My rankings have suddenly dropped! What do I need to change?
Don't Panic!! Take a deep breath and first consider these things:
• Is your website new? If it's been less than 6 months, or even a year, you're likely to see some random fluctuations.
• Is it a datacenter issue? Sometimes different datacenters show different results. Just because you see #11 on your computer doesn't mean the rest of your target geographic area isn't seeing #1.
• Are you logged into any of Google's products? If you're logged into Google (gmail, analytics, Adsense, Adwords, etc.), you're seeing different results than the rest of the organic world. Google personalizes results for those logged in. They watch the patterns of your searches (as well as other people that match your profile) and give you the results they think you'll find the most value in. Log out and check again.
The biggest mistake I see when people notice a big adjustment in their preferred rank is rash changes to their sites. People equate the drop to some coincidental change that was made recently. Even if the drop in rankings was merited, it most likely isn't from one single event. Remember that there are billions of factors in Google's Algorithm. You're not working with a controlled environment, so wait and see what happens. Most of your major changes won't be really noticeable for a couple weeks or months anyway.
BUT if you 've been doing some questionable activities to artificially boost your rankings, it may be a result of Black Hat SEO. If you're working against Google's Search Engine Guidelines, you can be banned from Google. The process of resubmitting a site is not fun. Do it right the first time and you won't be stressing over little bumps in your rank.
