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Likely more specifically backlinks with the right anchor text for these keywords.
Plenty of sites are disappearing left and right for no fault of their own but because of how Google handles link redirection. It may sound stupid or like a broken record to the people who haven't been hit yet, but it's happeneing. There's nothing you can do, no amount of backlinks or on site SEO will help you. There a few threads running on those...check them out and see.
To see if your site is running into this problem, just enter "site:yoursite.com" into Google without the quotes. If Google shows listings for both versions of your URL (both with and without the "www." prefix) or if no listings for the version without the "www." is shown, you're not affected by this. In the former case, Google has already resolved the situation and in the latter, the problem does not exist at all. But if you only see URLs without the "www." prefix, do a second search WITH the "www." prefix and note the results. You should be able to see if Google considers the two URLs as separate sites as some of the results for the full URL will probably be abnormal - "Supplimental Result" listings or URL-only/partially indexed listings.
If you have run into this situation, the best solution is to set up a code 301 server redirect. Apache-based sites can use the following code in their .htaccess file:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^yoursite.com$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ [yoursite.com...] [R=301,L]
Google should pick up on the redirects within a week or two. Actually, Google will eventually resolve the problem on its own when it does a canonicalization process it performs on an (apparently) irregular basis. So setting up the redirects is much faster, if your host gives you the capability.
If your site isn't a victim of the Missing WWW's, I think its also a good idea to check on any sites that you've added links to in the past few weeks. You may have inadvertantly hooked up with a "bad neighborhood" site.
Put this search in google.
allinurl: "yourdomainname.com" site:yourdomainname.com
Record how many total results it returns.
Of the total results, record how many pages have titles and descriptions.
Record the "number shown" in this string . . . .
---In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the "number shown" already displayed.
If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted results included.---
If the site has a quanity of pages missing titles and descriptions, it is likely the the site has on page issues, that can be fixed without too much work.
See my post here: [webmasterworld.com...]
If your site has the "very similar to the" could be combination of issues. I have been working on a solution for this one, but am only at a 20% success rate. However, most sites I have seen that have this issue have a large ratio of repetitive content or code to unique content or code.
Multiple urls, redirects, etc could also be a problem.
Hate running into this with clients.
If they have these issues, and they don't disclose them early on, I say . . . . your bad.
Obviously we don't advocate any hacking of this kind, but it remains a distinct possibility that could affect our living and that of many people on this board. I assume Google is aware of this issue and I hope, but don't assume, they are working to fix it. This would be a good time for GG to chime in...
