Strange, huge ranking drop - big problem

[Rostick]

My website is www.betdistrict.com, free tips website.

In the last week I noticed a huge drop in rankings in Google. Keywords for which I previously ranked on the first page, like "team X - team Y betting preview" are now lost beyond the 10th page - and that`s on my own computer where google personalization should find me as the first few results. My google traffic has decreased with about 500%, it`s actually close to non-existent right now with about 150 hits per day.

The problem is just with the new pages I`m posting daily. The old posts are still doing fine, like if you search "Basel - Salzburg betting preview" I`m still there on the first pages but of course that`s not helping me.

I find it very frustrating because I don`t understand why. I use only white hat seo, no spam, quality updated content, everything should be fine.

The only thing I can think of is that 1 month ago a programmer helped me with some pages that were not getting indexed (my betting tips pages, i talked about it here: https://www.gpwa.org/forum/betting-t...ed-211718.html). He did the job and at first everything was fine, pages were getting indexed, rankings remained the same. However now that I see this drop, I`m thinking it might be connected - despite the fact that I trust this programmer.

My hope is that it`s just a temporary issue, otherwise I`m pretty much dead with this drop prior to the World Cup (for which I was working my ass off to be ready). I haven`t heard of an update. I`m a full time affiliate / onliner and this is killing me, as this is my main website.

Any ideas for this drop guys, or potential solutions? Thanks.

[allfreechips]

Anything reported in your webmaster tools page?

[baldidiot]

There's a distinct difference in the title tag format between the old and new posts - it may not be the sole cause of the traffic drop, but it certainly can't be helping:

Old post: http://www.betdistrict.com/red-bull-...etting-preview
Title: Red Bull Salzburg - FC Basel betting preview | Betdistrict.com

New Post: http://www.betdistrict.com/betting-t...al-madrid-3283
Title: Betdistrict.com | Betting tips | Olympiacos - Real Madrid

So the new titles are missing the term 'betting preview' and also have the domain and category before the event heading. I'd definitely look at switching that back to the old method and see if it helps.

As a side note, have you also considered putting the date in the title? A lot of people search with dates, and also teams often play each other multiple times - so the date lets the users know what game you're talking about.

Just a thought...

[freebetsfreetips]

We've had similar issues in the past and not known why. I assume it's just changes google have made. Even if no major algo changes there can still be loads of tweaks that could have made this change. Sorry to say I don't have any advice on how to fix it either.

[edgarf76]

You can check in google webmaster tools where the metatags are to see if you have any duplicate title and description issues.

[Rostick]

UPDATE: Old articles have also dissapeared from google first page, so this begins to look like a penalty ... I have no idea what I`ve done, I`m an honest webmaster.

@baldidiot - no, you are looking at two different categories. the ones with the "preview" are editors' tips (where I was getting most of my traffic) and remained the same, just that 2 weeks ago I started adding the date in the title, just like you suggested here. The "tips" are user generated content.

Webmaster tools looks just fine...

Thanks guys, any further input is appreciated

[RacingJim]

Sounds like a penalty to me too mate. Just going off the droppng out to page 10 sounds like an algorithmic penalty. You now must go through a laborious set of processes to figure out why google decided it doesn't like you anymore.

Links-based stuff, Check your backlink profile using Webmaster Tools AND something like Majestic link checker.
Also maybe content, Google could have decided your content is either duplicate or low quality or overly optimised.

I'm going through the same thing at the mo with one of my main sites, it's a stressful thing to happen.

[sweetbet]

Check to see if anyone is copying your content.

[baldidiot]

@baldidiot - no, you are looking at two different categories. the ones with the "preview" are editors' tips (where I was getting most of my traffic) and remained the same, just that 2 weeks ago I started adding the date in the title, just like you suggested here. The "tips" are user generated content.

Oh ok, my bad - didn't realise they were different sections...

[casinovegas]

It would be amazing and save people a lot of headaches if you got a notification to say your site has lost rankings due to - links or content etc etc. Won't ever happen though, just a guessing game.

[Rostick]

I notice the problem is getting worse and worse, even for the most uncompetitive keywords I`m out of Google`s first 15-20 or God knows how many pages. I might overreact (don`t we all) but this surely is a penalty, it really doesn`t look like a Google dance or something that will resolve on its own. It hit me bad, I was on a roll, really improving and looking forward for the World Cup. I guess what I can take for this is that I`m learning with experience.

