Dramatic Google ranking fluctuations - are they normal?

[cybotron]

Hi,

I have been using a SEO company for the past 6 Months for one of my websites.

The website did not rank for any keywords when the SEO was started but now 6 months later I have page 3 to 8 rankings for 6 very competitive keywords.

The rankings that I have now are fluctuating between pages quite dramatically - Yesterday I was on page 2 for a highly competitive keyword but when I checked today the ranking has dropped to page 6. This keyword has been around page 6 for the last few months and yesterday it climbed to page 2 only to be disappointed by it returning to page 6 again.

I just wanted to know if these fluctuations are normal and why rankings fluctuate so much?

Thanks in advance.

[aakk9999]

How are you searching? Are you signed out of Google and do you clear your cookies every time?

[cybotron]

Thanks for the response.

I am searching through google.co.uk and no I am not signed in and yes I do clear the cookies.

[linkbuildr]

What did they do for you?

[cybotron]

The off-site work that is being carried out on the site is:

Article submissions
Directory submissions
Social bookmarking submissions
Article indexing

All relevant to the site of course...

All on-site stuff has been dealt with and there are no problems.

[aristotle]

The rankings continually shift around as new data is digested by the algorithm or minor adjustments are made to the algorithm. Also, different data centers can show different results. Sometimes Google might test potential changes to the algorithm on one particular data center, and this could cause you to see an apparent temporary aberration in the rankings if the results come from that data center. Also, there's an old theory that Google's algorithm intentionally shifts or "rotates" some sites rankings in order to collect sufficient data on user behavior for more sites.

[tangor]

Most likely it is G's algo looking at the new data points (your SEO campaign) and seeing if it actually fits. You really need to give it at least 90 days, if not 180 before any excitement or disappointment sets in. Not enough data collected to answer tte question. Google, or any other search engine is not immediate, or even quick. If you are seeing changes now, some six months in, wait another six to see if they stick.

[Lorel]

Unless you still need more security methods on your chosen browser (like using a proxy) then you might be on the threshold of a penalty when rankings fluctuate up and down like that.

The fluctuations could be due to the SEO's techniques. Unless they were high quality relevant directories in your niche, and unique one-of-a-kind relevant articles posted only once and not spread throughout a network of article sites and he/she was posting intelligent comments on quality social sites.

None of the above are very likely unless you were paying your SEO person mega bucks for the service, like $100 bucks per hour.

The fluctuation could also be due to your site gaining links too fast from the "service". You might want to do a seo analysis on your links to see where they are coming from and if the same anchor text was used too many times and if the same description is used too many times also -- all of which would be a sign to Google that you paid for this service, which could cause a penalty.

Article submissions
Directory submissions
Social bookmarking submissions
Article indexing

[Zivush]

Fluctuation?

I think it's a 'fight' between Google's Panda and the Google's regular search engine ranking algorithm.

[[G tried to integrate Panda into the search algorithm see:[searchengineland.com ].]]

Weird fluctuation must be some kind of mismatch, contradictions or conflict between those two.

[cybotron]

Thanks guys for your input, I will investigate further..