#1 on Google but still traffic is way down

1. 66

   Brie Hoffmanposted 10 years ago

   How can my articles still be #1 on a google search and still my numbers are way down what they were.  I could understand if my articles were moved but they haven't been moved.  All of this is driving me crazy.

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      Maffew Jamesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      It depends on what keywords you use for the search. Chances are, all your articles still rank for the main keyword or title of the page, but have lost rank on related keywords.

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         Brie Hoffmanposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         That could be it, I tried a few different ones and with one set my article was on the second page.  I don't know if this is the case because I have nothing to compare it to.

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            Maffew Jamesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Use the 'search queries' section of Google Webmaster Tools for the best idea of where you rank for certain keywords. It will also show you the main keywords that are driving traffic to your pages, and can even show historical changes. Have a look at keywords and ranking in the weeks before Sept 25, compared to after that date, and you'll see what happened when the Panda update occurred.
            
            Also, it's true that a Google search is somewhat personalised and if you've shared your own articles on Google Plus, or +1'd them, that's one of the factors that will affect how you see the ranking, even though other people will see it differently. You can use a proxy to get a better idea of how other people see your pages in the results. There are plenty of online tools that can help you do this easily. Search for something like 'google serps checker' and you'll find one of these. Then just choose the country where you want to analyse results, enter your keywords, and it will show you the results.

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               Brie Hoffmanposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Thanks Maffew, I'll try that.

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      calculus-geometryposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I don't think you understand what "#1 on Google" means.
      
      Everybody is #1 on Google for some exact phrase match, but if nobody is searching for that sequence of terms, then it doesn't matter what position the hub is.
      
      Also, your Google search results are personalized and do  not reflect what other people see.   So saying that you are "#1 on Google" with no other details is a pretty meaningless statement and no wonder you are frustrated.

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         Brie Hoffmanposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I had 3000 searches a day for one particular article before 9/25 and now it's down to 900 or so.

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2. 84

   Buildrepsposted 10 years ago

   This is strange indeed, Brie.
   Typing "Bubblews" in Google still shows my article in the 10 first hits. The last 6 months I had tons of traffic because of this, but the last weeks it dropped. I've no explanation at all.

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3. 60

   firstdayposted 10 years ago

   Everyone,
   
   Please let me know what is happening once the dust has settled.  I have my thoughts, but they are guesses.  It seems once the merger happened things changed for me.  That is to be expected.  All new grounds for the powers that be.
   
   I am sitting back until things get back on an even keel.  Until then I am floating on the sea of hub pages.  Fortunately my cargo (number of hubs) is small compared to most all of you.  Hang on soon the storms will pass. 
   
   I need to turn off the weather channel.  :}

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4. 68

   Dressage Husbandposted 10 years ago

   There is a gradual or rather not so gradual change over to mobile traffic. The mobile traffic is increasing by about 70% year on year and at the end of last year it was at around 25%. I am guessing that with the launch of the new iphone and the start of the college year that even more went that way recently.
   
   This means that only Hubs that do well on mobile will see their traffic increasing. This is the area where HP had an advantage over Squidoo. With all of the new Hubs that were lenses there will be more competition. I have noticed that I still have ranking for most of my keyword in Google, but we took a major traffic hit when the change of HP servers went so badly.
   
   There appears to be an increase in the last week or so that is showing in HP's Quantcast figures. We are still not back to the immediate post merger figures, but if the present upward trend continues we will be in about one more week.
   
   It does not help analysis that we have both North American Thanksgivings Halloween and then Christmas coming up as it is not possible to separate out how much of the rise is due to them and how much to the new servers being properly commissioned now.
   
   I think we should all try to calm down and wait for the dust of recent events to settle before making any hasty decisions.

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      makingamarkposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I'm guessing that those of us who have zero Halloween and Thanksgiving related hubs will be able to tell what the trend is.

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         Dressage Husbandposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I would think so, but the holidays will boost overall web traffic to a degree as well.

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5. 78

   Hendrikaposted 10 years ago

   I agree that we should wait for the dust to settle. Can someone tell me though how one can make your Hubs more mobile friendly. I am from the older generation still battling with the increase of mobile traffic.

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