Why my rankings in Google keeps on fluctuating?

Q: Recently, I decided to keep a check on how my site’s keywords are ranking with the help of Firefox’s Rank Checker. When I checked the rank of a keyword, it ranked #150 and a week later, it ranked #6. I thought it might be a mistake, since the keyword ranking jumped 144 spots. When I checked back after 2 days, the ranking dropped down to #165. I am unable to figure out the reason behind such an extreme increase & decrease in the ranking.

A: There could be several reasons behind the rapid change in the keyword ranking. So, here are a few possibilities:

1. If you are signed in at work and home, Google will show different results. If the personalization option is selected, the results will be delivered by Google on the basis of your IP address.
2. If you have made major changes on your website such as a massive change in the Title tags, it will result in a quick shift in the ranking. The freshness, sandboxing, and rapid plummet will lead to an increase in the ranking, which will take some days or a few weeks to settle down. And this is one reason why you should choose Title tags carefully and stick to them. Lot of changes in Title tags is something, which I do not recommend.
3. If by any chance, your competitors’ website has gone down or received a manual spam penalty, it can improve your ranking.
4. Google has recently launched the new algorithm Hummingbird. So, the change in the ranking could be the result of the impact of the algorithm.

Because of these reasons, it is important that you measure the rank of the website & targeted keywords at least once in a month.

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Navneet Kaushal

CEO at PageTraffic

The author is a first generation entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of India’s most award winning SEO Agency, PageTraffic. He also works as an advisor and consultant with many large companies. He helps value-conscious businesses build site traffic increase the user base, and boost web sales and bolster customer satisfaction. He can be reached @navneetkaushal on Twitter

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