1st place changes, we stay steady at second?

[lionstail]

Our site is holding steady in second place for our strongest keyword, but the 1st place website has recently changed. Is it possible that there's something wrong with our site that prevents us from getting to first place? How would I determine what it is?

Is there such a thing as getting blocked from 1st place?

Thanks!

[tonynoriega]

I think its possible that those sites are getting crawled more often than yours, thus more flutuation between the two...

And, if your site has not undergone any significant changes, or additions of content, then you might be glad you didnt move...

remember you can always move down..!

[Philosopher]

If the #1 site has changed in design and/or content, yet is still sitting in #1, it would seem to me that site likely has a stronger backlink profile than your site.

Remember, these days, on-page factors are only a part of why a site ranks. Often, the off-page factors, especially with homepages, often have more impact.

[tedster]

I read this post differently - not that the the same site is still in #1 with changes to its content, but rather that a different site moved into the #1 spot, jumping over the #2 site which remained in the same place.

[Philosopher]

ahh...I think you're right tedster.

[lionstail]

yes, tedster, you are correct- any insights into this phenomenon?

[tedster]

It is certainly possible that a site is in #2 because of some human editorial input [webmasterworld.com]. But I'd say it's more likely that the current update (which has generated a LOT of churn) is the cause in this case.

See Google Updates and SERP Changes - July 2009 part 2 [webmasterworld.com] for lots of observations.