Strange Google Ranking Behaviour / Hiccup?

[BigSumo]

Hi All,

Need your help.

On or around, one of my sites in the Canada legal niche took a massive, near-1000 position drop overnight. No manual penalty. No spammy tactics used. Everything above board. I cannot find anything on site or offsite that explains the drop, and I've checked everything. No rank tracker issues. No competitor sabotage, either.

Typically, when this happens (I've seen it before), it self-corrects rather quickly. However, in this instance, it's kept going to date.

Any ideas?

Thanks, guys!

[Catalyst]

Hi BigSumo,

You said: "On or around, one of my sites" then later said "it's kept going to date"

But I think you left out the part about when it started?

Since I work in the local search world, I was just wondering was this like a general info legal site (pure organic) OR was this an attorney site that has a Google local listing?

Thanks, Linda Buquet

[reseller]

@BigSumo

On or around, one of my sites in the Canada legal niche took a massive, near-1000 position drop overnight.

Did you mean:

- On or around 2nd September 2015?
or
- On or around 23rd September 2015?

[BigSumo]

Hey Guys,

My original post was edited somehow. Sorry about that. The big drop occurred on or around Sep 25th.

Linda: This was an attorney site. Pure organic. Google maps/local listing was not only untouched, but actually thrived during all of this.

[Catalyst]

Thanks BigSumo, one more Q?

You said: "Google maps/local listing was not only untouched, but actually thrived during all of this."

Yes the Google listing itself would not be touched, but the ranking? Wondering about that more specifically.

When you said that did you mean they still rank in the same place or better in Google search? Or did you mean they still rank the same or better in map search?

Sorry for the Qs. Am actually wondering from a couple different angles.

[BigSumo]

Catalyst:

The client's Google Maps rankings improved by nearly 500 positions for the month for various keywords. Sorry for any confusion there.

Meanwhile, their organic keywords went down by nearly 1000 positions for a variety bag of keywords in the span of 24 hours. Boom - just like that.

Does this make sense?

[reseller]

@BigSumo

Has the said site "bad" backlinks?

Btw.. I would suggest you to read the Google update thread of September. You might find some comfort :)
[webmasterworld.com...]

[Catalyst]

BigSumo,

Yes I follow. Was wondering if it was Google Search, ie the 3 pack listings you were talking about. Because those are closely tied to organic rankings BUT I've seen many cases where a business had an organic penalty, but still ranks in the pack, because the local algo, when it merges the two seems to ignore organic penalties, or some of them anyway.