Website Rankings Loss Audit: Expert Guide To Recovering Lost Rankings

Updated: September 23, 2024.

Struggling with a rankings drop? A Website Rankings Loss Audit can help identify the issues causing your website rankings loss and guide you to recovery.

Seeing your website’s rankings drop is frustrating—I’ve been there too. One day your site is ranking well, driving traffic, and then, out of nowhere, you notice a big drop. It’s a stressful moment, especially if you rely on that traffic for business.

But don’t worry, there’s a way to get to the bottom of it. A website rankings loss audit is exactly what you need to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. This audit will help you identify the issues causing the drop and give you a clear plan to recover your rankings.

In this article, you will learn everything about website ranking drops, how to diagnose the problem, and how to conduct a thorough ranking drop audit of your website.

TL;DR: Website Rankings Loss Audit

If you don’t want to read the full article or need expert help, here’s a quick summary.

• If your website’s rankings have dropped, a website rankings loss audit is the first step to diagnosing the issue and restoring your visibility.
• Ranking drops often lead to a loss of organic traffic and customers. A thorough audit will help pinpoint the exact problem and provides steps to recover.
• An experienced SEO professional can detect subtle issues and create a targeted recovery plan. 
• The most common causes of ranking drops often include algorithm updates, technical SEO problems, failed migrations, competitor improvements, content changes, and more. 

And if you want to read the entire article and learn all about the topic, please continue. 

What is a Website Rankings Loss Audit?

A website rankings loss audit is a structured process aimed at finding out why a website’s search engine rankings have dropped. It involves analyzing technical SEO issues, content changes, competitor activity, and potential impacts from algorithm updates. Various SEO tools are used to review historical rankings, backlinks, on-page factors, and SERP changes.

The goal of this assessment is to pinpoint the exact reasons for the rankings drop and create a clear, actionable plan to recover lost positions and prevent future drops. This requires SEO expertise and a deep understanding of search engines to properly interpret the data and provide effective solutions.

Website Rankings Loss Audit vs. Website Traffic Loss Audit

Traffic loss and rankings loss are often used interchangeably but they are not the same. 

Ranking drops can happen without traffic drops but in most cases they do lead to a traffic drop.

Traffic drops may be caused by a ranking drop but this is not the only reason why website traffic may drop. 

Both ranking drops and traffic drops can be caused by a technical issue or a reporting glitch (less likely in the case of a rankings drop) and in both cases it is important to confirm or rule those possibilities out. 

• A website rankings loss audit focuses specifically on diagnosing why your website has dropped in search engine rankings for certain keywords. 
• A website traffic loss audit is usually broader and investigates all sources of traffic, not just organic search. This audit looks at fluctuations in direct, referral, organic, and social traffic, as well as paid campaigns. 

When to use each audit:

• If you notice a significant drop in rankings for target keywords,a rankings loss audit will help identify why you’re no longer ranking as high.
• If you see a decline in overall traffic but aren’t sure where the issue is coming from, a traffic loss audit will check if the drop is related to a source other than search engines.

SEO consultants very often combine both types of analyses together because in most cases they happen simultaneously, like the site loses both rankings and traffic. 

Who Should Perform a Website Rankings Loss Audit For Your Website?

A website rankings loss audit goes beyond just running a few SEO tools or applying quick fixes—it requires a deep understanding of SEO. This is why it’s essential to have an experienced SEO professional conduct the audit.

An expert SEO consultant can spot subtle issues, such as shifts in SERPs, technical SEO problems, or competitor strategies that might be affecting your site’s performance. They know exactly what to look for, whether it’s a technical issue or a broader industry trend.

A professional can efficiently analyze data, identify patterns, and recommend precise solutions to help your site recover faster. Their understanding of algorithm updates across different niches, and knowledge of the right tools, ensures a well-structured and effective recovery plan.

While a DIY audit can be informative, hiring an expert guarantees a more thorough recovery strategy—especially critical if your business is losing money with each hour of rankings loss.

