Can't figure this ranking out..
-
Hi,
This is puzzling me. I've been in the second/third position for a week or so for my best keyword. That is for Google US unpersonalized, which is the one that brings more traffic, as far as I understand.
It can't get MUCH better. Well, I can be first, but second and third position is really awesome in my case (highly competitive keyword according to SEOMOZ PRO).
Then, why on earth my traffic for that keyword was 8 times better a year ago??
I mean, a year ago I received an average of 800 visits per day and now I can barely reach 90 visits per day being in the second / third place. Visits can't increase from 90 to 800 just for increasing one spot.
I've never seen in my stats such drop in my rankings. I thought that due to google updates my site was sent below the 20th position or something. But my I was shocked today when I saw that I still have the second/third position
Am I crazy or this looks wrong? The page title and description that shows in google hasn't changed, so people looking for that keyword are seeing the same as one year ago. It is not a seasonal or time sensitive keyword.
My best guess is that people are now always logged in and results are personalized. Don't know much about personalized results but I don't think you can optimize much for those. If that's the case, then how on earth can we optimize a page if everybody is using personalized results?
Is there a way to improve your rankings in those cases?
Thanks,
Enrique
-
I agree with Ryan. Without being more specific it's impossible to tell what is going on. It could be any number of things. One thing you could do is look at GA for your top pages, then look at what keywords are bringing people to those pages. If a large majority is "not given" you may be able to guess what some of those words are if that makes sense.
-
If you can share the actual keyword and your site name, we could offer better details. Without that information, we are left to generalities. A few things to consider:
-
Google now considers searches by those logged in as private. A chunk of searches for your site no longer show for the keyword involved.
-
While I love the SEOmoz toolset, a rating of "highly competitive" has little meaning. There is not a meaningful way to rate competitiveness without an experienced SEO examining the rankings and factors involved.
-
Any change in rankings (from 2 to 3 for example) would certainly impact traffic
-
The ads can change and impact traffic
-
Your competitors might be using more compelling titles or meta descriptions (i.e. Free Shipping or 25% off)
-
keyword volumes can fluctuate wildly throughout the year. For example "gift basket" searches are much higher before mother's day, then the term drops
-
Many keywords fall out of favor as they are replaced by other keywords over time. A singer/actor's popular can fluctuate wildly from year to year. Interest in various topics can change wildly
-
Google has made hundreds of changes over the past year which impacts search results. One example is the increased importance of local search. You may rank #2 in organic search, but the way the search results are displayed you might not even show as above the fold. There could be 3 ads, then the first organic result, then 7 local results, then your second place organic position.
There are other factors as well. You can continue to apply SEO best practices to improve your ranking over time.
-
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Is Google's Knowledge Graph stealing sessions from the organic channel?
Does Google count it as an organic session in Google Analytics when a searcher clicks on the "get directions", "call" or even "website" from Google's Knowledge Graph. Are the articles that prove or disprove this question? Thanks!
Reporting & Analytics | | SearchOpt0 -
Can you track two Google Analytics Accounts on one site?
If you have a site that had an old analytics account and then implemented a new one is it possible to run tracking code that records to both accounts without causing your site or data issues? We are doing this so we don't loose data at any point - ideally it wouldn't have been split between the two but making one redundant isn't an option. Ideally we would have merged the data from both accounts and had one - however the research we have done points to this not being a possibility - unless one of you guys knows different? It would be great if anyone has experience on any this.. Thanks
Reporting & Analytics | | ChrisAllbones0 -
Image ranking plummet help
Hi Moz Community, I need help understanding why my site is dropping rankings and traffic significantly. We were hit the hardest with doing a image query filter ~6/2-6/3 (image attached). We also had a site migration on this exact date, but didn't change URL structure or domain names, just switched hosting sites. I'm assuming this plummet is from the migration, but can't figure out why. I may also not be understanding this filter clearly so let me know. Shoot any questions my way that could help your understanding of the problem be more clear. Thanks,
Reporting & Analytics | | IceIcebaby
-Reed yVzQRTK0 -
Why would a website rank lower than weaker site?
Hi, Today I noticed that my website is ranking one place lower than a competitor in Google UK ,despite my site having a stronger domain authority and page authority. Is there a plausible reason for this, i'm slightly confused? Thanks,
Reporting & Analytics | | Benjamin3790 -
Ranking Factor - Privacy Policy
Hello there, Do you think Google looks at privacy policies as a ranking factor especially when websites use analytics that record a user's entire session? Obviously a small factor like this would only have a minor impact on website performance but I am curious to know if it's actually in the algorithm.
Reporting & Analytics | | lezal0 -
How can i see queries what my visitors are searching for, in my website?
Google analytics installed, but they are not showing. What additional things should i add there? I need to see most popular search queries and add more content to these pages for panda.
Reporting & Analytics | | bele0 -
My rankings are up and down like a Yo-Yo. Any ideas why?
One of the companies that I work for sells the latest smartphones. It ranks fairly well for key terms in an extremely competitive field. Recently the rankings of one particular handset have been extremely erratic and do not follow the pattern of other products, I am wondering if anyone can offer some insight as to why this is happening? When the handset was first announced, it ranked fairly well (20th). This is good when you bare in mind that it is an ecommerce site competing with top tech sites. Prior to release, the ranking gradually declined to 33rd. I believe this may be due to reviews being publsihed (as a result of review handsets being sent out prior to release) as Google has started to favour reviews and news updates. I have seen a similar pattern with other handsets, reviews and news are favoured by Google prior to release, but once the product is available, my rankings rise and remain on the first page provided that links are still coming in. However, the rankings of this handset dropped from 27th to below 50th upon launch. The next week the ranking rose from >50th to 7th, dropped to below 50th again the following week, rose back to 9th the week after and has now dropped again to below 50th. These are by far the biggest changes in rankings I have seen on a week to week basis. The page has a strong link profile in order to achieve such a high ranking in the first place. With this being the case I have no idea why ranking can drop off so much in the space of a week? Update: I forgot to mention initially that I have the variant listed twice, one for each colour variant. All content is the same apart from the colour being altered in the appropriate places. This has not been a problem in the past, but perhaps it is due to recent changes to Google algorithm?
Reporting & Analytics | | pugh0 -
Page Rank Decline in Webmaster Tools
Hello Forum, My team and I just got through completely redoing an eCommerce website for a yoga company and I noticed that in Google Webmaster Tools our site's average daily position changed from ~25 to ~40 in the last 5-6 days (during this time period we submitted our sitemap). I exported the Webmaster Tools results and found a high number of new keywords (which weren't there pre-launch) related to yoga. However, these keywords are not related to the products we sell. Several of these keywords have positions of 240 or higher and are skewing our avg page rank. These terms include words like "cricket logo," "animal yoga," "dog pose," "cat yoga," We did move our blog into our domain name now and there are some articles related to animal poses. Any thoughts as to what may be going on? Thanks!
Reporting & Analytics | | pano0