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SEO Crisis/Issues Report
Has your site recently noticed a dramatic decline in search engine rankings and/or traffic from the major search engines? Do you suspect this might be related to a new design or website redesign project that was recently implemented? Are you worried that your website has been penalized or banned by the major search engines? If so, this report will help you rectify the situation.
Identifying the Problems - Why Your Site's Lost its Rankings
First of all, search engines are very fluid applications. A website may be ranked #1 for a keyword phrase one day, and #3 or #5 the next. Generally, there is some stability in rankings - but small adjustments are common and frequent. If your site has only dropped a few spots for a few phrases, don't be alarmed.
However, if your site has outright disappeared from the search engines or has dropped 10, 20, 30 or more spots - well - you have good reason to be alarmed! If you've not made any sweeping, signficant changes to your site than this may be related to an algorithm update - an adjustment in the way in which the search engine ranks pages. Typically you'll notice this on just one search engine rather than several. These types of updates tend to happen every 6 to 12 to 18 months or so.
Now that we've ruled out minor drops (for minor adjustments) and major drops due to search-engine-specific algorithm updates, we're left with issues that are most likely caused by the website and/or website designer. In other words, your designer or web developer screwed something up, which hurt your rankings in the search engines.
The problem is that most web designers or developers focus on design and developing. They aren't search engine experts. Often they simply don't know the fundamentals of SEO. Even worse, they may have outdated information and might do something they think will help that actually hurts your site or risks getting it banned by a search engine.
Contents of the Report
- Overview of Competitive Position
- Review of Website for Possible Ranking Penalties or Bans
- Review of Website Code for Possible Improvements
- Listing of Major Issues with Recommendations for Addressing Them
Note that we cannot guarantee that your website will return to its previous positions should each item in the report be addressed. Often times we find evidence of a violation of a search engines guidelines. This may cause a ban. It is entirely possible to have your site reinstated, or to have a penalty removed or lifted. However, it does often require human intervention at the search engine. It can often take several months before your site is reviewed and restored, and there is no guarantee of this.