Common causes of website rankings drop

Website rankings can drop for various reasons, and identifying the exact cause is critical to recovering lost visibility. 

Based on my SEO experience, here are the most common causes of a rankings drop, starting with the most frequent:

Algorithmic updates are the most often causes of ranking drops

Google frequently rolls out algorithm updates that can shift ranking factors or change the type of content favored in search results. A Google Core Update, for example, can affect how Google evaluates content quality, authority, and relevance. After such updates, you might see rankings drop if your website no longer aligns with the new search intent or ranking factors.

Failed migration or redesign case rankings loss way too often

Website migrations or redesigns are high-risk for rankings. If redirects are broken, URLs change without proper tracking, or important pages are missed or significantly changed, search engines may “score” your pages less favorably than before. This often results in a sharp drop in rankings, as pages disappear from the index or lose their authority.

Page content changes can also lead to ranking drops

Even small, unnoticed changes to your content can have a big impact on rankings. Removing or altering important information like FAQs, product descriptions, or internal links can affect how relevant Google considers your page. If content that used to perform well is suddenly missing or changed, you’ll likely see a drop in your rankings.

Technical SEO issues sometimes cause ranking drops but are easy to fix

Technical problems like crawl errors, broken links, server issues, indexing problems (a no index tag where it should not be) can make your site inaccessible to search engines. If search engine crawlers can’t properly crawl or render your pages, they won’t show up in search results, which can lead to a significant drop in rankings.

Competitor SEO improvements can make you lose rankings

SEO is a competitive space, and if your competitors improve their SEO strategies, it could push your site lower in search results. This could include better content updates, acquiring more high-quality backlinks, or constantly-improved on-page SEO optimization. 

Penalties and manual actions are rare but the most severe

Although rare, manual penalties from Google can still occur. These are usually imposed for violations like using unnatural links, keyword stuffing, or spammy content. When penalized, your website may lose significant rankings or disappear from search results altogether until the issue is resolved.

Each of these causes needs to be examined during an audit to determine the best course of action for recovery.

How to Do a Website Rankings Loss Audit Step by Step

A website rankings loss audit requires a methodical approach to identify the reasons behind a drop in rankings. Follow these steps to get to the root of the issue, though the process may vary slightly depending on the specifics of the case:

Step 1: Rule Out or Confirm a Technical SEO Issue or Reporting Glitch

The first step in diagnosing a rankings drop is to determine whether it’s caused by a technical SEO issue or a simple reporting glitch (e.g., a hiccup in your rank tracker).

Start by comparing your site’s performance on Google with other search engines like Bing. You can do it either in Google Analytics or use Bing Webmaster Tools (if it is set up) to compare the trends in GSC.

If the rankings have only dropped in Google but remain stable elsewhere, it’s likely a Google-specific issue—such as an algorithm update. However, if you see a drop across all search engines, it’s almost certainly a technical SEO problem.

Common technical issues include:

• Server errors
• Misconfigured robots.txt or noindex tags (accidentally blocking important pages)
• Broken links without proper redirects
• JavaScript SEO issues 

Another essential step is to check how Google renders your site compared to the source code. I always use the LIVE test in Google Search Console to see exactly how Googlebot views specific pages. It’s not uncommon for technical changes to unintentionally overwrite previous SEO optimizations or, even worse, for a noindex tag to sneak into the code during a site update.

I invite you to read my LinkedIn post that described an example of such an issue.

Pro Tip: If a noindex tag is present in the source code, it doesn’t matter if the rendered HTML looks correct—Google won’t even attempt to render the page. However, if the no-index is only added in the rendered HTML, the result may not always be what you want.

Catching technical issues early saves you valuable time and allows you to focus on other potential causes. Experienced SEO consultants can spot these problems in minutes, while less experienced teams may spend weeks trying to figure them out.

