Why Have You Lost Your Google Rankings?

If you have lost your Google rankings, it could be that you've been "hit" with either a manual penalty or an algorithmic one as a result of Google Penguin. Before you can go about fixing the issue, it is essential that you understand exactly what's happened.

Manual Penalties

Manual penalties are the result of Google's Web Spam team when they discover unnatural links pointing to your site. If the team believe that you have engaged or are engaging in any spammy practices outside of Google's Webmaster Guidelines you will be subjected to a manual penalty that could see your site drop of the search engine results pages altogether.

Generally with manual penalties you will receive a notification of what has happened and why in Google Webmaster Tools. You can check for this warning by navigating to the Manual Actions section of the tool, under the Search Traffic subheading.

Google Penguin

If you have not received a manual penalty but have seen significant drops in search engine rankings, it is possible that your site has suffered as a result of the Google Penguin algorithm update This would still indicate spammy and unnatural links that you need to identify and deal with.

Of course, there could be any number of other issues causing or contributing to your sudden loss of or drop in rankings. For more information, please check out my latest post:

Why Have My Rankings Dropped? An SEO Troubleshooting Guide

Rediscover the Search Queries Report to Beat (not provided)

So you might remember the Search Queries Report in Google Webmaster Tools as an old, useless tool that had no place in SEO when you have the far more accurate data in Google Analytics. I know, I did too.

However, times are changing and with (not provided) taking over our organic keyword reports in Analytics, it's time to look elsewhere for keyword insight.

Check out my latest Koozai blog post to find out how to use this age-old report to gain new insight into keywords and track your keyword rankings at the same time.

More Creative Link Building Techniques!

Six months have passed since I wrote about Creative Link Building Techniques including broken link building, interviewing and link bait. I decided it was time to revisit the topic following a number of search engine updates and given the fast-paced industry we're in!

My latest post, "More Creative Link Building Techniques for a Natural Backlink Profile", includes a range of new techniques and advice including the importance of creating a link building strategy and techniques such as "top 10" posts, competitor backlink analysis for opportunities and good-old "How To" guides.

I hope you enjoy this latest post and find it useful. Hopefully between the two posts you can takeaway a couple of ideas to implement on your site. Please feel free to leave a comment at the end of the Koozai post and let me know how you get on!

Getting Clicks But No Conversions In AdWords? Rubbish Campaign vs. Rubbish Site...

This month I have looked at how to diagnose the cause of low a low conversion rate in an AdWords campaign, highlighting the need to look at both the quality of the ad campaign and the site and landing pages themselves.

There is nothing more frustrating than seeing budget dwindle on a paid search campaign delivering a good amount of traffic but no sales or leads. This is especially true when sometimes only the slightest tweaks to a campaign or landing page can make such a massive difference.

With e-commerce sites in particular, it is essential to build trust with the user; a factor that some website designers and developer forget or neglect. If you're asking a visitor who has clicked an advert to reach your site to buy your product and hand over their money, they have to feel comfortable with your site and confident in your brand. Without this trust, there is no sale.

Please feel free to check out the post and comment at the end if you have any questions or feedback!

What Causes A Low CTR In AdWords?

This month my Koozai blog post looks at the causes of a low Click Through Rate in Google AdWords and what you can do to improve it.

Source: Nick Andrews' post on Receptional

I have looked at the effects of a low Quality Score and low Average Position and most importantly what you can do to improve them and in turn improve CTR. You should also see your CPC drop as your ad quality and CTR improves, so it's win-win when done right!

Please feel free to check out the post and comment at the end if you have any questions or feedback!