SERP Lost in Google

[psp]

Till August 13, 2007, I did have a decent SERP in Google, but the next morning all of the sites disappeared from the top places. No where in the top 20..or even top 40. Even the blog results disappeared overnight. What could be the reason?

That was the issue when Google Webmaster tool reported that the site has been crawled on Aug8. But today when i checked out the same, the last crawled date was on Aug13. Interestingly from Aug13th onwards, I'm facing this problem.

Last week may be on Aug6th or so ... I've changed the images in my site something like from kaspersky.jpg to kaspersky-internet-security-suite-graphic.jpg .

Is this anything to do with the fall of SERP? Except this change i've nothing added or deleted.

Please help me in this regard.

[Linda Buquet]

Do you have a 301 re-direct so the http version of the site redirects to the www url or vice versa. Not sure if G still has a problem with the canconical issue, but I got dropped once due to that.

Does your site show up when you search for the exact url without the .com?

[psp]

Originally Posted by Linda Buquet

Do you have a 301 re-direct so the http version of the site redirects to the www url or vice versa. Not sure if G still has a problem with the canconical issue, but I got dropped once due to that.

Does your site show up when you search for the exact url without the .com?

I didn't use 301 redirect till now.

without .org, my url shows up in the 3rd page.

Is it necessary to have a 301 redirect? If so how should i do that?

[Linda Buquet]

Well sometimes then Google sees 2 identical versions of your site and dings you.
But that may not be whats up. Hard to tell without seeing it. If you are comfortable letting a couple of us look, then put the site in your sig and we'll see if we can find out any obvious problems.

Here's advice about the canonical issue direct from Matt Cutts.
SEO advice: url canonicalization

[iceforever.diamonds]

Originally Posted by psp

Last week may be on Aug6th or so ... I've changed the images in my site something like from kaspersky.jpg to kaspersky-internet-security-suite-graphic.jpg .

Is this anything to do with the fall of SERP? Except this change i've nothing added or deleted.

Please help me in this regard.

I would just like to know if the reason for your changing of the filename of the images is the thought of, it may also be crawled... i believed you know about the "alt tags"

because if you are thinking that the file name will be crawled, it's not like that ^_^ you will be needing alt tag for it ^_^

[psp]

I didn't change the alt tags.

[Teli]

Hi PSP,
Chances are a small change like that (changing your image file names) *can* have an impact in your rankings.

This is just speculation, but there's really no reason for you to extend the length of the filename that much and it appears that you're trying to spam the search engines. (I assume you're trying to "optimize" your image filenames?)

Instead of kaspersky-internet-security-suite-graphic.jpg, which isn't even good for usability, rename it to kaspersky.jpg or even kaspersky-antivirus.jpg and move the "Kasperky Internet Security Suite Graphic" to the alt attribute the way it should be.

Regarding the canonical issue, Google *says* they resolved it, but Matt Cutts also recommends choosing a version that you like and sticking with it. So, while it may not be what's affecting your site necessarily, it would be a good idea to have your site redirect to either the non-www or www version, but not both.

Google is getting smarter than we think. I'd suggest reviewing any other changes you made to the site, no matter how small, and consider how it may be adversely affecting your site. Double check to make sure your site isn't giving off any errors which may be telling Google-bot to stop dead in his tracks (for instance, internal server errors, 404 errors with no links, etc.)

Also, make sure that you continue to develop quality back links. Once you stop building back links to your site, it's like saying "okay, my site's outdated now, move on". The only time you'd want to stop actively building your backlinks is when you have a tremendous number of them or when the building becomes passive (i.e. the links build themselves).

~ Teli

[Teli]

I also forgot to add, you want to make sure and TEST whatever you're doing and changing on your site and documenting the effects.

When I'm testing some SEO theories for my own sites, I make sure to have an Excel spreadsheet and Notepad open to document *what* was changed, *when* it was changed, and *what effect* it had in the long run.

If anything goes amiss after making a single change, I can usually recover quickly by reverting that change.

Just a head's up.

~ Teli

[Linda Buquet]

Really good points! Especially about tracking changes. When you have a bunch of sites or even just a couple and are constantly tweaking, it's hard to remember what you did, when, to see if that's what could have made an impact - positive or negative. Thanks Teli.

[psp]

Thanx Teli! Definitely noteworthy points. I'll make a note of it.

Back to my SERP problem, Last night i noticed that my site got its place back into the Google...this time on 2nd page. But sometimess i see there...the other times...it's again off...no where again. May be something like DANCING. So presently what i could do is...leave that for sometime.

Most of the members feel that I should add the content to the site. But in my website I review the products ... so addition of the content on regular basis is not possible. Only possibility is that the content can be modified.

So keeping in mind, I've started a BLOG at my site with something like http://www.example.com/blog . I used to post articles in the BLOG. Even that got good SERP. But last week, I've started a new blog (http://www.someXYZ.com) thinking that a new domain will be fresh and seperate.

So the present problem is should i consider updating the old blog which has url extension ....or should i go with a brand new domain.

Please do suggest me the BEST option.