Big rankings drop. Realised http://example.com redirect was disabled. Impact?

[Anon]

I'm just hoping to receive some feedback. My online store has seen massive ranking drops over the past month. It has gone from first page to third which is destroying us. I realised last night (unknown to me how) that the 301 redirect from http://example.com to http://www.example.com was removed - I don't know how long it was like this for. In trying to work out why we keep dropping, could this have made a big impact on our recent drops?

[edited by: brotherhood_of_LAN at 12:27 am (utc) on Sep 8, 2014]
[edit reason] used example.com [/edit]

[Pjman]

Once the you settle the redirect, rankings should jump back in a few weeks. Had that happen to me a few years ago. Chanel update was the culprit there.

[not2easy]

Do you have your domain in a GWT account? If you do, you should have a preferred URL set there that helps Google (if none of the others) understand what URL to use with or without the redirect. The redirect helps keep inbound links coming to where you want but it isn't critical to the point of causing that kind of drop. Fix it, go to your GWT account and use "Fetch as Google" to be sure they see it and look for something else that might not be the way it should. Several others here report big drops around the same time. One discussion here: [webmasterworld.com...] and a previous similar drop in late June: [webmasterworld.com...] -you might get clues from those discussions.

[Anon]

Thanks guys for the quick replies and I will look into everything said. I had a SEO contracted for the past 2 years who turned to very bad habits and had to let go recently so never really checked on these things. Just logging into GWT now both sites are there - one as http://example and http://www.example. :O

[edited by: brotherhood_of_LAN at 2:28 am (utc) on Sep 8, 2014]
[edit reason] delinked example [/edit]

[phranque]

it's good to have GWT accounts for both hostnames.
this helps track problems with either hostname such as your situation with the missing redirect.

[Anon]

I've just noticed that we are no longer listed on the top 50 search results now for our primary (and most important) keyword. I can't even find our site listed anymore for the keyword! I have checked webmaster tools and there is nothing about us being punished. Could we have been temporarily removed due to fixing the 301 redirect?