Updated (improved) article - SERPS tanked

[lee_sufc]

I recently updated a 3-4 year old article with new, more relevant information (following hours of work and research). I also deleted an older page with similar (outdated) content. This page previously ranked at around #10 for as long as I can remember. 24 hours after updating, it's now dropped to page 4! I wasn't expecting miracles (or even increased ranking) as my main aim was to enhance the content of this page for my users. However, I'm confused as to how an updated, lengthened and more relevant page can drop so quickly in Google?

[RedBar]

That's typical of Google, I've seen that happen many-a-time, some times the page recovers and goes on to rank better and, then again, some times it keeps sliding.

I've had it happen to me when someone copied an article ad verbatim and started to outrank me. No matter how much I told Google and issuing a DMCA, Google refused to remove it since it wasn't in the USA ... pathetic.

[lee_sufc]

I don't "expect" decent rankings, by any stretch of the imagination, however, you'd expect that an article ranking in #10 which is updated with high-quality content (including extensive research) not to drop 20+ places overnight. Makes you wonder sometimes, why bother? The article before seemed to me to be fairly low quality.

I'll have to keep an eye on it once the dust settles.

[not2easy]

It might have been better to redirect (301) the old page that ranked to the new page that replaced it. Since you said you deleted the older page it appears that the new page has a new name. If that is not the case, ignore all this. If that is the case, It is starting out as an infant rather than getting help from an older brother.

[keyplyr]

lee_sufc check your keyword/keyphrase density. In lengthening the article you may have added too many terms that Google now sees as spammy.

[lee_sufc]

not2easy - basically, I had two pages (different articles but similar pages). One of the pages (the one I deleted) didn't rank anywhere and had little or no incoming links. I therefore took a few paragraphs from this and moved them to the other (older and better ranking page). However, would it make more sense to still redirect that page or just leave it deleted?

keyplyr - I did think this at first, however, I think the keyword density is probably slightly lower than it was. I suppose that in itself could be an issue to look at.

[edited by: lee_sufc at 7:15 pm (utc) on Aug 27, 2017]

[not2easy]

If the older page had no traffic or ranking, it would probably not be a big help to the new page. I think keyplyr's suggestion might be a better idea.

[seoskunk]

Patience is my advice here. Remember Google has built into its algorithm counter SEO measures, one of these being an random reaction to both onsite and offsite changes. I think there's a patent on it somewhere, but basically Google may react initially the opposite way that you might expect in a effort to break SEO spirits.

[seoskunk]

Here is some further reading and a better explanation by Tedster

[webmasterworld.com...]

[lee_sufc]

that's an interesting thought. I have to admit; in the past, what I've done is write an article, submit it via WMT and then watch it rank fairly quickly and well so I've always known it was work well done (not that I ever expect top positions) but still, nice none-the-less. I think I'll leave alone for a few weeks, I won't try adjusting keyword density etc and we'll see what happens.

[lucy24]

I had two pages (different articles but similar pages). One of the pages (the one I deleted) didn't rank anywhere and had little or no incoming links. I therefore took a few paragraphs from this and moved them to the other (older and better ranking page). However, would it make more sense to still redirect that page or just leave it deleted?

Option B is to put an anchor like #oldstuff at the beginning of the section that you moved from the old page to the new page--assuming the moved material is one contiguous chunk--and then instead of returning a 410 for the old page, the redirect would say something like

RewriteRule ^oldpage\.html https://www.example.com/newpage.html#oldstuff [R=301,L,NE]

(The NE flag is needed for any redirect target that involves a fragment, so the human user's browser knows what to do with it.) But that's only worthwhile if you think there might really be human visitors, for example from bookmarks or links. Which you did just say don't exist, so maybe it isn't worth it.

[glakes]

I had two pages (different articles but similar pages). One of the pages (the one I deleted) didn't rank anywhere and had little or no incoming links. I therefore took a few paragraphs from this and moved them to the other (older and better ranking page).

If Google did not like those paragraphs on the old page, I'm not sure why Google would like them any better on the page you kept. I would have re-written the paragraphs with current and concise information, before posting it, at the very least. As it stands now, you have a block of duplicate paragraphs on two pages that will exist until Google crawls and fully processes the 404 page. This being said, I would expect a temporary loss in ranks just from the duplicate content alone.

[lee_sufc]

Thanks, glakes.

I did try to slightly adapt the content from the older page (I'd say it's around 70% the same). The entire page wasn't copied into the updated article, just parts of it. I was conscious of the duplicate content issue which is why I deleted the older page.

[tangor]

As described, you have two pages, one of which is deleted. G might not have the same love for the revised page as it does not see it as a revision but as a new page (perhaps with some duplicate content), thus the revised article has to compete with other existing pages in their index as a new kid on the block, and might not fair as well.

Data changes. Sometimes revision is necessary to keep it accurate. When I face that I INSERT the new data into the old presentation and mark it as such. So far I have never seen an existing ranked page drop more than 1 position doing it that way.

[aristotle]

I INSERT the new data into the old presentation and mark it as such

Do you mean that you use the html5 <ins> ["insert"] tag?

[tangor]

No. Old school. I write it in and let the reader know it is new info while at the same time let the user know this info replaces the old info (which is still there, just marked "deprecated"). YMMV, but for the data I deal with, having old and new to compare is vital.