Why did my Google ranking drop?
Common causes are Google updates, technical problems, site changes, seasonal demand, competitors, or a reporting glitch. Check Search Console before changing anything.
Rankings move for many reasons, and most drops have an ordinary explanation. Google lists the main causes as algorithm updates, technical problems, security issues, spam problems, changes in what people search for, site moves, and data or reporting glitches. Find the cause before you change anything.
Common causes
| Cause | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Google update | A shift across many pages around the date of an announced update. Google notes core updates can change how pages perform. |
| Technical issue | Pages suddenly missing from Google. Often a site outage, a wrong "noindex" tag or a blocked page. |
| Site changes | A redesign, new web addresses or removed pages without redirects. |
| Seasonal demand | Fewer people searching for your service at this time of year. |
| Competitors | A competitor improved their site or opened nearby. |
| Security problem | Google warning visitors that the site may be hacked. |
| Manual action | Google penalized the site for a spam policy violation. Rare for normal small business sites. |
| Reporting glitch | Your tool's numbers changed but real calls and visits did not. |
Steps
Official guide: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/monitor-debug/debugging-search-traffic-drops
- Check whether calls, bookings and form fills actually dropped, or only a ranking tool's number.
- In Google Search Console, open the Performance report and compare the last few months to the same months last year.
- Check the Page indexing report for pages that dropped out of Google.
- Check the Security issues and Manual actions reports.
- Think about what changed on your site around that date: a redesign, new pages, removed pages, a domain change.
- Use Google Trends to see whether interest in your service dropped everywhere.
- Write down what you find before making changes.
We can look into it. Open a request in your client portal with the date you noticed the drop. Our team will check Search Console and your site and tell you what we find.
Common problems
- If only a ranking tool shows a drop, rankings vary by location and device. Search Console and real leads are better measures.
- If the drop came right after a redesign, missing redirects are the usual cause. See the article on protecting SEO during a redesign.
- If someone says they can "recover" your rankings fast for a fee, be cautious. See the article on ranking guarantees.
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