character falling down a large cavern representing a decline in rankings

Factors that Can Cause a Website to Decline in Rankings

ByYan Gilbert

There are a number of reasons why a website or Google profile may lose ranking. The most important factor to consider is that SEO is a competition, meaning that a website’s ranking is relative to the ranking of all other websites on the internet.

Algorithm updates: Search engines like Google and Bing regularly update their algorithms. Certain SEO tactics that previously worked may be rendered ineffective or reduced in value by algorithm updates, causing sites that previously relied on those tactics to lose rank.

Furthermore, when these updates happen, websites can lose their authority. The websites they are linking to may also lose authority because the link power pointing to them has been devalued. Because less authority is being passed on, it can create a domino like effect. This loss of authority either directly or indirectly can cause the linked to site to decrease in ranking.


Competitor SEO: SERP results are a zero sum game. When competitors improve their SEO efforts, other sites ranking for the same keywords can lose ranking positions. As competitors gain more authority (from their own SEO efforts or due to algorithm updates) and gain positions, other sites have to decline.


Loss of backlinks: When a site loses backlinks, it will lose authority, causing it to decrease in ranking. Backlinks can be lost for a variety of reasons, including:

  • The site linking to you may have removed the backlink.
  • The page (or even an entire site) linking to you may have been removed.
  • The site linking to you may have updated their attribute rules and your link is now a ‘nofollow’ link.


Loss of Content: If pages are removed from your site, either due to a technical error or outright deletion (maybe from content pruning), these pages can no longer rank. Fairly obvious.

As well, if some of those now deleted pages had any backlinks pointing to them, the strength gained from those backlinks could be lost unless you implement proper redirects.


Penalties: Penalties are imposed on sites that violate search engine guidelines. When a site receives a penalty, it can drop in ranking, or be removed from the SERPS completely. Most Google penalties are listed in Search Console, but there are instances that sites have been penalized with no messaging whatsoever.


Getting de-indexed: In serious cases, a site may be de-indexed from a search engine entirely. This may occur because of a penalty, either manual or algorithmic because the site was associated with content that violates search engine guidelines.

Determining Website Declines Causes

Proper SERP tracking and monitoring is essential in order to understand what is going in the rankings. Effective tracking helps you identify patterns, trends, and potential issues before they significantly impact your website’s visibility such as:

  • Gradual declines might indicate competitors are improving their SEO
  • Declines that happen around or start at the timing of algorithm updates usually means previous strong SEO factors for your site have been devalued
  • Sudden drops of 20-50 positions suggest manual penalties
  • Complete disappearance from the SERPS suggests a penalty (or the entire site was marked as noindex)

Without continuous daily rank tracking of numerous keywords in the organic results, and/or at least monthly monitoring of Maps results, there is very little to diagnose if suddenly your business is receiving fewer leads. Keeping track of SERP and profile results in Google, Bing, Apple, and AI sites is crucial for informed decision-making.

If you’re not yet monitoring your SERP performance across Google, Bing, Apple, and LLM AI results, it’s time to start. Our SEO monitoring service provides the insights you need to make data-driven decisions that benefit your business.