Drops in SERPs - updating content but unsure about link building

[BexjEvans]

< moved from another location >

Hi

I have just joined this forum after trying to look for some solutions to the recent drop in my SERPs. I started work on the website in April and since then, we have made excellent progress. Holding page 1 and position 1-5 for several of our main keywords. However, i have noticed recently that we are dropping right out.

I regularly update the website with fresh content. I have held back on the link building a little as i am nervous about doing this after the recent update. I have optomised all the pages i can, even making sure i am below 3% for my keyword density. Each page is relevant to the user.

I work for a <widget service> company, which i don't know if Google is targetting particular sectors because of your keywords to try and stop spamming.

I have back links coming to the site from article published on other peoples blogs. Which i post on MyGuestBlog.

Has anyone got any suggestions as to why i am noticing this drop over the last few weeks?

Any help would be appreciated. I work for a new company and we rely on SEO as part of our marketing. So far about 11% of our <widget sales> come from SEO results and i would like to see an increase in this by the end of the year.

Thanks in advance.
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[edited by: aakk9999 at 1:44 pm (utc) on Sep 2, 2013]
[edit reason] Forum charter, no niche naming please [/edit]
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[edited by: Robert_Charlton at 9:46 pm (utc) on Sep 2, 2013]
[edit reason] moved to separate thread [/edit]

[Robert Charlton]

I have back links coming to the site from article published on other peoples blogs. Which i post on MyGuestBlog.

Hi BexjEvans, and welcome to WebmasterWorld. To avoid taking the update thread too far into the discussion of any one site, I've split this off into its own discussion.

Yes, backlinks as you describe will get you into trouble. Google has made it clear, now, that they consider these to be self-placed links. Several recent discussions that might get you started thinking about this....

Google says link building is not dead, illegal or bad
http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4592085.htm [webmasterworld.com]

Press Releases - Are they spam?
http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4593187.htm [webmasterworld.com]

Articles posted on article sharing or blog-share sites, with the purpose of getting you multiple backlinks, are likely to be treated as unambiguously spammy... and have been considered for a long time now to do more harm than good.

If you have records on what you've been doing... I'm curious how recently you started the blog posting, and how closely the drop in rankings followed that.

[JD_Toims]

What Robert_Charlton said about the blog links, and and additional SEO note.

I have optomised all the pages i can, even making sure i am below 3% for my keyword density. Each page is relevant to the user.

Keyword density as a ranking mechanism has been obsolete for quite some time. I know many people still talk about it and think it counts, but the "new keyword density" is co-occurring phrases present within a document relative to the use of those phrases in natural writing relating to any given topic.

[Robert Charlton]

Regarding article directories, which might be analogous to the situation you're using, see this thread...

Any value in submitting to article directories?
http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4600464.htm [webmasterworld.com]

You should also be thinking in terms of user engagement, and of improving the quality of your onsite content to the point where it's good enough that you yourself might bookmark it. That's when it's good enough to attract legitimate inbound links.