Position 1 ranking appears and disappears twice a month

[vetofunk]

We used to be #1 for a very,very competitive term for years...then last year Google dropped us out totally and filled in the spot with other sites. We jumped back into that spot for about 3 weeks this year...and then dropped off the map again.

So I started tracking the changes for the serp and noticed that the only position changing is the #1 spot. The #1 spot changes at least twice per month...all the other positioning moves around...but those listings stay on page one, #1 onlystays for a couple weeks and then disappears.

For example...about a week ago, the new listing is an article about this competitive term that was posted July 28th, 2009. I am sure it will disappear within a week or two.

Any idea why Google is doing this?...and only with the #1 spot?

[tedster]

I've never seen this happen with position #1. Other spots, yes - members here have been calling it the "yo-yo". Certainly position 1 trades around between different sites on some query terms, but disappear into the depths and then re-appear, and on a cycle? That's a new one on me.

If this search term is important for you, I'd suggest monitoring it 4 to 6 times a day to get a more complete picture of what's going on. You may find that the ranking changes are more frequent that twice a month.

I'd also suggest checking with a browser-based search and not a tool based search. And even more, you may want to see if WHICH browser you use is affecting the SERP.

[vetofunk]

My listing was the only one I saw reappear...since then it seems they are article or story based results...which are there for a couple weeks then disappear and never come back. The current listing is one from US News.

It's strange because it's only happening with the singular version...we are still #1 for the plural version.

[vetofunk]

Tedster - This same article result has now (Aug 20th) taken the place of our number 1 listing for the plural term...a term we had held for years. I don't see our homepage in the search results in the top 500...though other internal pages are scattered for that term here and there.

Any ideas - These are 6 figure terms for them...so it's something I have really been focusing on.

[tedster]

I've got nothing much more than all the discussion we've been having here, especially recently. Did the site that took over the #1 spot come up the page, or did it come from "nowhere"? Also, have you checked for disruptive backlinks that you didn't place?

[vetofunk]

Hey Tedster,

Yep...it came up out of nowhere...none of the other listings on the serp changed. I reviewed all backlinks, especially the ones using the anchor text "widget(s)"...using a tool of ours. Nothing out of the ordinary, but decided to remove a few that could be a problem...but nothing I saw stood out as an "ah-ha" moment.

Since it's only these two terms...one which happened last year and the other on August 20th, it's got to be link related right?

Also, let's say it was because of a link exchange I did or link related...and I removed that link that was the problem, would Google remove this penalty automatically or is it something I would still need to file a re-inclusion request for?

[vetofunk]

The drop of our main term "widgets" on August 20th has retaken its original spot at position 1 in Google. So I am not sure if it was a bug or my changes helped it come back. Being frightened that it was a penalty here are some of the things I did:

1/ Changed link text on any incoming links with using this exact phrase.
2/ Found 2 directories we were listed in somehow (I didn't put us there) and the link were site wide; I had them removed.
3/ All link exchanges that I have done in the past that were not top, top, top quality were removed...ended up being over 50% of them.
4/ Removed an internal link on the site that was this exact phrase, pointed to the homepage on every page in the footer.

This was all done this last week...so again, not sure if it was the changes or just a bug. I am really hoping it will stick and not revert back to oblivion again.