Google loves us but we have disappeared from SERPs.

[grouse]

We rank between #1 and #4 for over 40 short tail and long tail keywords for over 5 years in search console. We were appearing on page 1 amongst the big boys in our industry (we are a tiny company) but now we have disappeared completely yet still rank #1. All other browser brands still show us on page 1.

The anomaly is that Search console and Adsense are logging impressions and CTR all be it a big drop so we must be out there. Our traffic is normally 90% search.

If I search on google, incognito, via vpn, friends and family and mobile data nobody can see us anymore. Our ranking’s have not dropped but we have disappeared for ALL of our longtail and shortail keywords when searched in google. It’s not just we have been pushed back on to lower pages, we have gone completely. The other odd thing is we do still appear high in the images. We are a free certificate site so it’s mainly images. If I do the site:domain.com all our pages are there. Once in a blue moon we do pop up in Serps but it is rare.

I have asked for guidance on the google seo forum but this seems a bit beyond the usual. Originally the pundits were saying it’ll sort itself out over a few weeks but it has been 6 months.
Has anyone seen this issue before and knows how to fix it?

Many thanks, Grouse

[RedBar]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld grouse

Has anyone seen this issue before and knows how to fix it?

I'll be brief, yes and no !

Yes I experienced it several years ago with an exact match domain name website for which I own the registered trademark, I was the originator of the product in about 1983 and ranked #1 for years and years. Over a period of a few months G managed to remove us from both sets of SERPs and I had a huge amount of exclusive images that G started assigning to other sites. How the heck was that possible?

No, I never found a way of fixing it, I still own the domain name since it is my registered trademark however I eventually closed that site about 5-6 years ago.

The only conclusion I / we could come to was that we dominated the SERPs yet we are a non-US business PLUS I have seen many of my most popular widgets suffer a similar fate.

If you've been Google spanked after 5 years of doing well I can only wish you good luck with your efforts.

[grouse]

Thanks Redbar for such a prompt reply.

I feared that it was unfixable and could mean my business goes down as we relied completely on Google (lesson learnt).
In your expertise what do you think about buying a new domain and 301'ing everything to that. Could that fix it?

Thoughts.

Grouse.

[tangor]

The new domain starts at zero and has MORE competition from already indexed sites.

g ain't stupid, it will see the 301 as an attempt to game the system (whatever g has decided is the system), and you'd have to keep both sites running and funded for the 301s to continue to work properly.

Periodically g seems to restructure its long tail matching, effectively breaking things until a new set of long tails emerges. Why? I don't know. But what else can it be?

[RedBar]

I feared that it was unfixable

I'm not saying it's unfixable simply that I didn't find the answer to it and until a day when I decide to create a US registered business to find out if my suspicions are correct, I doubt I'll never know. However I do work in a global industry and al , yes all, my non-US business colleagues in various countries also suffered with the same issue.

Buying a new domain won't help either, I transferred all the info and many of the images off that site to my main global one and those pages, after several years, rarely rise above #30 BUT, BUT, I am the first non-US business :-)

It seems to me that a high value keyword is allocated to US businesses first even if they are all using the same images, text and supplier as the #1 result. FWIW G seems to be assuming that the enquiry is a retail buying one therefore displays loads of retaill widget suppliers. When I search for not so popular widgets I can see all kinds of suppliers from different countries and I am invariably #1.

Brandng doesn't seem to matter, backlinks don't seem to matter, authority definitely doesn't matter ... It's who G deems to be the best fit with all their classified ads.

[grouse]

I take comfort I haven't been singled out by G. (we are a UK company BUT our server is hosted in the US so I guess the only way G could know we are UK is from Adsense, so it begs the question, if I was non advertise revenue would I have not disappeared)
The weird bit is that Search console reports 80k impressions and 1k click through per month for US alone and my analytics says the lion share has come from G. So, clearly I am appearing in G Serps BUT can anyone second guess why I cant see any results myself or friends with vpns and other machine IDs as this behaviour doesn't seem to be exactly the same as RedBar mentions. (and SC does show impressions and clicks for UK too).
You're gonna laugh at this .... in desperation I have just tried posting this question via the feedback option in SC ....hmm not holding my breath.
Appreciate everyone's feedback so far :)

[engine]

If you're in the index, that's a start. I wouldn't open another site as that'll just take resources away.