Step 2: Determine Exactly Where Rankings Dropped and How Much

Once you’ve ruled out a technical SEO issue, the next step is to identify exactly which keywords and pages were hit the hardest, and how significant those drops are.

You can use tools like Google Search Console, Ahrefs, Semrush, or SEOcrawl to track which pages lost rankings and for which keywords. You can also see historically how your website and other websites ranked for particular keywords. 

Identify the dropped keywords that were driving the most traffic. A slight drop, like moving from position 1 to 2, may not be too damaging, but a drop from position 1 to 50 is a major red flag.

Compile a list of the most affected keywords, as you’ll need to analyze each one in detail later. Understanding the size of the drop for each keyword is critical to developing a targeted recovery strategy.

TIP: Analyzing every keyword and its SERPs in detail is very time-consuming, especially when done thoroughly. Inform your client upfront about the time and effort involved. Depending on the website’s size and budget, it might be necessary to focus on a smaller, representative set of keywords rather than all of them (which could be thousands or more).

For more guidance on interpreting ranking drops, Google Search Central has documentation on what qualifies as a small vs. a large drop in position.

Check the entire article on website traffic drops on Google Search Central.

Step 3: Check if this an algorithm update caused the drop in rankings

You have ruled out a technical issue or a reporting glitch, so let’s see if a Google algorithm update caused the rankings drop.

Tools like SEOcrawl allow you to overlay your organic traffic with the timing of major Google updates, which is really helpful. I like using it because it shows how my traffic is performing before, during, and after updates which are marked on the chart.

Tools like Semrush and Ahrefs offer this feature too, but their traffic data is just estimates and not always accurate. You should always compare what these tools are telling you with what real traffic and rankings data is. 

Important: Just because the rankings drop coincides with a Google update, and you’ve ruled out technical issues or reporting glitches, doesn’t automatically mean the update caused it. 

Here are other possible causes:

• A failed migration that happened at the same time as the update. Ask the client if any migrations took place, and use the Wayback Machine to confirm their claims. Make sure to check my SEO migration checklist.
• A significant content change that occurred around the same time. For example, the client might have removed critical content like FAQs, which they may not realize is a problem. Again, check this using the Wayback Machine.

It’s crucial to compare how the website or specific pages that lost traffic look now versus how they looked before the drop. The Wayback Machine is the best tool for this, as it lets you see exactly what’s changed over time. It even allows you to see the source code. 

If you’re sure it’s an algorithm update affecting the site, here’s what you can do:

• Wait it out if the update is still rolling out and the rankings drop is recent. Avoid making any changes until the update has fully settled, which usually takes two to three weeks after the official end ****. You can use tools like the Cora Volatility Tool to track how unstable rankings are during and right after the update—you might be surprised at the fluctuations. Making changes mid-update can make it harder to figure out what’s really causing the drop. 

• If the drop happened earlier, or the update has finished, it’s time to analyze what caused the drop and start working on a fix. 

Important: In most cases, a website won’t fully recover from a Google core update until another core update is rolled out. Sometimes, it may take several updates to see a recovery. Recovery is usually possible if you’ve made significant improvements to your site. However, it’s also possible for your site to recover without any changes, simply after the next update.

Step 4: Analyze SERPs

Let’s dive into detective work—this is the fun part!

Assuming it’s a Google-related issue, like an algorithm update, and the rankings have settled post-update, it’s time to dig into the search engine results pages (SERPs). Ask yourself these key questions:

• What are the pages outranking yours doing better?
• Were you replaced by a different type of content? (e.g., a video, product page, or blog post)
• How stable are the new rankings? Use the Cora Volatility Tool to see if these rankings are temporary or here to stay.

Google always emphasizes creating helpful content for users, and by analyzing the SERPs, you’ll gain insights into what adjustments you may need to make to reclaim your spot.

Want to go even deeper? Subscribe to my SEO newsletter, where I share 3 exclusive SEO templates, including a Google core update/quality assessment audit with 76 specific questions to evaluate your website—based on Google’s guidelines and my own hands-on experience.

