update Your Old Content
Creating high-quality content that aligns with Google’s content standards is crucial for recovering from a ranking drop in an SEO and digital marketing strategy. Google now places significant emphasis on content that is helpful, reliable, and prioritizes user experience.
To achieve this, focus on following EEAT guidelines. Review and update your old content according to these standards. Update outdated information, expand the content to provide more depth, remove irrelevant facts, replace stock photos with original ones where possible, and include an author bio to enhance credibility.
Optimize On-Page SEO
Aside from updating your old content, optimize your website’s on-page SEO to improve your ranking. On-page SEO includes changes to your web pages’ headings and subheadings, title tags, meta descriptions, internal links, URLs, and image alt tags. By optimizing your website’s on-page SEO, you can improve its crawl rate and increase your organic search ranking over time.
Build More Quality Backlinks
Backlinks are links from other websites that point to pages on your site. For instance, if another site mentions and links to your product page, that’s considered a backlink. It’s essential to focus on building backlinks from reputable websites. When multiple sites link to yours, it signals to Google that your site is reputable and deserves higher rankings because others refer to your pages. To build backlinks, guest blog on other websites, or do broken link building and resource link building.
Improve Your Website’s User Experience (UX)
Sometimes, the issue differs from your content quality but poor user experience (UX). Outdated web design, confusing navigation, slow page speed, and inadequate mobile responsiveness can drive visitors away, leading to a higher bounce rate. This negatively impacts your SEO ranking. To fix these issues, you may need the help of a UX/UI designer, a web developer, and an SEO specialist.
Increase Social Signals
If your business isn’t active on social media, now is the ideal moment to start leveraging it. Enhancing your website’s social signals tells Google your site is relevant and actively engaged with its audience. By consistently sharing informative and engaging content, interacting with followers, and encouraging social sharing, you can strengthen your online presence and potentially improve your site’s visibility and authority in search engine rankings.
Diversify Web Traffic Sources
In the past, many focused on tactics to drive traffic from Google. However, relying solely on Google can risk being perceived as spam or gaming the system. To prevent this, diversify your web traffic sources. Embrace social media marketing and leverage online directories and listings to broaden your audience reach and reduce dependency on a single traffic channel like Google. When Google observes that your traffic comes from various sources, it perceives your website as more authoritative and trustworthy, thereby increasing your website’s ranking. Furthermore, diversifying your web traffic sources can safeguard your business from financial losses and help prevent the need for large-scale layoffs.
How to Prevent Future SEO Ranking Drops
Now that you’ve learned what to do when SEO rank drops, you should also implement preventive measures. While nobody can predict what will be in the next Google core updates, you can minimize the negative impact on your business website by doing the following:
Publish content regularly
If your business website needs a blog, news section, or resource guide, create one now to prevent your website ranking from dropping. Google favors websites that regularly update with fresh content, which can help improve your search engine rankings. You don’t need to publish daily blog posts or news content unless you run a media or news website. Aim to publish 2-4 blog posts monthly for a balanced and consistent content strategy.
Do Content Refreshes
Content refresh involves updating or editing your older content to keep it relevant and accurate. If your blog posts are over a year old, review and update them. This process includes adding new keywords, checking for spelling and grammar errors, replacing outdated statistics, and inserting new internal links. Additionally, consider adding fresh infographics and videos to enhance the content.
Create Different Content Types for Your Website
Like on social media, where content preferences have evolved from single static posts to multi-photo carousels and short-form videos, the same can happen with your website. Search engines and users may shift their content preferences over time. Therefore, don’t limit your blog to plain text. Incorporate infographics, videos, and podcasts to keep your content engaging and relevant.
Always Optimize Your Content for Relevant Keywords
Many bloggers and website content creators have expressed that if they were starting over, they would prioritize keyword research. While Google aims to rank content designed for people first, it still relies on scanning your web pages for relevant keywords. By performing thorough keyword research, you can help ensure that your site remains stable and doesn’t experience dramatic drops in rankings, even during core updates.
Build More Backlinks
Continue building quality backlinks to your website to improve your rankings. More backlinks contribute to higher search engine rankings. Even if a new Google core update is released, a strong backlink profile will help ensure your website remains visible and maintains its position.
Perform Regular Website Audits
Regular website audits are essential for detecting potential issues that could cause a drop in your rankings, allowing you to implement SEO and digital marketing solutions for business early. Conduct comprehensive audits regularly, focusing on your ranking performance, user experience, technical SEO, content and on-page SEO, and backlinks.
Need Help to Diversify Your Traffic?
If you’re worried about what to do when SEO rank drops, simply implement all the abovementioned tips. As you may already know, one of the best ways to prevent a drop in search rankings is to diversify your traffic sources, and social media is a crucial component. By including social media in your SEO and digital marketing strategy, you can improve your search ranking on Google, enhance your online presence, reach a broader audience, and potentially increase your sales and conversions.
If you’re looking for help with social media marketing, contact Eight Media. We specialize in managing your business’s social media accounts, creating engaging visual content, and running effective digital ads. Our team are experts in digital marketing in the Philippines who are dedicated to taking your business to new heights. Ready to schedule your free consultation with us today? Reach out now!