If you are actively reviewing your website’s Google keyword rankings on a monthly basis, you will realize that your rankings bounce around, and sometimes a lot. As one of my favorite SEO ninjas, Neil Patel, noted, “It’s not a matter of if your rankings will drop, it’s a matter of when.” Professionals in the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) world call these Search Engine Results Page (SERP) or ranking fluctuations. You may see 5 to 10 point drops in the course of a few days and freak out. Before you fall into full panic mode, breathe!
Common Ranking Scenarios
In the early stages of your SEO Setup or CM2.0 campaign, your website may be climbing up and down significantly on a weekly and even daily basis. In one week your rankings may drop from position 73 to 79, but the next week climb from 73 to 69. Ranking fluctuations increase for the bottom half of results found on Google’s page 1, and subsequent pages. The gap of these variations also widens as the page numbers increase.
When you first earn rankings in the top 5 of page 1, you will think, “I’ve made it! I’m safe!” Well, yes and no. You have reached a milestone, but you will experience more fluctuations as your website ‘levels out.’ This happens because Google’s algorithm temporarily boosts new websites. Consistent content marketing efforts will support your website’s climb to the top, such as our CM2.0 packages and SEO Setups. When your website has been in the top half of Google’s page 1 search results for more than 2 to 3 months, you will have less dramatic ranking fluctuations.
What’s Next?
Ok, so you initially got alarmed, but then you followed my advice and decided to breathe. You read over some illuminating ranking scenarios and feel informed. Great! Now, the next step is to talk with your account manager. Once we get a full picture of your concerns, we’ll go in and see if there is a need for action. Your ranking will always be slightly fluctuating. One of our goals is to determine if your rankings are moving steadily up or down over the course of more than 4-6 weeks. If they are climbing upwards in a consistent pattern, but you would like to speed things up, one of our experts can recommend some robust solutions to boost your progress.
When We Dig In
If there is a significant drop in multiple pages and an upward trend has not been restored in at least two weeks, we put our detective goggles on. We do an in-depth review, and in addition to hundreds of data points, we investigate if there were any significant Google algorithm updates, if your competition has stepped up their SEO strategy, if your website has been hacked, or if it is experiencing server issues. Occasionally, we find that some older sites employ outdated SEO techniques that can seriously hurt your chances with Google.
If you’d prefer not worry about these worst-case scenarios before going to sleep at night, our SEO Setup Pro and Web Maintenance packages may be just what you need to get a good night’s sleep.
The One Firefly team is always one email, live chat, or phone call away. For specific questions related to your business’ marketing efforts, please reach out!