Any Reasons for a Page 1 (on SERPs) Article Suddenly Being Demoted?

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   nomadspiritposted 6 years ago

   I wrote this article recently, and as soon as a niche site picked it up it went to page 2, then page 1 for the keywords I targeted. Today- about two weeks later- it is nowhere near page 1. Just wondering what the possible reasons are for demotion on google so that I can attempt to fix it.

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   LeanManposted 6 years ago

   Whether something stays in  the top spot will very much depend on whether the people that visit interact with the page. Do they read it to the end, do they stay on the page for a long time, do they click the links, etc... Take a look at the pages that are ranking higher for the keywords that you targeted and ask yourself why they are better than yours.
   You might also like to look at the actual data as to where visitors were coming from, maybe you were not getting visitors for the actual keywords that you targeted. The stats for a page will show you the search text used. If you were getting searches for something else that you did not expect you may want to modify your title to include it.
   Also with regards to being top in the SERPS it is easy if no one is actually searching for the keywords that you target. If you target "My personal holiday and experiences of staying in the hottest hotel in Jamaica with 6 teenagers" you will get top spot - but no visitors because no one will use that as a search. But if your target is too broad and highly competitive then you will have no chance of ranking - "Jamaican Holidays." You have to find something that is both searched and has little competition.

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      nomadspiritposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks Leanman. Your answer has valuable pointers.that I sure can use.

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   Marisa Wrightposted 6 years ago

   LeanMan has explained it pretty well.   When your Hub is first published on a niche site, Google gives it the benefit of the doubt and allows it to rank well.  Then they monitor its performance.   If readers aren't visiting your Hub, or they are visiting the Hub but they're bouncing back quickly to look at other results, that says to Google your Hub isn't meeting readers' needs, and it will be moved down the ranking.
   
   Take a good look at your summary and opening paragraphs. Does the summary entice the reader to visit the Hub?   Does the introduction grab their interest and reassure them that you're going to answer their question or solve their problem?

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      nomadspiritposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, he did. Thanks for the pointers. I just checked again and its on page 2 after disappearing for a whole day. I will need to take a look at it and figure out how to make it better. Thanks for the pointers on possible fixes.

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         Bedbugabscondposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         You got it to page one before it fell. That is a good signal. Once an article is old enough you can click on stats then search phrases. That will give you and idea of what people are typing to look for your information.
         
         Check your title and the description that Google is using in the top 10 results descriptions. Look at the little black bolded words for each page. Make sure that you are using those words naturally.
         
         As the experts have already said, interaction is important. You do not just want to get them to the page, but you want them to stay on it and to interact with the page or click through to another page.
         
         I like polls personally because people love to vote in them, and it can be a quick easy way to get someone interacting with my page. Someone who votes in a poll is more likely to move on to a second page.

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   Kierstin Gunsbergposted 6 years ago

   My niche-site articles tend to drop in traffic and rank AT first and then pick back up after some time. It's like Google has to rediscover them when they're moved.

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