Has Your Website Ghosted the SERPs? Top 10 Reasons Why Your Site Has Vanished

Has your website disappeared from the search engine results pages (SERPs)? If so, you’re likely wondering why and how to fix the problem. It’s not an uncommon issue, and the fixes are usually simple, with gradually improving results. However, when your website does ghost the SERPs, you’ll be sure to notice the difference. Let’s take a look at why it’s happening, alongside some advice on how to rectify the problem.

1. Your website isn’t being indexed

To begin with, we should look at one of the most likely and common culprits as to why your website is performing poorly in the SERPs: Google isn’t indexing your site or some of its important pages. Search engines need to crawl and index your website pages before they appear in organic search results. 

This is why technical issues can prevent this from happening. For instance, your website could contain noindex directives that are telling search engines not to include the page in their index. 

This can happen by accident, usually after a redesign or migration. Check your website’s indexing status using Google Search Console (GSC). If the important pages aren’t being indexed, then look into why that might be happening as opposed to panicking and then making unnecessary SEO changes that could make the problem worse. 

2. Search engines have accidentally been blocked

Your website may still exist, but search engine crawlers could be having trouble accessing it. One potential culprit is your robots.txt file. This file provides instructions to search engine crawlers about which areas of your site can or cannot be accessed. 

A robots.txt configuration that’s set up poorly can block important pages by accident. This is another reason why technical checks should be one of the first steps when investigating a sudden drop in organic visibility in the SERPs.

3. Your website is experiencing a technical problem

Sometimes your website isn’t haunted at all. It’s simply broken. Server errors, broken pages, incorrect redirects, slow loading times, and other technical issues can affect how search engines crawl and understand your site. If the website has recently undergone a redesign, a migration or a hosting change, then pay particular attention to technical issues. A website that works perfectly when you visit it doesn’t mean everything is working correctly for search engine crawlers. So look out for some technical problems with your site before panicking.

4. You’ve made major changes to your website

If you’ve recently changed or redesigned your website, or if you’ve changed the domain, altered a URL structure, removed pages or changed your navigation, then these changes could be responsible for your disappearing rankings. Website migrations can be particularly risky from an SEO perspective. 

Changing URLs without implementing appropriate redirects can result in search engines losing the connection between old pages and their new locations. Prior to making changes to your site, no matter how significant they may be, you should create an SEO migration plan. Otherwise, your rankings may disappear faster than a ghost in the night. 

5. Your competitors have overtaken you

Sometimes, your website hasn’t actually vanished from the SERPs. Instead, other websites have simply moved ahead of you. Search rankings are mostly competitive, and so if your competitors are improving their content, building stronger authority or are able to better satisfy search intent, then they’ll naturally rank higher than your content in the SERPs. As such, a ranking drop isn’t always caused by something you’ve done wrong. 

If this is the case, then you should look at the current search results for your target keywords. You should then see if your competitors have appeared for those terms or if existing competitors have recently improved their content. If you know and understand the changes in the SERPs, then it can help you to determine what you need to do next to get things moving. 

6. Your content isn’t meeting search intent anymore

Search behaviour changes, as do search results. A page that once performed well may no longer provide exactly what users are looking for. For instance, perhaps people searching for a certain keyword now expect a detailed guide on the topic, while your page is primarily promotional. Or maybe the search results have shifted towards local businesses, product pages, videos or comparison content. Review the pages you have that are currently ranking for your target terms and consider whether your content still addresses the underlying search intent. Instead of adding more keywords as a way to fix the problem, focus on whether your page genuinely answers the user’s question. 

7. Your content is outdated

Old content that’s no longer relevant or up to date can lose its usefulness over time. Statistics become outdated, products change, and links stop working. Regulations also refresh and search engine behaviour changes. If your website contains content that hasn’t been reviewed for several years, whether it be blog posts or website pages, then it could be worth carrying out a content audit. Do this to identify where content needs to be refreshed. This can be more valuable than continually writing new pages or publishing new articles. When carrying out your content audit, look for content that:

• Contains outdated information
• Has broken links
• No longer reflects your services or products
• Targets keywords that have changed meaning 
• Provides thin or repetitive information
• Receives little or no organic traffic

8. There’s a security issue

A sudden loss of visibility in the SERPs can be caused by a manual action or a security problem. Google Search Console (GSC) can provide you with the information needed that can determine if certain issues are affecting a website, such as manual actions and security issues. 

If you’ve noticed a sudden and substantial change in organic visibility, check GSC as opposed to simply assuming that it’s an algorithm update. Ignoring the problem can make things worse. If Google has identified a serious issue, then you’ll need to understand the problem and follow the appropriate steps first and foremost as a way to resolve the matter.

9. Valuable backlinks have been lost

Backlinks have always been, and continue to be, an important part of how search engines assess websites across the internet. If your website has lost links from important, relevant websites, it could contribute to declining organic visibility. 

This is particularly worth investigating if you’ve noticed that your rankings have dropped slowly as opposed to suddenly disappearing overnight. To monitor your backlink profile and to identify lost links, you need to use a reputable SEO tool. 

With this in mind, however, you shouldn’t panic. Don’t act hastily by buying links because your rankings have fallen. Link quality and overall relevance matter, so poor-quality link building tactics can cause additional issues where there weren’t any before. 

10. There’s been an algorithm update

Algorithm updates for search engines are ongoing. There will always be updates to search engine algorithms, and marketers simply cannot do anything about it. The only thing marketers can do is to use the updates to their advantage and to be prepared for what the update might bring. 

Sometimes, if you’re ill-prepared or if the update has happened with little notice, it can cause your website to disappear or drop out of the SERPs. However, if this happens, you shouldn’t react immediately. Let the dust settle, gather some evidence and look for patterns. A temporary fluctuation isn’t a sole reason to panic and then completely overhaul your SEO strategy. 

Doing so can do more harm than good. So, while this could be a reason why your site has vanished from the SERPs, it’s not something you should be reactive to in the moment. Bide your time and have some patience before beginning to make any changes to your website, no matter how minor those changes might seem.

Kumo is pleased to provide a wide range of digital marketing services, including content creation, SEO, PPC, website design and more. You can rest assured that our team of dedicated experts can set you apart from your competitors with excellent content creation and copywriting services. If you’d like further information about how we can help you today, get in touch with a member of our friendly, specialist team – we’re always happy to hear from you.