On the slide

Position 1000, here I come!

[DerekH]

I've got an authority site (well, I like to think it is anyway), that's been ranking 1 in Google for a particular two word search term in a minority field since 1998.
It's updated only rarely, and that's always been the way - it's a reference site.
It's started to slide down the SERPS - from 1 to 8, to 11, to 23, to 98

On other searches it's still number one, and it's got a modest number of solid inbound links (again static over a long time).

Those sites that it's changing places with as it tumbles from view are similar authority sites too, with seldom changing content.

So this is a bit different from transgressing some "Google rule" and disappearing. This is altogether more painful to watch!

My other sites are, touch wood, totally static in the SERPS.

Any ideas anyone?
Best regards from one of the lower positions in the SERPS...
DerekH

[DerekH]

Excuse the un-Britishness of this, but I'm just nudging it up and pushing to the front of the queue, as the mods let it "mature" for so long, it gave birth to itself on Page 2 of the forum!
DerekH

[Emmett]

Have you thought about adding some content to make it fresh again?

[birdstuff]

My guess is you have either lost a few high-value links or your high-value links aren't as valuable as they once were.

[garytexas]

Is this only happening with your index page?
And, is that 2 word term in your Title, h1 or 2 heading and perhaps an alt tag on your index PAGE.

[ncgimaker]

Are your pages disappearing from Google? (with only link showing)?

Is your site all about a single subject, a deep niche site rather than a wide shallow site?

[steveb]

Read the patent.

[Lorel]

The way that sites are requesting specific link text for their pages now is probably on reason, i.e., you're being outnumbered. Does that page have any links coming in to it? Does it have that keyword in the link text?

Whenever I see one of my pages starting to slide I tweak the code a bit (see post above about H1, title, etc,) and submit that particular page to a few sites with that keyword in the link text.

[caveman]

This is nothing new...been going on for a good long while now. As steveb says, read the patent, but really, there's been a freshess/site-progress thing happening in various forms since pre Florida, and more pronounced since sandbox, and even more so since Allegra.

If not much is happening with your site, it will die. Stupid, since there are a ton of fine sites in the 'ref' category as you say, that are currently falling victim to this, among the stupidest of all G's attempts to curb SPAM in a while now. But G seems desparate these days.

You might expect things will get better for your site; they typically do at times like this when a bunch of really good sites get wacked by the algo. Still, to be safe, add content and quality links if you can, and hope you have not just been tagged at a 'non-top-site'. :/

[DerekH]

Sorry not to reply sooner!
No, my pages aren't going URL only - only oa few of the 240 pages are not in the index.
Yes, it's primarily the index page that seems to be suffering - other pages seem to rank well.
No, I don't think I've lost some high-ranking links - my PR is still 5 (which is good for this minority area), and besides, losing PR on the home page (which is one of the few with inbound links) would suggest other pages would plummet too.

Having said all that, I've Googled from a PC rather than a Mac, using a different ISP, and it looks like there's some very different indexes out there and that the one I have been hitting from my Mac ranks ny site poorly (currently entry 79, down from 1), whereas the other index ranks me at 11.

Maybe this will sort itself out in the fullness of time!
DerekH

[DerekH]

So having looked at different indexes in Google, I can see that in the indexes where I rank well, Google has taken a snippet from my page.

In the indexes where I do badly, Google has taken the DMOZ description, out of date as it is.

So perhaps my question is...
"How do I get Google to quote good content from my page, instead of out-dated content from DMOZ? "
DerekH