This is the most concrete info you can get on creating useful, people-first content. 😄

Quick note: Sometimes, a website might lose traffic even though its rankings haven’t changed. When that happens, analyzing the SERPs is crucial to see if new features or changes Google introduced pushed your site further down the page without actually lowering your organic position.

Step 5: Competitors that pushed your rankings down 

The best way to recover your lost rankings is to understand what Google now values, which pages replaced yours, and what your competitors are doing differently—or better.

Here’s how you can approach this:

1) Analyze the SERPs for your targeted keywords and compare with how they looked before the rankings drop. Use several past dates since SERPs fluctuate frequently, and a single snapshot may not be representative. Tools like Ahrefs or Semrush let you see how SERPs evolved over time. Semrush even provides screenshots of past SERPs.

2) Identify and make a list of pages currently ranking instead of yours, particularly the top 5.

3) Review each of these competitors and compare their pages with the one that lost rankings. Here’s the bare minimum of what you should look at:

• Content type: Is it a different type of content? For example, if affiliate pages were previously ranking but now it’s ecommerce products, you might need to adjust your content strategy to match what Google values now.
• Content length and depth: Is their content more detailed or thorough compared to yours?
• On-page SEO: Are their SEO fundamentals stronger than yours? Check their use of keywords, headers, meta tags, and overall structure.
• Content usefulness: Is their content more helpful or informative? If you need a structured way to evaluate this, check out my free core update/quality assessment audit—just subscribe to my SEO newsletter, and you’ll receive it.
• Authority and backlinks: Do these top-ranking pages have significantly more links or higher authority than yours? If the gap is huge, improving your backlink profile may be necessary, but only after you’ve optimized everything else SEO-wise.
• Dig Deeper with Cora: If you want to get more specific about where competitors are outperforming you, use Cora. It’s the only tool that statistically analyzes 100,000+ ranking factors and shows exactly where your page is falling short compared to competitors. By pulling just a few of the right levers, you can often see significant ranking improvements.

If you haven’t used Cora yet, now’s the time to give it a try. Check out my resources on Cora or sign up and get a 25% lifetime discount.

Note: I’m an affiliate for Cora because I use it every day—it’s an essential tool in my SEO toolkit.

Step 6: Create a recovery plan for rankings loss

Once you’ve identified the causes behind the drop in your website rankings, the next critical step is to develop a detailed, actionable recovery plan tailored to the specific issues affecting your site. This plan should address the root causes and be easy to follow, especially for those tasked with fixing the problems.

This part is crucial and requires a lot of experience, expertise, and a thorough, critical approach (something I emphasize in my SEO course). 

Here are some key considerations when creating a recovery plan:

• Tailor the plan to your client and the person who will be reading the audit and potentially fixing the problem. Some clients prefer long Google Docs with all the explanations and screenshots, others just want an Excel spreadsheet with a few comments, while others prefer a video. I usually offer a long Google Doc with an accompanying video and post-audit support. Of course, this varies widely depending on the complexity of the issue, the budget, etc. I also had a case where there was just a simple technical issue, so I wrote one email explaining it, and the developers fixed it instantly.
• Provide a detailed description of causes so that the client actually understands what you mean. Include examples, screenshots, and explanations of how to fix each issue. Never write general and vague recommendations like “Your headings are OFF. Optimize headings for SEO”. Instead, be specific and actionable.
• If there’s a very technical issue that goes beyond your expertise, such as a server configuration issue, be honest about it and advise the client to consult with their developers or IT team. If they don’t have one, recommend hiring someone. If the technical issue is purely SEO-related, by all means, provide all the recommendations and options on how to fix it.
• Be as detailed and thorough as possible in your recommendations. This shows your expertise and helps the client understand the complexity of the situation.
• If the main problem lies in on-page SEO and general SEO optimization of the website, explain it thoroughly. However, remember that (depending on the scope) you may not be able to provide SEO recommendations for all pages. In this case, do it for just a few representative ones and offer further paid help for a more comprehensive optimization.
• Make sure to show your client a Cora report and how it can help. Explain how you can continue working with the client using Cora to skyrocket their SEO rankings. This demonstrates the value of ongoing SEO work and your expertise with advanced tools.
• With manual actions, you need to be especially careful. Provide very clear instructions to the client on what they were doing that the manual reviewer didn’t like and what they should do to fix it. Then, write a very detailed reconsideration request showing your good will and your work to improve. If it’s done without any effort or improving changes, you may wait months before you get a response, not to mention have your penalty lifted.

