Crazy Rankings - Traffic has dropped 3x but I don't think Panda / Penguin Related

[Redskins2012]

Hello, on August 28th / Oct 23 and Nov 12th.. Our site has been hit hard with whatever Google is doing behind the scenes. We have had our site up for 11 years now and our rankings have been consistent with some normal fluctuations with competitors, etc but never hit hard like this.

On the dates above our traffic was cut in 1/2 but to be restored almost 1 week exactly. These would take place on a Tuesday and be restored on a Monday or Tuesday.

There are no messages from Google and it's just baffling me as to what, who, why this is going on. Do any of these dates above correlate with some other Google updates going on? If these were penalized, why would they come back and be fine like it's been for 11 years but than 4 weeks later be hit again on a Tuesday to come back again 1 week later.

At first I thought a competitor was messing with us but than it came back, and than happened again but came back and now it's happened again so maybe Google is testing something or it's like they are flipping a switch and rotating top rankings around in a test mode. I have no idea... Is there a Google Support / Email to contact? Thoughts?

[Test-ok]

Most likely suspect would be Panda.
See Google updated

[Redskins2012]

If this was a Panda issue why would the rankings go back to normal within a week?

[Test-ok]

Don't know, but the only thing google was doing...according to google was on that list. Perhaps your site is close to what ever they implemented, as long as it keeps coming back I wouldn't worry too much. It's really a question only google can answer.

[DarrenHaye]

You say your traffic was cut in half, but in reality that could mean just a couple of main traffic keywords moving down only a few places..

Is that what happened? or did your rankings completely disappear.

If you could explain a bit more about where the traffic was lost and regained that would help.

[Redskins2012]

Same keywords each time go from top page to nowhere to be found but than come back to where they have been for 11 years. Still have keywords ranked well but it seems like the most important keywords that were generating the traffic.

Is there a place to contact Google to figure out what is happening?

[joshz]

Is it just possible you've been too idle with your SEO and your competition is making moves that you're not?

How is the health of your server looking, is there possible site downtime?

[Redskins2012]

If this was Panda Related why are the dates my site was affected not really the dates the Panda was rolled out? Does it take weeks after to see this take place?

Is there an email contact or phone contact for google to know for sure?

[DarrenHaye]

Is there an email contact or phone contact for google to know for sure?

lol that would be nice wouldn't it..

You could have dr.marie look into your site -> Her profile

She offers a traffic drop diagnosis package for a very reasonable amount.

Wheres your site right now? is it back in it's usual place or is it m.i.a.

[sveltemember]

Most common reasons for ranking fluctuations are algo updates, link loss and link gain. Or maybe Google has simply decided that 11 years are enough. Give others a chance

[ericwoo]

Hey, I feel your pain and was wondering the same question. I'd like to know what is going on and contact them. Google demands sites to be the way they want them and I want to give them it, but I don't know what it is they want!!

I read the guidelines probably 10 different times and tried thinking of everything possible to improve for visitors while increase good content.

But after penguin saw 50% drop, then additional -30%, -7%, and -10% through the worst months.

Went from about 11,000 visitors per month to about 2,300 from google now. That is where I stand and every month drops more.

Is there anyway to get it straight with them to find out the problem if I don't have any GWT notifications?

I don't see how I can make things better with them if they don't help give any indication. They are ranking my competitors low for my search terms also. The results are terrible. I don't get it.