Why is my page’s location in the search results lower than before?

As you may know, our search results change regularly as we update our index. When we add new sites and incorporate updates to the content of existing pages, pages in our search results shift. Some will be ranked higher than before for a particular keyword and others lower.

These changes are typically automated. However, Google reserves the right to make the ultimate determination as to whether a website’s ranking increases, decreases, or remains the same. It is certainly our intent to represent the content of the internet fairly and accurately. To learn more about how Google determines sites’ positions in our search results, please see http://www.google.com/technology/index.html

Occasionally, fluctuation in ranking could be due to differences in our data centers. When you perform a Google search, your query is sent to a Google data center in order to retrieve search results. There are numerous data centers, and many factors (such as geographic location and search traffic) determine where a query is sent. Because not all of our data centers are updated simultaneously, it’s possible to see slightly different search results depending on which data center handles your query.

While we can’t guarantee that any page will rank consistently in our search results, or be included at all for that matter, our webmaster guidelines offer helpful tips for maintaining a Google-friendly site. In general, webmasters can improve a site’s visibility in our search results by increasing the number of high-quality sites that link to it.