Hi all,

A couple of my sites just dropped from top 5 on page one of Google to page 3 over the space of a week. I hadn't really changed anything - although I am still doing link building through directories. I've been doing link building with directories for these sites for about a year and I'm wondering if the original links are simply dropped by Google because they are too old? If not, any other ideas why I should see such drops so quickly?

I'm assuming the problem is links and PR related as I really haven;t changed much text or tags on the site.

Thanks for any advice!

By the way - the overall links still seem to be increasing. They are not showing any significant drops when I track backlinks in Google Webmaster tools

Have you mostly been using free directories? If so, these directories often die off or you link gets demoted to page 20 of a category. This makes the links next to useless if search engines can no longer find them (they are too deep into the site to index).

I would look into other link building ideas.

Also, if you linked back to any of them, that alone could be the problem. Never ever link back to a directory; it won't help you, can harm you, and they shouldn't be asking.

A handful of directory entries can help a site, especially a new one. But the benefits are limited, and it's really not a good idea to depend on them. You need a 'balanced diet'!

But it is worth reviewing the competition - has the niche changed? Are you missing out on something that's helping others?

Have you made any major changes over the past six months?

Is your host reliable? A few episodes of site down can do terrible things!

Is your site available at www *and* non-www? if so, a few links to the 'wrong' one could be diluting your serps.

your link is gone from "new sites" sections. that's

Maybe google had a hiccup where it temporarily used its old results?