Fluctuations in rankings vs drops in rankings

Fluctuations in rankings, Every time you notice a dip in the ranks for a valuable term for your site, it’s very normal to fall into panic mode. You invest hours in research, creating a strategy, and attempting to reclaim those positions as soon as possible.

You may need to do some optimization in some circumstances to observe gains. But more often than not, you realize you wasted your time when it returns to those locations a few days later with no tweaks necessary.

So, when a few positions are missed, when should you relax and when should you genuinely be concerned? We’ve developed a succinct explanation of how to determine whether your ranking has decreased or you are merely experiencing a typical fluctuation.

Fluctuations in rankings, Ranking Changes versus Drops

Daily ranking changes are normal, especially in light of the fact that Google customizes each SERP to the individual user who is conducting the search. Therefore, even while your preferred rank tracking tool indicates that you are ranking first for a particular term, you won’t necessarily show up in the top spot for everyone.

Looking at the SERP landscape weekly and monthly is one of the first stages in determining whether you’ve had a ranking reduction or just regular variations.

Within a few weeks, you’ll probably get those spots back. Prior to making an effort to create an action plan, play the waiting game for a while.

You can determine how much your page has fallen off as well. You probably have a fluctuation on your hands if you merely dropped a few positions. Now, if you lost a lot of them, there may be a deeper problem that needs to be looked into.

Typical Causes of Ranking Fluctuations

Fluctuations in rankings, Reporting Mistakes

Inaccurate reporting is the primary cause of a significant ranking decline that we frequently observe. Tools break, and rank trackers are just that—tools. A few more frequently than others.

For instance, Ahrefs is a very well-liked SEO tool, yet it is inadequate as a rank tracker. The reason for this is that it doesn’t often update the keywords. Although you may edit the information and view when a term was last updated, it does not immediately reflect on a specific domain.

On Ahrefs, it happens frequently to encounter outdated SERP data. You can see some keyword research that was done on October 27 in the sample below. Many of the inquiries’ data had not been updated in at least two weeks and possibly even a month. It’s an extremely unreliable source for rank tracking overall.

Dedicated rank-tracking tools typically search for your particular domain and update keyword rankings every day. Because Trackright provides us with a variety of options, including the location to search from, we utilize it to monitor keyword rankings.

Fluctuations in rankings, Local Lookup

The placement of your website on the SERPs can be greatly influenced by local search. And as a result, we advise being consistent with your ranking track’s timing and methodology.

This is because conducting the same Google search from two different places can get significantly different outcomes. Try searching for “ice cream shop” from your home and then from your place of employment to better comprehend this (given that you have to travel to an office in a different location for work).

Google is showing incredibly targeted results because it recognizes the search intent, which is that the user wants to buy ice cream right quickly. You’ll likely get a variety of results if you search for “best ice cream stores near me,” including some that are a little further away but are rated as “better.”

Why does this matter? You can appear in a different position when looking up a keyword associated with your website from two separate locations. Consequently, be certain that you are conducting manual searches from the same place.

Better yet, avoid using manual searches altogether. Because the tracker will always search from the same area, using a rank tracker like Trackright can get around that. As a result, for tracking rankings over a longer time frame, this is the choice we advise.

Client Context

Fluctuations in rankings, The context of your search matters just as much as your location in terms of making sure it doesn’t damage your SERP. In addition to the search term you entered, Google takes into account a wide range of other variables to further adapt the SERP to your unique search intent. These consist of:

• The language of your Google account or device.
• Your gadget type (mobile or desktop, OS, etc.)
• Your previous searches.
• More information Google has gathered about your online behavior.

Once more, these errors can be prevented by employing a rank tracker like Trackright.

Fluctuations in rankings, SEO Evaluation

A page that has established itself in a particular location will inevitably experience variations within its own group. Results #1 through #4 and those on the bottom half of the first page frequently swap positions. It’s entirely typical.

This frequently occurs as a result of Google’s primary objective to display the best results in accordance with the search intent. It therefore periodically conducts tests to see which outcome has the highest CTR and maintains user engagement for the longest.

Fresh website

Fluctuations in rankings, It’s crucial to understand that your rankings will change drastically if your website is new, or even just relatively young (let’s just say it’s less than a year old). Your brand-new website ranking incredibly high right away is a fairly regular occurrence. It’s also not uncommon to see that ranking completely decline.

But after a few days, that position vanished completely. This frequently occurs on new websites as a result of Google’s ongoing evaluation of the domain’s overall relevancy. There is absolutely nothing to worry about.

One more piece of advice: be patient and rely on experts.

Fluctuations in rankings, To summarize, it can be difficult to determine whether a ranking decline is indeed a problem. Simply a reflection of larger swings. Given that there is no way to tell for sure, it is difficult to give a specific response, as with many other SEO problems.

If you’re a business owner, our piece of advice is to rely on and trust the opinions of your SEO consultant. With years of expertise under their belts, they will be able to do an analysis like this one and arrive at a likely conclusion by looking for the appropriate things.

As always, exercise patience. It could take some time to determine the cause of your ranking loss, comprehend the nature of the drop, develop a plan of action, carry it out, and start seeing results.

The truth is that problems like these take weeks rather than days to resolve (or even months, in most cases). Would SEO professionals love to hasten the process? Of course, but ultimately, just like you, they are not part of Google. You’ll increase your chances of getting good results by not rushing.