SEO is ever-changing and a site’s SERP ranking can sometimes be on a free fall. These drops can be quite consequential for a company’s visibility on the Internet, web traffic, and eventually earnings.
The aim of this article is to give you a complete step-by-step process on how to go about with your emergency SEO practices in order for you to be able to maneuver through those difficult situations. So, we’ll look into possible reasons behind sudden SERP ranking plunges and propose the most effective methods for quick recovery to put your site back on the rails again.
You can take the help of any SEO company in India or any marketing strategist to overcome the negative effects caused by suddenly low rankings. To ensure that your organization maintains its current ranking on Google as search engines change, one needs to keep up with the latest SEO trends.
Understanding Sudden SERP Ranking Drops
In order to develop appropriate recovery strategies, we should have a clear understanding of the reasons for an abrupt decline in SERP rankings. These can be broadly classified into two categories: algorithm updates and manual actions.
Algorithm Updates
For instance, various updates in algorithms of search engines such as Google aim at making searches better and more relevant for users. Changes of this nature may lead to a steep decrease in a website’s positioning on the search engine results page (SERPs).
Generally speaking, these changes are concentrated, with a focus on web pages that use “black hat” practices of search optimization, such as using excessive keywords or purchasing irrelevant links from subpar sources. However, some of the respectable websites might also be subjected to drops owing to failure to follow the current algorithm guidelines.
Manual Actions
Search engines punish sites that do not follow the webmaster’s guidelines by means of manual actions. Such penalties may also be imposed on grounds of spammy content, unnatural links, and user-generated spam. The drop in the search engine result pages (SERPs) always happens immediately following a manual action, which in turn can only be rectified through immediate corrective measures. In case you do not understand manual actions, small business SEO packages can help you out professionally.
Strategies for Emergency SEO Recovery
We now know how a sudden SERP ranking drop may occur, and in order to recover fast, it is important to apply the following strategies. These are key steps you should take in an emergency SEO situation:
Check whether the rankings are truly dropped
While it is true that sometimes SERP rankings seem to drop, this could just imply a short-term trend reversal. Verify this by using a reliable rank-tracking tool before embarking on corrective action. Make sure your ranking has actually crashed, not because of technical problems stopping your site from getting crawled/indexed correctly. Ensure the accuracy of rank tracking by using a tool that runs periodic checks on the rankings and gives historical data.
Perform a thorough website audit
In the event that the drop is confirmed, then you need to perform a comprehensive site audit. It also helps in finding out any technical problems or violations of search engine guidelines that might be causing this decline. This will help you see exactly how many of your pages have dropped and if this drop is throughout the entire site, or only some pages. You can use Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools to help find any technical problems with your site that may stop it from performing optimally.
Revisit all the technical changes you made in the past
It is important to go through all the recent changes once again and determine whether they might be responsible for the drop in your page rankings after recently altering anything on your website, like changing your site structure or re-designing the layout. In other words, at times, even small technical adjustments may prove fatal for a website’s crawlability or for being added to the index. Sometimes, you might require the help of an expert in technical SEO to help you locate the specific problem accurately.
Take appropriate steps to resolve issues
If there are no major concerns identified during the site audit and proposed technical adjustments, it might be necessary to continue digging even further for other plausible explanations. You may have to re-check some broken links, and delete spam and other content while optimizing it with respect to the users’ needs. Ensure that you also adhere to current search engine guidelines and practices so as to avoid facing such a problem next time.
Focus on high-quality and relevant content
Quality of content plays a very central role when it comes to rankings and, consequently your positioning on SERPs. You should also watch out for a drastic fall of your rankings, and if this happens, check on the quality and relevance of your content and how useful it is to your audience. Perform content audit aiming at removing all low-performing and duplicate content so make it even better. Furthermore, closely monitor current trends and talking points within your specific niche and generate relevant, stimulating and authoritative articles that could potentially restore past rankings.
Monitor and track your progress
After making these adjustments, you must continue monitoring and tracking your site’s performance. Keep tabs on changes in your ranking and traffic, as well as progress and regresses recorded thereof. And apply SEO monitoring tools to identify any other issues and fix them immediately. In doing so, you will be monitoring SEO health for your site to prevent sudden drops in ranking, once again.
To summarize, emergency SEO involves responding quickly and appropriately in order to regain lost SERP positions. The above-discussed pointers will enable you to pick those problems leading to an immediate drop of rankings with ease and avoid subsequent occurrences.
Always remain updated about the most recent search engine guidelines and best practice, keep producing quality and relevant content, as well as ensure constant monitoring of the website. Proactivity in dealing with unexpected ranking drops of your SERPs will always restore the strength of your online presence for your company. Therefore, make sure you are constantly updated take timely measures whenever a crisis arises in your SEO strategy.