Regardless of your website being new or an established site you can always come across this issue where your can SERP Disappear.
There could be a variety of factors why this can happen and I am going to cover most of them here and this should give you an answer and hopefully help you fix it.
Table of Contents
Why Does SERP Disappear?
Search results can disappear and re-appear on Google and other search engines as they test out your results to find out where is it best relevant to be placed.
Even though a lot of factors do come into play when it comes to testing your search results, it can be concerning if these incidents keep happening at regular intervals.
Read below as I list down some of the most common reasons this can happen to your website and also what you can do about it.
5 Reasons SERP Disappear
Below are the most common reasons your pages or posts can keep fluctuating on Google.
1. Google Algorithm Update
Google regularly updates its algorithm to keep its search results relevant for users. Even though your website might be great and contain only original content.
If your website doesn’t comply with Google’s algorithm update then you will come across a lot of fluctuations.
Google’s core goal is to always give the users the best possible content that is out there and if your website has been affected by it but you truly think that your website is following all the guidelines then you might not need to worry as your ranking will come back.
You can always stay updated on Google update here.
2. Fairly New Website
When you start a new website Google has no way to tell if you are an expert or just another spammy blog or a website. For this particular reason, they tend to test the waters before they can show your website to all of their audience.
When you publish your first few blog posts, you might notice for the first few days you might be ranking on the first page or so but eventually you will be pushed down.
As more people click on your page and stay there to find what they are looking for the higher your ranking will go but it will take its own time.
A new blog/website might take anywhere from 8-12 months roughly to get a fair position on the SERP. A blog post can achieve its full potential in about a year.
If your blog is new and you see your SERP disappear then don’t bother and just start writing your helpful content and it will grow on its own.
3. Bad Keyword Practice
A lot of people give really bad advice when It comes to SEO and you might have heard that keywords are very good for SEO, though it’s true anything too much is bad for SEO too.
Everything you learn in SEO needs to be done in a healthy, moderate, and natural way. When you tend to write for search engines rather than for people you might end up stuffing a lot of keywords which makes your site look spammy.
If you are having a plugin that shows you how much keyword is needed on a page, don’t force yourself to stuff unnecessary keywords.
Now, if you find your website to be filled with a lot of unwanted keywords on a blog post then you might need to edit them and keep only what’s relevant.
Doing this for your entire site may be necessary. The cleaner and relevant you keep your website the better for users and as well search engines.
4. Spam Content
Even if you have very little content it’s so much better than having a to of content that is spammy. You don’t want to write articles or posts just to get traffic.
Google is much smarter than you think, even if you try your best to cover your spammy content, they’ll know. So, make sure you have only original content.
What if I have spammy content?
If you find your website to have content that you would call spammy, it’s better to remove it and start fresh as those pieces of content aren’t going to do any good for you and your users.
5. Duplicate/Thin Content
This is a very important and complicated topic for newbies to understand. Duplicate/Thin doesn’t mean it’s copied or it’s less in words.
This basically means your website doesn’t have content that provides value to your users and even if you have a post that is 3000+ words and provides no value whatsoever then it’s considered thin.
Another example would be if you are just rewriting content that is already out there without adding your own experience which is still bad for users and Google.
If you find your website to be filled with this, it’s almost always better to restart from the beginning.
6. Bad SEO Practices
Never try to achieve success the easy way, it might work for a very short period of time but eventually Google and users will catch up and you will be at a loss.
Always try to find the best possible way to give value using your website as a tool and focus on the guidelines of Google and you will be safe.
Also, keep in mind that you might want to read more than 1-2 articles or watch 2-3 videos more before you make a decision on how you want to optimize your website.
By doing that, you will make sure you know the concept well enough to not make the mistake of using bad SEO practices.
What can you do for your website?
If your situation falls under one of the above then make sure to get them fixed but if you can’t find any reason as to why SERP disappeared then you might want to wait.
Google Search Console
Make sure to have your GSC set up and go over to your console and see if you have any warning or is there anything you need to fix.
Google Search Console (GSL) will usually tell you what has indexed and what has not. You can utilize Google’s own tool to fix and see your status on the SERP.
Sitemap
This can be very important if you want your website to be discovered and your pages to be indexed. You need to have a sitemap generated for your website.
You can use a plugin on your CMS to generate a sitemap in a matter of a few seconds. If you using WordPress then you can use RankMath to do this for you.
Interlinking
No matter what your site’s category is, Interlinking your website can be very crucial for your users and as well as Google.
This basically means that from one page of your website users need to be able to visit any page they want. Make sure to provide proper navigation on your website.
Orginal Content
This might be obvious, you should always have original content on your website. Take your time to research and come up with the best content you can.
Implement your own way of writing a blog post, use original images on your website, and link out to trusted websites wherever it’s necessary.
Check Out: Install WordPress on Google Cloud for Free
Conclusion
This question has been asked on Reddit, Quora, and other forums which means it has been happening to many others as well and you aren’t alone.
I have come across this issue very often and the above is what I usually do to get my rankings back up. Sometimes you might just need to wait before you give up.
I hope this was helpful for you and I wish you the best in getting your website back out there.
