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Have you lost your Google ranking? Don’t panic.

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Article Overview

If you have seen your Google rankings slide gradually or there's been a sudden drop from page 1 to page 100 then something has happened to either your website or your link building campaign. The trick is not to panic but to take immediate action to rectify the situation and mitigate any further damage to your website as well as Google rankings.

So, you have worked very hard to finally get your Google ranking where you would like it to be.

That is, on the first page of Google for your main keywords. Over the last 3 to 4 months, you have watched your website slowly and gradually make its way from page 100 up the rankings.

How fantastic is that? Business is booming, and the phone is ringing off the hook. You could not be happier.

You can see all the sales leads start to flow in and all those juicy new contracts. Business is excellent, you are employing new staff, and you are gaining access to a whole new range of clients never thought possible. All of this is due to your rankings and the fabulous work that your SEO company is doing.

Then, suddenly you go to check your SEO rankings and get the shock of your life! You are no longer there they are in a rankings slump!

Your heart starts to race, your start to panic, and you can’t imagine why this has happened for your life of you. Google has given us a few reasons why your rankings might have dropped in their article: Why did my site traffic drop? A great read and should help you diagnose the issue.

Let me explain what has happened.

Ranking drops is a common occurrence and can happen to all types of businesses that have gone down the path of using an SEO company with absolutely no idea of what they are doing. 

Essentially, you have been scammed and have used an SEO agency that has taken your money.

We have seen this happen repeatedly, and I cannot tell you how many calls I receive each day from distressed business owners who are in deep trouble because of this.

If you feel that this has happened to you and are freaking out about the appropriate next steps, please let us know on 02 9360 8514, and we will be able to turn things around for you and get you out of this dreaded Google penalty and rankings drop.

There are two types of lost Google rankings.

1) There is the slow, gradual loss of ranks that happen over some time. Not ideal, but this is the best type of rank loss ( if you were to have one) which means that you have done nothing wrong in regards to your SEO, but your competition for your main keywords has decided to be more aggressive. Hence they have overtaken you. The best way to counterbalance this is to be a little more aggressive with your SEO campaign, which should work and over time, you will start to see your rankings slowly climb back.

A point to note here is that you can’t be too zealous with your SEO campaign, or you will end up getting a Google penalty, described in point number 2. 

Take things nice and slow, and do not rush with your link building. Remember not to panic.

2) The second reason why your website has suddenly plummeted is because of the website penalty.

Penalties are the most common problem, and there are a few reasons why this has happened.

The main reason is that your SEO company has over optimised your primary keywords, and this appears ‘spammy’ in the eyes of Google. 

Google likes your linking profile to be as organic as possible, and if there are suddenly thousands of inbound links, this will trigger an alert within the search engines. Hence, your website will be either de-indexed or suddenly drop. You might have received a manual action penalty or an algorithmic penalty. Either way, this needs to be addressed very quickly. Search Engine Journal outlines a list of reasons in their article Google Adds 12 New Types of Manual Action Penalties to give you a clearer idea of what the common Manual Action is and how it can affect your website.

Many SEO companies to full their promise to you over the phone of super fast rankings will have to optimise to keep their end of the bargain. Watch this video to get a better idea of what some SEO agencies will do in order to win your business.

If they say they will rank you fast, they will do it, but this is not the right way to go about things.

What are the Steps Involved in Getting Your SEO Ranking Back?

Firstly, and I know this is hard, but don’t stress too much, there is a solution, and we can help you recover from this Google penalty. All you need to do is digest these points and then leave them to the experts to help you get out of this situation.

1) We have to work out the exact links created. We need to look at your whole linking profile, and we do this by gaining access to your Google webmaster tools account. Most sites we see will have some severe toxic links, and our role is to get rid of these ASAP.

2) We then look at ways to remove all of these links, which is the hard part, but our team know the best way to facilitate this. Because you are in this position, you have used an SEO provider who has used a poor linking strategy, and we may have to spend some time on this step due to the difficulty in getting in touch with all the web owners where your links are on.

3) Whilst we are implementing this de-linking, we will check all your ‘on page’ titles, tags and meta descriptions to make sure that these are implemented. In some cases, we can solve these issues with a quick fix. We also make sure that your web content is unique and not copied from any other sites, which could play a significant part. I could go on for ages about content marketing and the relevance of unique content, but if your site is a blatant copy of another, you will be penalised.

4) Some links may be OK, and we make sure that we keep these. Some links are, however, of low value and are of poor quality. In the past, these types of links were OK and did have an impact on your rankings. Due to the misuse of this SEO tactic, Google has devalued the credibility of these inbound links. We will address this and ensure that your website has the best and most highly ranked links associated with it.

5) Finally, and we do this when we have ticked all the boxes and are compliant, we submit your new cleaner website for a reconsideration request. Nine times out of ten, we make sure that we get you out of the penalty, and you start to rank again.

Conclusion

If you have lost your SEO rankings and need to get back to where you were before, please get in touch with us today – we will turn your nightmare around very quickly for you and get back those much-loved rankings. If on the other hand, your unhappy with your web design and conversion rates, and your feel that you’re on-page SEO has been neglected, I am more than happy to do an SEO audit of your site over the phone and give you some quick pointers on what’s missing and what’s wrong.

steven waldberg - ceo seo sydney experts

About the author

Steven Waldberg

Steven is the director of SEO Sydney Experts and is one of the founding members ( that’s over 18 years ago). He has one of the longest careers in the SEO and content marketing industry and has written for many prestigious websites, including B & T and AdNews. If you’re serious about working with someone who will dedicate 100% of himself to your business; Steven is your SEO Expert.

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