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!

The Many Reasons for Backlink Analysis

Backlink analysis is not just for Penguin! It's not just for Unnatural Link Warnings and it's not just for disavowing!

My latest Koozai blog post looks at some of the many other arms of backlink analysis.

Make sure you carry out link checks both frequently and regularly to ensure you stay on top of your backlink profile.

As always, please feel free to comment at the end of the Koozai post and share your opinions or feedback!

Essential 2013 SEO Health Check Guide

This month on the Koozai blog I've created a pretty comprehensive guide to carrying out an SEO Health Check. This was mainly written in anticipation of Penguin 4 (or Penguin 2.0) and now the update has hit it's more important than ever that site's clean up their act if they want to perform well in organic search!

The post doesn't just cover Penguin or link-based issues though; it's a complete guide that looks at essential checks for Panda issues too among others, to ensure your site is within Google's best practice guidelines and most importantly is more likely to compete in the search engine rankings!

I've also created a free PDF checklist to accompany the post so you can have both a comprehensive guide to read through followed by a brief and concise checklist for ticking off activities as you actually undertake your checks.

I hope you guys find it useful and would love to hear your feedback. Please feel free to comment at the end of the Koozai post to share your thoughts, tips or ask questions!

Check both the post and the checklist out here and get involved in the comments section at the end!

+Emma North

Creative Link Building Techniques

My latest Koozai blog post is now live and this month I've looked at some creative link building techniques for the post-Penguin world of SEO. I believe in building a sustainable link strategy and these tactics contribute to that process and ensure a healthy, natural backlink profile.

Check it out here and let me know your thoughts!

+Emma North