It used to be a big thing to be hosted in one country or another, with Google favouring SERPs for the hosted country. Google managed to sort that out at one stage and i'd forgotten about it. Could that issue reared its ugly head again? IDK, but it's worth considering.

Also, if you haven't done it, it's worth exploring localization signals, such as Maps, etc.

[superclown2]

If you have a UK site you should have a UK server and, ideally, a .co.uk or .uk domain name. One upon a time you went for the .com then let G know your main market was in the UK but that isn't possible now.

[grouse]

Many thanks for all the thought out help.
I'm going back to do some deep diving into my analytics to see just where my, all be it diminished traffic, is coming from. After that if no solutions then I'll just watch my little business go down the G-toilet.
One silver lining - I found this forum!

[engine]

@grouse, Just throwing ideas to you...

Perhaps it's time to run a full audit, not just using Google's own tools.

One other angle to look at is to make the focus on enquiries, and not on ranking.
In addition, spread the load beyond Google.
Experiment with Google ads. The reason I mention the ads is because it can often help prove if the enquiries are actually there, or whether it's also a market-specific challenge.

Try it all, and test, test, test.

[grouse]

Thanks @engine
These are good words of advice for general disappearance.
I have gone back through this thread and fear I have not expressed my problem correctly.

In a nutshell.
a. I have not been dropped by Google
b. I have 80k impressions and 1K click throughs per month via google (80% of current traffic)
c. My click thoroughs come from multiple countries including largely US and UK
d. I am fully indexed by Google
e. Search console ranks all my short and longtail as #1 - #5
f. All other brands of search display us on page 1

My problem is if I, my work colleagues search under any/all my longtail and shortail keywords my site does not appear anywhere in SERPs for me, not just pushed back but nothing. Image search does appear. This issue has led to a 50% drop in overall traffic.

I test under, incognito, vpn, virtual cross bowser testing sites, mobile data, friends and family scattered around the UK. All show the same issue.
So why do 80 thousand people get to see me in Serps and I cannot.

I hope that explains things better and thanks for your continued interest especially as I am so new.

Grouse

[not2easy]

It sounds like Google is ranking you for related terms but not your 'target' keywords. In GSC you should see the terms people use to find your site and from there you might have ideas on how to either optimize for the more successful terms or move closer to relating your successful terms to your desired terms. I would move slowly and avoid mass content changes, more a trial and observation mode to find the right steps.

I would also take a closer look at the sites that are currently doing better for your terms. Not to copy anything, but to look for difference patterns that you can use. Try to see why they are doing better for 'your' terms than you are.

[grouse]

Thanks @not2easy.
Sage advice. I have begun the steps you mention and there is a hint of a pattern. Actually in doing this together with your other advice i'm finding my big boy competitors appear to be all over the place now I am digging. Lots of work to do but thanks for giving me the direction.
If I get a conclusive answer/solution I'll post it in case it helps someone else.
Grouse

[grouse]

I said I would update this thread when I had news in case it helps someone else.
Suddenly all my serps are back loud and proud, page one everywhere, 14 short terms and all 50 long tails. So, what fixed it, and here is the thing.
But first just a reminder that the strange issue I was suffering was a sudden disappearance from serps of all my search terms for 5 months. I maintained #1 rankings in SC and recorded search impressions in SC despite not being able to find ourselves in serp so I hadn't actually disappeared just nobody could find me.
There are two key issues that changed (fixed it) I disappeared two weeks after the SPAM algorithm and reappeared 6 weeks after the March big Google update OR, and this is for conspiracy theorists .... I disappeared two weeks after removing GA4 and reappeared 2 weeks after re installing GA4 with a 5 month gap in between. Sounds unbelievable but them's the facts! Thanks to everyone for their input. Lets hope everything stays OK.

[not2easy]

Great news, grouse, happy to hear it is all good again..

I wonder whether addressing the GA4 removal in that account when it was first removed might have helped. If the account was active and not able to 'see' anything whether that might have confused the bots and contributed to it?