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Website tanking in SERPs. Any ideas?

DeeeeeeeeDeeeeeeee the Americas
edited December 2020 in Other / Off Topic
It's been a long time...
I have a web site and this week many pages either dropped in SERPS (to P3, 5, and 10!) or completely disappeared!!!

I know I should know this...but what  could be the cause?

Some of these pages that dropped are on different subdomains.  A few have been flickering in and out of their posoitions for a few days now, so I think it was the G! Algo-Core update...
Not every page is gone from every SERP, but many are.

Comments

  • DeeeeeeeeDeeeeeeee the Americas
    edited December 2020
    Well..I guess this is it??

    Google December 2020 Core Update Is Live - Here Is What We See Now
    Dec 4, 2020

    And, of course, vague as ever lol, this is Google's (recycled) note to SEO pplz:




  • DeeeeeeeeDeeeeeeee the Americas
    edited December 2020
    Hmm...I checked and everything above the fallen sites in SERPs is HTTPS.
    I think I should just make the site HTTPS and see what happens.

    Of course, this is just a guess. I think this may be the issue b/c NONE of the other sites above this one seem  affected, and many sites are worse, that are above me now, in terms of  content, SEO, and much more.
    But all are HTTPS.

    Some are real dogs (like the one in question)! lol But, I guess GOOG getting serious now about HTTPS.
    I've wanted to for a while, anyway. More secure is best...

  • DeeeeeeeeDeeeeeeee the Americas
    edited December 2020
    I'm putting all my sites on HTTPS now.

    For CMSes like WordPress, it's fairly straightforward.

    But I have a few sites I made from the bottom up with PHP and HTML.

    The oldest among them are a big mess! I think this is doable, tho.

    What I *should* do is replace ALL the 'HTTP' text that's  in HTML with a sitewide global PHP string that I can change more easily, but I'm never going back to non-SSL, anyway...I did this a few years ago on one site, not just the HTTP but the URL as well, and it came in handy later when I had to change the file location.  Changed one PHP string and it was ALL done, saving so much time! Name of the game...
  • Tim89Tim89 www.expressindexer.solutions
    edited December 2020
    I don’t think your issue is solely https. I have various websites in my portfolio and some are older domains which I haven’t had the chance to swap to https, they haven’t been effected. 
    Have you been backlinking? From where? Is your page content unique? Thin content? Are the other sites who are ranking just better than yours? 

    Besides those reasons, there are plenty others but as I said, I don’t think it’s primarily to do with non https issues.

    On a side note, I’d personally wait 2 weeks to see where your ranking once the update finishes. Google have screwed a lot of things up this year so I wouldn’t be surprised if they end up rolling back on their update or tweak the signals. 
  • DeeeeeeeeDeeeeeeee the Americas
    edited December 2020
    "I don’t think your issue is solely https."
    Hmm...I've moved over a good percentage of pages so far, either way...can't hurt....

    "Have you been backlinking? From where?"
    Hmm...Using SER...maybe a bit too carelessly on T1s....have to really review everything I'm doing.

    "Is your page content unique? Thin content?"
    It's all original, even the pics. Content not at all thin....

    "Are the other sites who are ranking just better than yours? "
    Good question. I mean, maybe?? SO many rank better, tho, at least some aren't.

    "I wouldn’t be surprised if they end up rolling back on their update"
    ugggggggghhhhh. Hope so. :(

    Thanks for your input, Tim. In a sense, this was a good thing, in that it put me back in the mode to do work like this. I've been finding it hard to "shift gears" back into SEO and associated work. At least there's that good aspect of it all.

    TBH, in 2019 I wrote some fun PHP stuff and then I got very busy with other work, and coming back to SEO and everything was difficult for a long while. I'll try to make the best of it. ;)

  • DeeeeeeeeDeeeeeeee the Americas
    edited December 2020
    I DID actually hammer the T1s with SER the day before this happened (just that one day, not really before). I've been just doing T2 and beyond for a bit. I should have just ran the projects as verify only.
    The was my main purpose in focusing on T1s, I didn't want to be making tiers into the air on missing T1s!
    The site is also a dot info. Could Google have finally just said no to this TLD?
    Just trying to find some answers...
    How can I tell if it was due to the new core update or some sort of manual or algorithmic action?
    Everything I'm reading about this update guesses that it focuses on thin content. The pages that dropped don't fit this description. It's pretty much across the domain.
    Hmm..What about pageload speed? Could that have done it??
    Also: The only page NOT affected has a different IP, as that sub-domain is hosted on a totally different hosting company, and the speed is also faster...?!?!?
  • DeeeeeeeeDeeeeeeee the Americas
    edited December 2020
    Everything above the site that dropped has ultra-thin content, sliding panes, changing backrounds, large photos-as-backgrounds...

    Could that be of issue? I know that looking old probably isn't so good, but to "get with the times." I'd have to CUT content, not add it.

    As far as style-wise, those newer templates with all the jquery stuff do look good...


  • DeeeeeeeeDeeeeeeee the Americas
    edited December 2020
    Clarification: Everything above the site that dropped has ultra-thin content, sliding panes, changing backrounds, large photos-as-backgrounds...

    I meant, everything that did NOT drop, or went up in SERPS,  has ultra-thin...etc...etc..
    and NOT that the site that DROPPED has ultra-thin...etc...etc...

    Just re-read this and find it quite unclear as written.

    I actually like all these news sites. They're pretty, if a bit similar. But if you listen to top pop music, like mumble rap in USA, the tracks are all similar and have identical elements...I guess that's how ppl (and Google) see things...you have to be part of the latest trend to be most relevant?

    As I said, the latest trend is pretty cool...sliding images and backgrounds on scroll look good...just wondering how important styling is...

  • DeeeeeeeeDeeeeeeee the Americas
    All else aside, it's clear I haven't really been paying enough attention to my GSA and SEO work. No excuse. I'm lucky anything ever ranked at all...lol

    Just ordered Majestic lite plan and see the KW anchors aren't exactly ideal. I guess this is a good start...
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