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By Ryan Boog
You start to notice your website doesn’t have as much traffic as it used to. Your sales are decreasing slowly even though you’ve been hectically trying everything you can.
Then, you Google your main keywords and BOOM you aren’t on top of Google anymore. This leaves you to wonder… what the heck happened? I have disappeared from Google.
People come to us with this question all of the time. There are a variety of factors that could be causing this. Sometimes it is just one small issue, other times it is many of them bundled up together. I’ve produced a list of questions you should ask yourself when you’ve encountered a drop in Google rankings.
Your site could be penalized for using bad tactics. (See Disavow Doesn't Always Work: A Case Study) We see this happen a lot. A business will hire someone to do their SEO. Then, business will spike for a while because they are using spammy strategies. Google will eventually catch on to any poor tactics and plummet your site. It can be very hard to get out of penalties. No one can predict Google.
SEO professionals have the experience and the knowledge to help your website get back on track. Just don’t think anything will be a quick fix. It may take a couple of months to iron things out.
For more information on website penalties, read this article from the Unofficial Webmaster Help.
Your competition may be doing things you aren’t and outperforming you online. That means more profit for them. And sometimes, you just can’t fight it. They could be multi-billion dollar companies or just ones with really aggressive marketing budgets. The first thing you should do is set a marketing budget and develop a plan. Another part of your technique should be to find the keyword loopholes that your competition hasn’t utilized.
For example, if your competitor is targeting “affordable” garage door repair, you could try ranking for “expert” garage door repair.
Find the area where your competition isn't, and exploit it.
This is a super common issue that business owners encounter. Usually, a person reads a couple of blogs and thinks they are capable of doing SEO. They are wrong and only making matters worse. An SEO specialist is a full-time job.
Some SEO tasks include:
Make sure to have a seasoned professional handle your SEO, whether it is in-house or you hire an agency. SEO can do wonders for your online marketing strategy when done right.
Believe it or not, the best content is not the content laid richly with keywords. It is the content that is shared. What makes it shareable? It’s quality, new information, written for the user rather than Google. In order to get shared on social media or linked to on another website, you need to make it something they want to use, naturally.
You should take your website design seriously. Not only do you have to create that stellar first impression, you have to visually guide them into making a decision that affects your business. Whether you want users to fill out a form, download an e-book or call you, your design is crucial for impressions and business conversions.
Still have questions?