Am I Dead in the Water?

abrupt deep change in listing

[patriciak]

I could use the benefit of experience from the more experienced folk here.

I spent some time two days ago, noting my position re important keyword phrases that I am working to optimize my site for. I noted number of results returned on the query, and my positions of being listed (and if it was re a page of my site or re a listing of my site in a directory, or a link on another website).

The very next morning, the 29th, I went to see if the "dance" had begun, checked a keyword phrase and found out I'd dropped off Google! I had two phrases I was #1 and 2 for, now for one, I am totally gone. My PR hasn't changed, I'm not whited out, I'm not aware of breaking any rules (and have in fact, just put in place the suggestions made in a SEO report I hired someone to put together for me), and have made many changes to the site that I hope will improve my listing.

The results I got on the eve of the 28th, were showing good improvement for keyword phrases where I was not well listed.

So...should I be concerned? Is this likely to be the way it will stay after the "dance" is complete?

Help!

[rogerd]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld, patriciak! It's fairly common, particularly for new sites, to appear and disappear. The next update is (we think!) imminent, so I'd see what happens then before you panic.

>>have in fact, just put in place the suggestions made in a SEO report<<
I doubt if this has anything to do with your current situation, but don't assume this isn't risky - poorly conceived SEO schemes are no doubt the major cause of penalty problems.

[Liane]

Way too soon to start worrying! I think there was a brief beginning to the dance on the 28th which they pulled the plug on, because I too noticed some shifting of sites ... but it didn't make sense.

Sites bounce in and out during the "dance", particularly if they are new to the directory. It often takes a couple of months for the rankings of a new site to settle down.

(added) Sorry Rogerd, you obviously type much faster than I do! :)

[GoogleGuy]

"Don't Panic." More info about our fresh crawl, and why you shouldn't worry:
[webmasterworld.com...]

[britnick]

OK - nice easy question from a newbie.

Is it 'normal'that googlebot and, for that matter, most search engine bots only seem to crawl one or two pages per viist - usually the home page. I just wondered if I had a link problem somewhere

Nick

[patriciak]

Thanks to everyone who replied. I'm reading up on Everflux, and learning about other things to check (i.e. to my dismay and surprise, the cache currently up is of a very old version of my site), and will now fade back to my usual readin' and learnin' and not saying much status.

Patriciak