Explaining “Extreme” Ranking Fluctuations for Newly Published Content

Conversion Focused Web Design

Posting fresh new content to your website is one of the sure fire ways you can maintain your relevance in Google’s page rankings. Every time a user does a search on Google, a number of sophisticated algorithms that relate to a website’s content help determine how a page will rank in terms of relevance to a search. As you or your digital marketing team continue to update your website with new optimized content relevant to your business, Google will account for this content and assign your web page a search ranking according to its relevance. In a perfect world, new content would always lead to higher page rankings. Due to the highly nuanced nature of unique user searches and how they relate to a page’s content however, page ranking is not an exact science. In fact, you may notice some major fluctuations in rankings for a page that features new content.

New Content Will Fluctuate For The First Few Weeks

When a new page is created and uploaded, Google has to index the page so it can have a rank on its search page. What this basically means is Google will essentially estimate where the page content should be ranked in the results of searches made using related keywords or phrases. This is where the ‘not an exact science’ part comes into effect. According to John Mueller, a webmaster trends analyst at Google, when new content is estimated in terms of search relevance, that estimate can turn out to be significantly higher or lower than what the actual relevance turns out to be. In a recent Q and A Hangouts video which can be found below, Mueller states that “especially with completely new content, the rankings that you see there I would expect would fluctuate quite a bit.” He goes on to say that it can take “a week or two until things kind of settle down into a state where we say this is the normal ranking that we think is appropriate…”

Extreme Fluctuations On New Content Is Normal 

The important thing to keep in mind if you are seeing some extreme ranking fluctuations on new content is that those fluctuations are normal. It can take time for search trends to establish the true ranking of a web page. Even if you see your page completely disappear from search rankings after an initial spike in page relevance, this is not cause for alarm, and there is likely nothing wrong with the page. You should see the page rankings start to normalize after a couple of weeks.

To learn more about how to optimize your website for online searches, and how to make the most of your online presence, be sure to contact Vancouver’s digital marketing experts at Stigan Media. We have all the necessary knowledge required to help you grow your business by taking advantage of the latest and most effective online marketing tools and techniques. And, as an official Google Partner, Stigan Media is always up to date on the latest news updates and trends from Google. For more helpful tips and information, or to find out more about how Stigan Media can improve your online presence, be sure to check us out on social media, or contact us directly to set up a consultation today.

The full Q&A can be found below, 3:48 mark is where you can find his above response.