In every SEO / web development forum you can find posts from people who are looking for help because of their website lost rankings on Google. Drop in positions is a big problem and it takes a lot of time and effort to fix situation and return previous results.
There are only 3 reasons why Google remove domains from top positions:
- Changes in algorithms.
- Punishment for “black hat” or unprofessional SEO.
- Human hand (Review by Google stuff)
Changes in Algorithm
Google changes algorithms to rank websites on a regular basis. They make updates to improve results, keep fresh content on the top, and get rid of a websites which use newest “black hat” promotional strategies. Google is a company, it is their job to keep searchers satisfy and make results better to compete with other search engines.
Often algorithm change doesn’t affect popular websites which provide quality content, earned natural backlinks / reviews, and have significant web presence for their niche.
Webmasters and companies which build their backlinks can drop in serps if Google makes changes to decrease or increase value of links / sources. Company which reached good rankings exchanging links with another companies can lose all positions if Google decide to decrease value of reciprocal links. The same could happen with company which promoted site through social networks if Google decrease value of social media sites realizing that most submissions are spam.
Drop could happen even when Google increase value of specific backlinks. If Google begin to give extra credit to all pages which earned at least 20 Diggs it can move down websites which submitted links to Digg but never earned any Diggs from other members. Nobody knows what’s going on in Google office and what they are going to do. With hundreds databases their stuff can apply some changes to one database to see if results will become better, successful experiment could change entire algorithm for all databases.
Link similarity is the thing every webmaster should avoid, it is pointless to submit site in 500 directories if it is already submitted in 1000. Move to another field to build extra links for your domain. Make sure that your site linked from:
- Social networks
- Related websites
- Content pages
- Forums
- Directories
- Contests and awards
- Press releases
- Public media
… and other resources.
Targeting the same anchor text is another big issue which can cost you future rankings. Working to move keywords by building hundreds links with the same anchor called “keyword spam” and it could lead to punishment.
Refresh content on a regular basis. Practice shows that Google prefers fresh content.
Deep linking is also important for good traffic from search engines. 100% links from other sites which point to homepage means that website does not have any natural backlinks.
Punishment for “black hat” or unprofessional SEO.
Your site lost rankings? Look back and see if you ever applied any tricks to improve positions. Sometimes webmasters don’t even know about “black hat” SEO running around their site if they hired unprofessional (fake) SEO “company” or “expert”.
Check if your site use and remove immediately:
- Cloaking
- Hidden keywords (background, code, hidden behind images)
- Invisible content
Refuse to use link building software, don’t pay for links, and cancel service with current SEO company. Your domain might appear on “link farms”, banned websites, domains which sell links, bad sites (violence, adult, hack, Google banned…).
Human hand (Review by Google stuff)
Google stuff check search inquires for the most popular keywords. Domain could be removed if website which does not satisfy searches. Decision could be based on visual impression. Large adds, pop ups, unfriendly software, and poor design could be a factor for disapproval.