@sweetbet - actually I did find copied content about 2 weeks ago, I took action and they removed it. Not mass-copied though, just a couple of previews.

@SportsBets4free - man I`d really wish for that now.

I think I`m gonna wait until the weekend goes and then contact my programmer to see if he has a clue / did something wrong, then I`ll have to go with a SEO specialist. I don`t have even the most remote clue of what I did wrong - I didn`t even put too much emphasys on SEO.

[Rostick]

just to throw this out there, I guess it can`t have anything to do with the All in One SEO pack for wordpress and their updates?

Also, my betting previews have pretty much the same keywords in the All in One Seo Pack (x-y betting preview, tips, picks, odds, lineups, x to win, bet etc)

[RacingJim]

It would be amazing and save people a lot of headaches if you got a notification to say your site has lost rankings due to - links or content etc etc. Won't ever happen though, just a guessing game.

Agree it would be a massive help if Google could tell us why. never going to happen though they like to keep this mystery around it all so we just give up and go PPC.

[Rostick]

We also have to aknowledge it`s pretty hard for the likes of Google to do such a thing considering the colossal volume of users they have, but indeed they could improve their efforts in this regard.

[edgarf76]

Rostock I would hold off before changing your strategy. There has been a lot of spam sites in the SERPS and Google news. There has to be an algorithm change soon. IMO


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[Moonlight Cat]

I find it very frustrating because I don`t understand why. I use only white hat seo, no spam, quality updated content, everything should be fine.
Any ideas for this drop guys, or potential solutions? Thanks.

Maybe the reason is non-unique content? I check some articles from your website, and find non-unique content

1.) Your site: http://www.betdistrict.com/betting-t...d-norwich-3305
Double content: http://www.bettinginfos.com/en/tipst...26-103506.html


2.) Your site: http://www.betdistrict.com/betting-t...ge-groves-2548
Double content: http://www.bitmoretechnical.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/the-tip-carl-froch-vs-george-groves-ii.html

3.) Your site: http://www.betdistrict.com/betting-tips/nadal-almagro-3301
Double content: http://www.betshoot_com/90376-Nadal-...o-betting-tips

4.) Your site: http://www.betdistrict.com/betting-t...ro-errani-3299
Double content: http://www.betshoot_com/90373-Suarez...i-betting-tips

This is i find only for first 20 minutes.

[Rostick]

Maybe the reason is non-unique content? I check some articles from your website, and find non-unique content

1.) Your site: http://www.betdistrict.com/betting-t...d-norwich-3305
Double content: http://www.bettinginfos.com/en/tipst...26-103506.html


2.) Your site: http://www.betdistrict.com/betting-t...ge-groves-2548
Double content: http://www.bitmoretechnical.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/the-tip-carl-froch-vs-george-groves-ii.html

3.) Your site: http://www.betdistrict.com/betting-tips/nadal-almagro-3301
Double content: http://www.betshoot_com/90376-Nadal-...o-betting-tips

4.) Your site: http://www.betdistrict.com/betting-t...ro-errani-3299
Double content: http://www.betshoot_com/90373-Suarez...i-betting-tips

This is i find only for first 20 minutes.

Indeed, but this is an issue for all betting tips websites, as there are tipsters posting their picks on multiple websites. Basically the bigger you are, the less unique content you will have (kind of a paradox). For sure it`s not good, but as I said all betting tips websites have this issue. I asked my tipsters to try and post on betdistrict first and I do have a lot of unique content, so I don`t think this should ever hurt my rankings. Also my best quality content (which I write daily) is unique.

I just want to CLEARLY state that you were not talking about copied content, as I am an avid fighter against plagiarism and don`t want anybody to misinterpret what you said.

[Rostick]

Well, after whining like a little b****, something I was secretly hoping for happened. After 8 days of disappearing from the rankings, yesterday I found myself back in Google and apparently my rankings have even improved! @edgarf76 was right, I was honestly losing belief that this will happen because such a huge drop was way too strange for me. And of course, I`m sure we all assume the worst in these cases.

Probably after getting like 1500+ pages suddenly indexed (see above messages) Google took some time to see if it`s legit.

So I don`t want to rush, but it seems everything is super fine and now I`m even more excited for the World Cup Hope I don`t get back on this topic in a couple of days whining again!

Thanks everybody for taking the time to try and help me!

[edgarf76]

Good stuff! You should build more sites in case this happens again so u have a safety net

[RacingJim]

Good stuff mate, wish I could say the same about my mentioned site!!