SEO finding
A tracked keyword lost positions or dropped out of the results
SEO Warning Severity: Medium
Part of the audit Rank tracking. Finding id: seo.rankingDropped.
What it costs you
Lower results get fewer clicks, and results past the first page get very few.
What to do
Look at what changed on [ranking url] and on the pages now ranking above it.
What it checks
- Search position changed
How to fix it
Find the cause of the drop
- Check the open findings for [ranking url]: status, noindex, canonical, redirects and recent content changes.
- Check whether a different page of yours now ranks for the keyword. Two pages competing for one keyword push each other down.
- If nothing changed on your side, compare the page with the ones that moved above it.
How to check: Follow the position over the next checks.
A real case
After The New York Times showed Google thousands of paid links pointing to J.C. Penney, the retailer fell from No. 1 to No. 68 for 'living room furniture' within two hours one evening in February 2011.
Thresholds
| Name | Default | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
min_drop | 5 | A keyword is reported when it lost at least this many positions since the previous check. |
watch_top | 20 | Only keywords that were at this position or better before the drop are reported. |
not_found_position | 101 | Position counted for a keyword that is no longer found, to work out how many places it lost. One past the depth the provider checks. |
How to verify by hand
Search Console average position and clicks for the same query over the same days.
What this relies on
A drop between two checks is a real change, not noise in the measurement.