Back to the future

Site goes from # 1 to nowhere then to #1

[jdancing]

I have a website that is #1 for my main keyword many days, and then it is not to be found for several days, and then back to #1. This has been going on over and over and over for the past several weeks. I heard of everflux but this is ridiculous.

Nothing has changed from day to day, and I don't just slip back a few positions, but instead, the website is not to be found - it seems to drop out of the index.

Sometimes this will happen several times in the same day. How can this be?

[Brett_Tabke]

If this is just happening over the last few weeks, I think it is just whatever G is doing with the index. We have seen many similar reports. I think they are playing "dueling index" tests to see which one performs better.

[DerekH]

Brett, what do you mean by "better"?

You can't leave us hanging by a thread like that! <grin>

DerekH

[EVOrange]

Ditto here.
My site, PR 6 (sometimes 7), 1500+ backlinks (according to Google), 15k plus pages indexed, number #1 for two word key phrase that is also part of site name for nearly 5 years.
Yesterday, vanished.
Today, there one moment, gone the next.
Appears only the homepage is gone, as inner pages that are city specific still appear.

It has jumped up and down in the serps from 42 to 26 over the last several weeks for the main segment keyword.

Three things I changed in the last couple of weeks;
Tested Adwords for the first time for main keyword.
Tested Adbrite on home page.
Copied this into my htaccess,

RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^EmailSiphon [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Hatena [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Sleipnir [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^amzn_assoc [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^EmailWolf [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^autoemailspider [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^ExtractorPro [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^URLSpiderPro [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Crescent [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^ContentSmartz [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^CherryPicker [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^[Ww]eb[Bb]andit [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^WebEMailExtrac.* [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^WebCopier.* [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^NICErsPRO [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Openfind [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^grub-client [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^WebWhacker [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^gigabaz [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^IEAutoDiscovery [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Simple [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^PingALink [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^LexiBot [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Link*Sleuth [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Offline*Explorer [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Teleport [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Zeus.*Webster [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Microsoft.URL [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Wget [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^grub [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^WebCapture [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Sweeper [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Robot [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Aide [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^larbin [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Szukacz [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^httpdown [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^MSIECrawler [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^LinkWalker [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^sitecheck.internetseer.com [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^ia_archiver [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Seeker [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^ASPSeek [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^DIIbot [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Indy*Library [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^psbot [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^foobot [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} .*almaden.* [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^MSProxy [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^SlySearch [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^WebStripper/2.09 [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^EasyDL/2.99 [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^WebZip [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^WebZIP [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Missigua [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^WebAccounting [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^HTTrack [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Dumbot [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^NaverRobot [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^WebStripper [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Xenu [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Seekbot [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^InternetSeer [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^tScholarsBot [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^SearchIt.Bot [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^abot [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^User-Agent [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^mogren [OR]
RewriteCond %{X-moz} ^prefetch [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_X_FORWARDED_HOST} ^world.altavista.com [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_X_FORWARDED_SERVER} ^altavista.com [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^EmailCollector
RewriteRule ^.* - [F]

Have since removed all three.

EVO

[Essex_boy]

Im having the same thing happen to me, there really isnt anything you can about. Diversify your traffic sources for a good nights sleep.