Finally, remember that creating a recovery plan is highly dependent on the specific situation, so there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Unfortunately, there is no checklist or template for this process. Each recovery plan must be uniquely crafted to address the specific issues and goals of the client’s website.

Using the right tools will allow you to analyze historical rankings, backlinks, SERP changes, and more. Here’s a list of essential tools for your rankings loss audit:

• Google Search Console provides a detailed look at Google organic traffic specifically. It gives you a clear picture of which keywords and pages were driving traffic before the drop and lets you know if you are dealing with a manual action. Many technical SEO issues can also be diagnosed with Google Search Console.
• Google Analytics is invaluable because it allows you to compare organic traffic from Google and other search engines. This is crucial in ruling out or confirming a technical SEO problem. It also lets you dig deep into user behavior patterns and conversions (assuming it is set up correctly), whose analysis is usually extremely important in almost any traffic drop assessment.
• Semrush excels at providing historical ranking data. It allows you to track how your rankings have changed over time and compare keyword positions before and after the drop. Semrush also provides historical screenshots of SERPs, which is crucial in diagnosing a ranking drop related to Google. It’s also useful for competitor analysis. Additionally, you can assess the backlink profile and authority of top-ranking pages to see if that contributed to the ranking change.
• Ahrefs is another essential tool for analyzing ranking history. It shows how your site’s rankings have fluctuated over time and offers a detailed backlink analysis. You can track lost backlinks, compare the number of referring domains, and check the authority of competing pages that have taken your previous rankings. Ahrefs is particularly good at showing the historical data and fluctuations of specific keywords.

• SEOcrawl provides a user-friendly way to visualize data from Google Search Console and Google Analytics. It’s particularly helpful for identifying trends and pinpointing when a traffic drop starts. You can use it to quickly see which keywords or pages lost the most traffic and how rankings evolved over time. Unlike GSC, you don’t need to use any regex to get a ton of super useful data and know almost instantly what keywords lost rankings and how severe this loss is. SEOcrawl has many other features, and I strongly recommend you give it a try. This is my second Google Search Console that I use every single day.

• Cora is an advanced SEO analysis tool that breaks down the specific ranking factors affecting your site. It compares your site against the top-ranking pages for your keywords, analyzing more than 100K potential SEO factors. Cora helps identify where your site falls short in comparison and offers actionable recommendations on how to take over rankings. I have discussed Cora’s capabilities earlier.
• The Cora Volatility Tool (built into Cora) is a tool that lets you track rankings correctly. Instead of reporting on one position at one random moment, it runs 10-20 consecutive searches and lets you know how stable your rankings are. Are you ranking 100% of the time or just 5% of the time? It is especially helpful during algorithm updates when you can see how wildly fluctuating rankings can be. This tool will help you address the common conversation between client and SEO:
  SEO: You are ranking number 1. I did an awesome job.
  Client: No. You are lying. I am in position 9. You are fired.

Website Rankings Loss Assessment Common Mistakes

When performing a website rankings loss audit, it’s easy to overlook critical factors that could be contributing to the drop. Here are the most common mistakes less experienced SEOs make when assessing a ranking drop. .

Overlooking Technical Issues

One of the biggest mistakes in an audit is not checking for technical SEO problems and ruling them out right at the start—or worse, failing to check for them altogether. If a site has issues with crawling, indexing, rendering, or slow server response times, these can cause significant ranking drops.

