Navigating a Sudden Decline in Keyword Rankings: Is It an Algorithm Update or a Technical Issue?
If you’ve ever experienced a drastic drop in keyword rankings, you know how unsettling it can be. Recently, our team encountered a significant decline for one of our key commercial landing pages, leading us to seek insights from others who might have faced similar challenges.
Around May 10, a keyword that has reliably secured a spot on the First Page of Google search results—landing us in positions 8 to 12 for several months—unexpectedly plummeted to position 24. To add to our concerns, several semantically related keywords demonstrated a pattern of erratic performance with sharp declines followed by inconsistent partial recoveries.
In our efforts to diagnose the issue, we’ve undertaken a comprehensive check of several critical factors:
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Indexing and Crawlability: We confirmed through Google Search Console that the page remains indexed and is fully crawlable.
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Canonical Tags and Sitemap: All references to canonical URLs and sitemap entries are accurate, ensuring that there are no misconfigurations affecting our ranking.
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Manual Actions and Coverage Warnings: There are no manual actions or coverage warnings on the site, which leaves us to wonder about the cause of the drop.
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Page Speed and Core Web Vitals: The site’s performance metrics are stable, with no noticeable issues affecting load times or user experience.
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Content and URL Structure: Prior to the ranking drop, we did not implement any major changes to the content or URL structure, eliminating these common culprits as potential causes.
As we navigate this troubling drop in keyword rankings, we invite the community to share their experiences. Have you encountered similar fluctuations in your search rankings? What strategies have you employed to diagnose and overcome these challenges? Your insights could prove invaluable to others in the SEO landscape.