Ranking Drop Inspection 

Does the anxiety of ranking drop haunt you in your dream? Don’t you know how to deal with this problem? Then quickly browse this article,  your problem will be solved!

What is the ranking drop?

Ranking drop is a common problem faced by anyone who uses the digital platform to generate leads, as an entrepreneur, content writer,  blogger, teacher, artist and so on.

It is an effect of large transformations in a website. It can be caused by loads of changes to a website. 

Ranking drop inspection is an important step to discover and solve the problems. Reduced traffic means reduced visibility.  So if you suffer from this ranking drop problem then do not waste time brooding over the reasons. You should act!

So, there are many reasons for your ranking drop. You should monitor your ranking daily to track its progress. Adopt some useful methods to analyze the reasons for your ranking drop and, then, follow some steps to increase your ranking. 

Important factors which matters in ranking 

Some important issues can severely affect your ranking. If you can analyze and fix the issues quickly you can revive your ranking. 

1. Secure and Accessible Website
2. Page Speed 
3. Mobile Friendliness
4. Domain Age, URL, and Authority
5. Optimized Content
6. Technical SEO
7. User Experience (RankBrain)
8. Links
9. Social Signals
10. Real Business Information

Steps to regain ranking and traffic 

If the unfortunate but normal issue of ranking drop starts to depress you, stop overthinking and follow some steps to regain your ranking.

• Stay cool and composed

Normally, a panic strikes you when you see ranking drop. Do not lose hope and start to check Google algorithms,  your ranking tracking system. Check the web analytics suite and Google Search Console to confirm ranking drop. Please wait, your ranking can automatically bounce back, and, if it doesn’t then you have to inspect some issues to regain your faults.

• Do not panic
• Analyze,  inspect and fix the problems 
• Use required software’s
• Ask for the help from the experts

• Is there any penalty?

There are different types of penalties that ¹can affect your ranking.  Penalties like, manual and algorithmic, can be easily tracked and sorted out. If you find that your site drops more than 10-20 positions on a multitude of keywords, this could indicate a penalty. You can check for any signs of penalty using the Baracuda Panguin Tool.

If your website uses any techniques which are not approved by Google then you will be penalized for it. Unnatural links, suspicious activities, buying links etc which breach Google guidelines.  Your ranking can be dropped for these unfair strategies. 

Another is the Google algorithm penalty. If you are not aware of the rules you should check Google’s algorithm updates. 

• Investigate technical problems 

Google fails to rank your content if there are any crawl anomalies, blocking Google bot, algorithm updates, Google  SERP updates. You first search the main issues and fix your problem. 

• Algorithm update

It is a difficult task to predict when Google will update the algorithm.  It is a complex calculation also. Your ranking can be dropped due to Google’s algorithm updates. You can use Algorithm trackers to monitor updates in Google’s algorithm. It will also provide thousands of keywords responsible for the ranking drop. 

• Problem of Backlinks 

Google’s algorithm is indeed complicated and diverse and Backlinks play a great role in it. Though link attrition is normal and Backlink tool records when a link is erased 

With that certainty, we can assume that losing backlinks hurts ranking. A strong link profile is important for a high ranking. If you have a weak link profile it can drop your ranking.  So you need a link audit. Use Backlinks analysis tools. You have to track the lost links, the reasons, time and link velocity using special software. 

• High competition 

If your competitors improve in SEO strategies then your ranking is not secure. We are living in a digital era. During the pandemic situation, the online purchase has increased from 19.5%in January 2020 to 35.2%in January 2021. So if you are not tracking the progress of your competitors then you will be in trouble. 

• Error in designing the site

In the present day, people prefer to search through mobile phones rather than laptops.  You should design your website easily available on mobile. So create mobile-friendly content. It will help in high ranking. 

• Is your site slow?

Speed is another determinant of ranking.  If your site or content takes more than 8 seconds you will surely face a ranking drop.  You can add a site audit option to your site. Your server must have adequate speed also. You can check how to enhance site speed here.

• Stale content 

Google will never rank your old, outdated content.  You have to present up to date contents for preventing ranking drop.  You can search for relevant keywords. Various keywords like long-tailed, short-tailed etc, are mentioned in Keywords Analyzer. You should not use difficult, less popular keywords.  Research keywords and add them to your content to secure your ranking. 

• Problems with website

There may be dozens of issues related to your site that can affect your ranking. You should check whether your website is 

• Crawlable
• Indexed
• Blocked 
• Related to incorrect HTTPS,  hreflang tags, canonical tags

• Related to Noindex or Nofollow tags

If you find any of the above issues appearing on the site you should fix the problem quickly. 

• Content  lacking Search Intent

A business website content must provide the customers with the intent they are searching for. There are many types of queries like, 

• Navigational 
• Informational
• Transactional
• Commercial 

If your target audience can not find the information that they search for, your impression of the site will be negative.  It will cause a ranking drop. The content should cater to the demand of the target audience.

• Is your server overloaded?

If your server is overloaded and cannot prepare for traffic surges, it can cause a ranking drop. To fix this problem you can insert a load balancer, set up a cloud hosting or you can cache the content. 

• Have you redirected your new page?

If you launch a new site or page do not forget to set up 301 redirects.  If you do not use this system then Google will penalize your new page or site as having duplicate content.

• Deliver a better page experience 

Page experience is all about a set of strong signals. They properly measure how users perceive the experience of interacting with a web page. It’s beyond the pure information value both on desktop and mobile devices. You should check and fix the loading speed irrespective of the device type. There should be a measure to improve the speed continuously and overall experience. You should consider Largest Contentful Paint, First Input Delay, and Cumulative Layout Shift. 

• Optimize internal links 

You should be more careful about internal links. You should add only important links; otherwise, you will divert your audience from the main point of discussion. You should place links strategically and ensure that all links are working finely. Check link architecture, fix broken links & eliminate duplicates, reclaim site mentions, etc., in order to rightly optimize all internal links. 

• Check your SEO monitoring tools 

It makes sense to consider changes to your website’s on-page SEO if your rankings are crucial to your business. We distinguish between technical and content changes because the former frequently impacts the entire website while the latter directly impacts impacted pages.

• Polish up your website 

If all measures fail, you might need to spend more time improving the overall functioning of your website. You should analyze the present state of the design, user experience, and speed. You know that these things are integral for any website to perform better and up to the mark.

Can you recover your ranking?

Yes, you can recover your ranking but it needs patience.  Sometimes within two weeks ranking can be recovered but sometimes it can be delayed.  If you do not audit,  analyze and fix the issues responsible for your ranking drop then it will take much to recover. 

So do not panic and adopt all the necessary steps to bounce back your ranking.