Question:
As I haven’t been living under a rock for the past few years, I know that when it comes to search engine rankings, Google is the most important player to impress. I am really getting frustrated because try as I might, I can’t seem to rank well in Google anymore for my important key phrases (even though in Bing and MSN I am still doing pretty damn well thank you very much!). Why is Google ignoring me now? Does my site have B.O or what? I’ve heard Google blacklists some sites; how do I find out if something I have done has given me a ban? How do impress the giant that is Google and get my site ranked again? Questions, questions…..
Allan, Milton Keynes
P.S – I have not KNOWINGLY done anything underhand or sneaky with my SEO.
Answer:
Hi Allan, well first of all I should tell you that contrary to some people’s perceptions, Google does not play favourites and is not an all-seeing, all-knowing playboy of the Internet. Google is a search engine and, as such, its results are based on a series of complex algorithms and not on whether your star signs match! (Bing and MSN use different algorithms and metrics and that’s a whole different session to answer why you rank in one and not the other).
Obviously without looking at your site, it is hard to answer your question specifically so I can only answer in as per SEO theory and best practice.
The question of being blacklisted by Google comes up a lot at our Internet Marketing training seminars, but your site will never get ‘banned’ by Google unless you do something to try and deceive it through dirty or ‘black hat’ SEO methods. And believe me, Goggle has been in this game a lot longer than most people out there, so eventually, if you play with fire you’re going to get burnt.
So, ruling that out, the main point that you need to understand is that search engine rankings are not static and, even if your page DOES get ranked for certain phrases, there is no guarantee it will stay that way. Your question seems to indicate that your site has ranked previously so, if you are still doing all the same good SEO work, it is most likely that it is not something you have done but rather Google has undergone an algorithm shift. The search engines constantly change and upgrade their algorithms so it is normal to experience some ups and downs in your site’s rankings.
This is why it is so important to have a basket of important key phrases and not just one or two big hitters. If you want an explanation in the form of a cliché – don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Spread your phrases across targeted pages of your site and look at your optimisation not only in terms of rankings, but in terms of traffic and conversion as well. Good luck!
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