Google changing ranked pages

[djdavejones]

Hello people,

I have recently noticed a change in the way Google ranks my website for one of our main keywords and would like to know if I should be concerned.

Apparently overnight we dropped a good few places for one of our main keywords. This also coincided with google changing the page that it ranks for this keyword from the home page to one of the sub pages instead.

Should i be concerned that google has changed the ranking to one of the sub pages? Should your home page always be the page which ranks for your chosen keywords?

 

[GMH1982]

Hello people,

I have recently noticed a change in the way Google ranks my website for one of our main keywords and would like to know if I should be concerned.

Apparently overnight we dropped a good few places for one of our main keywords. This also coincided with google changing the page that it ranks for this keyword from the home page to one of the sub pages instead.

Should i be concerned that google has changed the ranking to one of the sub pages? Should your home page always be the page which ranks for your chosen keywords?

My advice is leave it for a few days before taking any action.

They test various algorithims a hell of a lot and this can often skew results and listings for a perios although the majority of the time they will right themselves.

Obviously the above is applicable if you have not been deploying any underhand tactics or made any site changes in the last couple of weeks.

I would assume the sub page ranking would be better for you? as in more relevant and better conversion?

 

[OldWelshGuy]

Thius is very common, it is where the algorithm is fighting with itself for onpage/offpage optimisation. The simple way is to decide which is the most relevant, then build links to that page using your required anchor text. These can be internal or external links, internal links will help cement which page you want ranking.

This is why correct internal link structure is important.

 

[terryuk]

This was spoke about recently... and it's happened to a website of mine since.. the rankings which were for the root domain now appear for the sub page but no rankings have dropped. It goes back to the homepage ranking now and again, it's been ranking for the sub page for a week or two now. I guess it's all good though as it just shows their are two pages of importance for that given phrase.

 

[newsvend]

I wouldn't be overly concerned, though it's possibly an indication that you need to be spending more time optimising and adding content.

I would add that rankings can often change just for day or two before returning to more or less the same positions so hold your horses for about a week before making any major changes.

Google may not have 'changed' or 'swapped' one of your urls for another - it may be that the home page has dropped right behind and the other page has been given a boost.

The home page is not necessarily the page that ranks for your keywords although many webmasters strive to align the site's top two or three keywords with the home page.