Dumb SEO Questions

(Entry was posted by David Maso on this post in the Dumb SEO Questions community on Facebook, 08/18/2014).

Did I miss an announcement about a recent Google update? I dropped from 4 to 10 on the 1st page of Google`s SERP

Hi, All.
Did I miss an announcement about a recent Google update? I dropped from 4 to 10 on the 1st page of Google`s SERP. Wondering what`s going on. Only 1 new site listed in the SERP. I`ve changed nothing to cause this drop. Thanks!?
This question begins at 00:19:18 into the clip. Did this video clip play correctly? Watch this question on YouTube commencing at 00:19:18
Video would not load
I see YouTube error message
I see static
Video clip did not start at this question

YOUR ANSWERS

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

  • David Mason: Hi, All.
    Did I miss an announcement about a recent Google update? I dropped from 4 to 10 on the 1st page of Google's SERP. Wondering what's going on. Only 1 new site listed in the SERP. I've changed nothing to cause this drop. ;Thanks!
  • Greg Baka: Does your site target Local search results, or is it national?
  • David Mason: National/international
  • Greg Baka: Hi +David Mason ; - ; I have heard rumors of recent Pigeon (local) changes. But nothing about Penguin or Panda.

    Did you check GWT to see if you have unusual new backlinks?
  • David Mason: Hmm. I'll look into that. I just read an article on MOZ, and I see that HTTPS is now a mild ranking factor as of Aug 6. My site has moved from http to https in the last month or so, so I wonder if, perhaps, I am missing something. Perhaps I need to do a change of address in GWT; tell it I've moved (although I have configured my server to redirect com http to https). I am using a plugin to handle all redirects for any subdirectories. Don't know if that's a negative or not. Thanks!
  • Greg Baka: Migrating to HTTPS appears to have a few SEO boobytraps to avoid. Not declaring it as your preferred domain in GWT is probably one of them...
  • David Mason: Thanks, +Greg Baka ;. So, now that I've added my HTTPS to GWT, can you give me a pointer in how to declare it my preferred domain? Thanks!
  • Ian Dixon: chances are that your ranking will drop even further if you just switch everything to https
    It is a different site to the http one in the mind of Google so far from a simple move
  • Greg Baka: Hello again +David Mason ; - well, I thought Google would have added it as an option on the Preferred Domain menu, but they didn't. Another https boobytrap...

    It looks like you can do it on the "Change of Address" page (accessed from the gear icon dropdown menu) But check credible guides before doing this ; I have not done a https switch yet myself, so I am just guessing here.
  • Tony McCreath: A change of address for a simple https switch is not possible at the moment. But the main thing to do is the 301 redirects.
  • David Mason: Thanks for the feedback and suggestions.
  • David Mason: So, follow-up question.
    I've added an engine rewrite to  ;my .htaccess file with this code:

    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteRule ^apache-redirect-http-to-'https.html$' 'https://www.yoursite.com/apache-redirect-http-to-https.html [R=301,L]'

    I added backticks to try and preserve the code and keep this from being flagged.

    That said, do I still need to manually add 301 redirects for every page? I'm using a plugin to handle that, called "Wordpress HTTPS"

    Thanks, Guys.
  • Greg Baka: Logically, a blanket redirect like this means you do not also need to 301 every page. But I'm curious to hear what others say.

    Do you have a canonical tag on each page that points to the page it is on? If so, you should change those to https....
    (I call those self-referential canonical tags, but not sure if that is an official name or just something I made up. I find them to be useful)
  • David Mason: That's what I thought, +Greg Baka ;
  • Edwin Jonk: From the expert panel in this weeks SEO Questions hangout on air on 00:19:18 into the YouTube video: https://dumbseoquestions.com/q/did_i_miss_an_announcement_about_a_recent_google_update_i_dropped_from_4_to_10_on_the_1st_page_of_googles_serp +David Mason

    The cuetimes listed on this page are functional while the live broadcast continues and also once Youtube has finished processing the public broadcast. Processing time varies between 6-24 hours. During this period the clip is viewable in full but the cuetimes cannot be relied on.

    If our assistance with this issue was useful to you, please consider sharing your success story so that others might benefit.
    

View original question in the Dumb SEO Questions community on Facebook, 08/18/2014).

All Questions in this Hangout