It’s common for less experienced SEOs to dive into analyzing content or backlinks without first checking for basic technical problems. Things like a misplaced no-index tag, incorrect redirects, or crawl errors can easily be the root cause of a rankings drop.

Addressing technical issues early in the audit can save both the client and the SEO a lot of time and frustration.

Being Reactive Rather Than Strategic During a Core Update

I’ve already covered this, but it’s worth emphasizing because I see this mistake far too often. 

When Google rolls out a core algorithm update, it’s tempting to make quick changes in response to ranking drops. However, reacting too quickly can do more harm than good. Rankings tend to fluctuate wildly during core updates, and making adjustments without fully understanding the update can complicate your recovery process.

Instead, it’s crucial to wait until the update is completely rolled out. Once the dust has settled, you can analyze the full impact, and then create a strategic plan based on solid data. Acting prematurely can make it harder to pinpoint what’s really going on.

I explain this in more detail in my video on core updates and why patience is key before making any changes.

Not Looking at SERPs

Unless this is the technical issue that caused the rankings drop, you should spend a lot of time in SERPs. 

A common mistake during a rankings audit is failing to compare the search engine results pages (SERPs) from before and after the drop. It’s essential to see how the SERPs have changed for the site’s targeted keywords.

Just as important, make sure you’re looking at the correct SERPs for the right location. You can use a VPN to view localized search results, as SERPs can vary significantly depending on the region.

Tools like Ahrefs and Semrush allow you to view historical SERPs for specific dates, and they give you the option to filter by country, region, or even city.

Not using Wayback Machine

The Wayback Machine is almost as essential as Google Search Console when analyzing a rankings drop.

It allows you to see previous versions of the website, which is crucial for comparing exactly how the site looked before and after the drop. This tool can help you uncover significant changes that often go unnoticed, such as major content updates, URL changes without proper redirects, or even a migration the client may have forgotten to mention (it really happens).

Using Wayback Machine can save you from missing these hidden factors that might be contributing to the rankings loss.

Not Focusing on Parent Keywords

Another mistake is not identifying and prioritizing the parent keywords. When a significant keyword drops, it usually affects a large cluster of related keywords. 

Analyzing each related keyword individually can be overwhelming or even impossible, especially when dealing with thousands of terms. 

Instead, you should focus on the main parent keyword/topic—the one that brings in the most traffic or is the umbrella term for related keywords. In tools like Ahrefs, you can quickly identify these parent keywords and prioritize them for analysis and optimization.

Of course, this list of common mistakes in the website rankings drop analysis is not complete but these mistakes seem to happen most often. 

Hire an Experienced SEO Consultant to Do a Rankings Loss Audit for Your Website

If your website’s rankings have dropped, you need someone who knows how to get them back—and fast. I’ve helped many businesses recover from ranking drops, and I **** getting to the bottom of what caused the decline. I don’t just run a few tools and hand over a generic report—I dig deep, identifying technical issues, algorithm updates, or competitor strategies that led to the drop.

Hiring a cheap or inexperienced SEO—like someone from Fiverr (not saying all people on Fiverr are inexperienced) might seem like a quick fix, but it usually delays recovery and wastes time. Fixing a rankings drop requires real expertise and the ability to connect the dots that others might miss. Yes, experienced SEO consultants cost more, but the ROI is worth it once the right changes are made.

I’m not saying you should hire me specifically, but I do recommend working with an experienced SEO professional, ideally an independent consultant. You can read more about why I think so in my article comparing SEO agencies and consultants.

If you’d like me to take an initial look at your site, feel free to contact me at [email protected] or set up a discovery call. If I can diagnose the issue quickly, I won’t charge you much—or anything at all. 🙂

Let’s get your site back to the top!

Website Rankings Loss Audit FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

Here are frequently asked questions about website rankings loss audits designed to help you better understand the process and importance of such audits.