Fluctuating Rankings – Here Today Gone Tomorrow There are many factors that affect search engine rankings and optimizing these factors takes time. While you are waiting to be indexed by Google or waiting to show up within the SERPs (search engine returned pages), you may find yourself thinking, "There must be a better way." By following the principles of search engine optimization and incorporating all of those SEO best practices, your web pages will eventually achieve rankings. But, oh, how the results seem to take so long to come! Martha will have knitted a gross of socks, four dozen sweaters and mittens for the entire winter Olympics team – and run out of patience by then.
Even once you begin to see results, your position on a given search engine can vary widely from one minute to the next, even on identical searches. This has to do with how some search engines choose to display their search results. Most engines change listings only when they do re-indexing and, on average, it appears that this occurs approximately every 10 – 14 days, depending upon the engine. Also, depending upon the rate that you update your content, search engines may revisit your site much more frequently.
Everyone's listings fluctuate – don't sweat it. This is the nature of the ever changing World Wide Web. It is also difficult to interpret dissimilar results between the various search engines. This is due to the unique algorithms used by each. You may find that a previous ranking is restored the next time a search engine updates its database. With a major algorithmic update, you may also witness some drastic upheavals within previously relatively stable results.
Search engine rankings (and the traffic they may bring) are not static. The search engines are constantly tweaking their algorithms, and new sites are always being created, so ranking fluctuations are part of the normal course of business. Since search engine optimization is an ongoing, organic and competitive process, placement can also be affected by SEO strategies employed by your competition.
So, given such a precarious landscape with such fickle and seemingly capricious results, does it make sense to rely entirely upon search engine rankings for your online success? If given the choice between rankings and targeted traffic, what would you prefer? Isn't the whole idea behind the efforts you put into attaining search engine rankings to drive targeted traffic to your web pages? Martha wants to sell those hundreds of pairs of red knitted baby socks piling up and threatening to take over your den. You want Martha to be happy, right? And, of course, getting your den back would be a nice bonus.
As with any form of marketing, putting all your eggs in one basket is not necessarily a good plan for success. Search engine rankings, although a highly competitive and coveted resource, is not the only road to success in an online marketing strategy. There are many other sources of traffic out there and, after all, traffic – or rather traffic that converts to sales – is the ultimate goal of marketing, is it not? This next series of articles will deal with SEO and website traffic.
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