The search engines are one of the best sources of traffic. More than half of the internet users rely on search engines when looking for website. Thus, having a high search engine ranking is the goal of many sites. Unfortunately, the search engine ranking is not permanent. You may hold the top spot for a certain keyword today and fall to the fifth spot tomorrow. Here are some reasons why your search engine ranking may decline. From here, you should be able to think of the right SEO technique to avoid losing a good ranking.

Your Site Is No Longer New

The search engines especially Google give a special treatment to new sites. For a certain period of time, when your site is relatively new, you will find it enjoying high search engine rankings. The site’s search engine ranking may then decline without proper SEO strategy.

Your Site Wasn’t Able to Prove Its Worth

The new sites get a special privilege of having high rankings but can also be placed in the sandbox after failure to prove its worth. It is much like a punishment. Luckily, SEO techniques can now help you get up again.

Your Site May Have a Broken Link

Links are very important in SEO and broken links are a big problem. You can check your site’s link manually or you can look for a plug-in that regularly checks and detects broken links.

Your Site’s Content Can Be Found Somewhere Else

Having your site’s content published in another site can be a serious problem. The search engines hate duplicated contents. It can also be a problem even if the content is found in two of your site’s pages.

You Have Server Problems

Whether it is your or your host’s fault, server issues can cause your site’s search engine ranking to decline. They can prevent search engines from accessing your site and they usually opt to decrease the ranking when they cannot verify the site’s worthiness.

Your Site Has a Malware

It is best to keep your site clean. A malware in even just one page of your site will cause its search engine ranking and traffic to decline. Google can detect malware and can warn visitors even before they reach your site. The warning is a great discouragement for visitors to continue so expect your traffic from search engines to drop.

The Algorithms Changed

The search engines regularly update and change their algorithms. It is a great way to ensure that the users will get the most relevant search result. Three things can happen when algorithms change. First, your site may increase its ranking. Second, your site may get a decrease in its ranking. Third, the sites linking to your site may get an increase or decrease in search engine ranking affecting your site’s ranking.