Why Did My Google Rankings Drop? How to Work Out What Happened
You open Google Search Console, or you just notice the phone has gone quiet, and the numbers are down. Before you change anything on your website, it pays to work out why. A ranking drop is a symptom, not a diagnosis, and the fix for a Google update is very different from the fix for a broken redirect. Guessing, and changing things at random, can make it worse.
This guide walks you through the usual causes of a drop and how to tell them apart, using free tools you probably already have access to. If you would rather have someone do the digging for you, there is a note at the end about how we can help.
Step One: Confirm It Is a Real Drop
Not every dip is a problem. Before looking for a cause, check the basics:
- Compare like with like. In Search Console’s Performance report, compare the last 28 days with the same period before, and with the same period last year. Many businesses are seasonal, and school holidays or December can look like a crash.
- Separate rankings from traffic. Fewer clicks with steady impressions and positions usually means something changed on the results page (more ads, a map pack, an AI summary), not that your site slipped.
- Find the date. A sharp drop on one specific day points to a single event. A slow slide over months points to competitors or ageing content.
- See what dropped. Is it the whole site, one section, or a handful of pages? Filter by page and by query. A whole-site drop and a one-page drop have very different causes.
If you do not have Search Console or Google Analytics set up, that is the first job, because without them you are working blind. Our SEO glossary explains the terms these tools use.
Cause 1: A Google Algorithm Update
Google changes its ranking systems constantly, and it announces the larger ones, including core updates, on its public Search Status Dashboard. If your drop lines up with an update’s start date, that is a strong clue.
Two things are worth knowing. First, Google’s own guidance on core updates says a drop does not necessarily mean something is wrong with your site: other pages may simply have been judged more useful for that search. Second, there is no quick switch to flip. Google says some changes can take effect in a few days, but it could take several months for its systems to recognise that a site as a whole has improved.
What to look at: pages that are thin, out of date, or written more for search engines than for people. Compare your page with what now ranks above it and ask honestly which one answers the searcher’s question better.
Cause 2: A Website Move, Redesign or Rebuild
This is one of the most common causes we see, and one of the easiest to spot, because the drop starts the week the new site went live. The usual culprits:
- Old URLs with no redirects. If page addresses changed and the old ones now show a “page not found” error, the ranking those pages had built up is lost. Google’s site move guidance recommends permanent (301) redirects from every old URL to its new equivalent, kept for at least a year.
- The “hide from Google” setting left on. Sites are often blocked from search engines while they are being built. If that block is carried over to the live site, pages start dropping out of Google.
- Content that did not make the move. A redesign that shortened or removed pages can remove the very text that ranked.
Google also says some ranking movement is normal for a few weeks after a big change while it recrawls the site. A drop that keeps going beyond that needs checking. If you are planning a rebuild, our guide on when and why to redesign your website covers how to protect your rankings before you start.
Cause 3: A Technical Error
Technical problems can knock pages out of Google while the site looks perfectly normal to a visitor. In Search Console, check:
- The Page indexing report for a sudden rise in pages marked “Excluded by noindex tag”, “Blocked by robots.txt”, “Not found (404)” or “Server error (5xx)”.
- URL Inspection on one of the pages that dropped, to see whether Google can currently fetch and index it.
- Your sitemap under Sitemaps, to confirm it is still being read without errors.
- Hosting problems. If your site was down or very slow for a period, Google may have struggled to crawl it.
A security problem, such as a hacked site serving spam pages, also shows up here and under the Security issues report. For a full list of the technical basics to check, see our technical SEO checklist. On WordPress specifically, our guide to WordPress technical SEO settings covers the dashboard settings that most often cause this.
Cause 4: A Manual Action
This one is rare, but serious, and it is easy to rule in or out. A manual action is when a person at Google decides part or all of a site breaks Google’s spam policies, for example through paid or spammy links, hidden text or copied content. You will find it in Search Console under Security and Manual actions, then Manual actions. If that report says “No issues detected”, this is not your cause.
If there is an action, Google’s Manual Actions report help page explains the process: fix the problem on every affected page, then submit a reconsideration request. Google says most reviews take several days or weeks, and link-related ones can take longer.
Cause 5: Lost Links or Listings
Links from other websites are one of the signals Google uses. If a site that linked to you removed the link, redesigned, or closed down, some pages can slip. The Links report in Search Console shows which sites link to you, though it is a sample rather than a full list, so compare it over time rather than treating it as complete. Out-of-date business listings with an old phone number or address can also weaken local visibility. Our guide to backlinks and business directories explains how to build these back up properly.
Cause 6: Competitors Got Better
Sometimes nothing went wrong on your side at all. A competitor published a better page, earned stronger reviews, or rebuilt a faster site, and moved above you. This usually shows as a gradual slide on specific searches rather than a sudden drop. Search those terms yourself and study the pages that now rank above yours: they tell you what Google currently thinks answers that search best.
Putting the Clues Together
| What you see | Most likely cause | First check |
|---|---|---|
| Whole site dropped on one date, no changes on your side | Algorithm update | Search Status Dashboard for an update on that date |
| Drop started the week a new site went live | Missing redirects or indexing block | Old URLs, noindex settings, Page indexing report |
| Specific pages vanished from Google entirely | Technical error | URL Inspection on those pages |
| Sharp whole-site drop plus a Search Console message | Manual action | Manual actions report |
| Slow slide over months on a few searches | Competitors or ageing content | The pages now ranking above you |
| Clicks down, positions steady | Changes on the results page | Impressions and average position in Performance |
Often it is more than one thing. Deal with the causes you can prove first, change one thing at a time where you can, and keep a note of what you changed and when, so you can see what helped.
What Not to Do While You Investigate
- Do not buy links or “quick ranking” packages. That is how many sites end up with a manual action in the first place. Google’s own advice is that no one can guarantee a number one ranking.
- Do not rewrite everything at once. You will never know which change helped, or which one made it worse.
- Do not delete pages that still get traffic without redirecting them.
Want Us to Do the Diagnosis?
If you would rather hand this over, our SEO Rescue is a once-off R2,500 service: three hours of focused work on your site, including setting up Google Analytics and Google Search Console so you have the data to see what is happening. The product page lists exactly what those three hours cover. Like any honest SEO work, it cannot guarantee a ranking.
If your site needs steady attention afterwards, Monthly SEO Maintenance is R850 a month for 1 to 2 hours of work. You can also see all our SEO services, or read the business case for SEO if you are weighing up whether ongoing SEO is worth it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I know if a Google update caused my ranking drop?
Note the date the drop started in Search Console’s Performance report, then check Google’s Search Status Dashboard for a ranking update that began around the same day. If they line up and you made no changes to your site at that time, the update is the likely cause.
Can a new website design cause a drop in Google rankings?
Yes. The most common reasons are page addresses that changed without 301 redirects, a “hide from search engines” setting left on after launch, and ranking content removed in the redesign. Some movement for a few weeks after a big change is normal while Google recrawls the site.
How do I check if my website has a Google penalty?
In Google Search Console, open Security and Manual actions, then Manual actions. If it says no issues were detected, your site does not have a manual action. A drop after an algorithm update is not a penalty, even though it can feel like one.
How long does it take to recover lost rankings?
It depends on the cause. A technical fix, such as removing an accidental noindex tag, can show up once Google recrawls the page. Google says recovery after a core update can take several months, and reconsideration reviews for manual actions usually take days or weeks, sometimes longer.
