Google On A Site Dropping In Ranking For One Keyword

Apr 17, 2023 - 7:31 am 4 by

Google Rankings Rollercoaster

Gary Illyes from Google spoke about the topic of a website dropping in rankings for a single keyword or single keyword phrase while ranking fine for others. Can it happen? And if it does happen, what should you look out for?

This question came up in the latest Google SEO office hours at the 10:23 mark where Gary from Google said that it would be "really uncommon that you would completely lose rankings for just one keyword."

The question asked was, "Is there a way that my site was deleted from SERP for one certain keyword? We were 1st and now we are absent completely. Page is in the index."

Gary said if you do see that happen, it "usually" means you were "out-ranked by someone else in search results."

What happens if you really did disappear for that one keyword phrase? Gary said:

(1) Check to make sure that this is not a regional thing where you rank well in one region but you don't rank in another region. "I would check if that's the case globally." "Ask some remote friends to search for that keyword and report back. If they do see your site then it's just a glitch in the matrix," he added.

If that is not the issue then...

(2) Check to see if you "did anything that might have caused it." He said, did you make any changes to your "internal link structure or page layout or acquired more links or if I use the disavow tool and so on each of these may have some effect on ranking."

Here is the video embed when this came up:

Here is the transcript:

Kamil is asking: Is there a way that my site was deleted from SERP for one certain keyword? We were 1st and now we are absent completely. Page is in the index.

It's really uncommon that you would completely lose rankings for just one keyword. Usually you just get out-ranked by someone else in search results instead if you did indeed disappear for this one particular keyword. First I would check if that's the case globally. Ask some remote friends to search for that keyword and report back. If they do see your site then it's just a "glitch in the matrix". If they don't, then next I would go over my past actions to see if I did anything that might have caused it. Have I changed my internal link structure or page layout or acquired more links or if I use the disavow tool and so on each of these may have some effect on ranking. So going through them is probably going to help.

Forum discussion at Twitter.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: March 28, 2025

Mar 28, 2025 - 10:00 am
Search Video Recaps

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Core Update Done, Will Site Recover, AI Mode Expands, Google Ads PMax Search Terms & More

Mar 28, 2025 - 8:01 am
Google Maps

Google Local Knowledge Panel With Promotion Clipable Coupons

Mar 28, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google Maps

Google AI Overviews Itinerary, Lens Tour Guide, Maps Screenshot & Track Prices

Mar 28, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google Ads

Google Tests Contactless Label In Place Of Curbside Pickup

Mar 28, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google Ads

Google Ads WhatsApp Conversation Goals Get Diagnostics & More

Mar 28, 2025 - 7:21 am
Previous Story: Google Search Console New Video Indexing Report Inline Data URLs Issue