Do I revert back to original design of page after redesign tanked search results?

[WellCrafted]

I haven't had this happen before, so I would greatly appreciate some advice.

I helped with a redesign of a webiste, moving from Squarespace to Shopify. The data below is from their top-performing page that was a TOTALLY NEW page for their website, but has a tool on it that is very helpful. From its launch date, it was climbing in rankings on a national basis right off the bat, which is great because they are a local businesses that is adding ecommerce.

The client, seeing the great performance, wanted some tweaks done to the page. Designer made updates on July 6 and the page started tanking right away.

The designer made several changes by added some features, but the one I think was the clencher was they accidentally deleted the H1 header when changing the top banner. (!!)

I caught the missing header around 8/23 and had it added back in. But instead of improving, the page traffic and position DROPPED FURTHER.

For this keyword search, there is also a new "AI Overview: Key things to know" that was not there before (I'm not sure when it started appearing) but now it makes it so there's only 1 organic search result and then this lengthy AI box...so I think this is a contributor as well.

I'm afraid to tweak it more because every time we touch it, it drops. Do I give it a few weeks and not touch it? I also could revert the page back to the original design as that design still exists...but again, I'm afraid I'd hurt more than I'd help with another change.

Any thoughts or advice? It kills me we lost all this traffic and dropped from an average position of 6 to 9!

Thank you!

 

[localruler]

Yeah, that H1 missing for a month and a half could have been the culprit. Without any other insights, I would leave it a while longer to see what happens.

Something else to think about: You showed the data for the page as a whole. Have you looked at the individual keywords that the page was ranking for. Have all of them dropped? Was there one keyword that was getting most of the traffic and it dropped?

 

[fisicx]

The reasons for the fall could be multiple. The missing H1 may well have contributed but small changes to the layout can have a big impact. For example, adding an image with the wrong alt text when seen in context with the surrounding text can cause a fall in ranking. This is because Google looks at the whole page and how it works as a single entity and how it fits in with the rest of the site.

Can you show us the page and the keywords for which it was ranking.

 

[WellCrafted]

This is the Page: https://theacnelab.com/pages/pore-clogger-list

It was received at least 1 click for 381 keywords, but here are the top ones.

I took another look at the page and page inspection and realized that while the designer had added in an H1 header, it was hidden. So the very top visual header was actually an H2. But my software was reading that hidden H1. I had them update it to delete the hidden H1 and make the top header an H1. So now I'm thinking that was a contributor!

 

[fisicx]

Your page title isn't helping:

"Pore Clogging Ingredients Checker | Check Products for Pore Cloggers | Ingredients that Cause Acne | Non-Comedogenic Ingredients - The Acne Lab"

Google really doesn't like this sort of spammy title. Keep it simple and under 60 characters.

You then have very similar H1 and H2.

The image next to the H1 is irrelevant to the page, doesn't have alt text and isn't optimised.

The text below the H1 suggests you can check the ingredients but you then have to scroll to a whole new section where you start all over.

And your performance score is 43/100.

In other words, there are a whole bunch of things that could be affecting your ranking.

 

[fisicx]

I've just been looking at your competition. All of them have a very simple checking page with the form at the top of the page and simple non-spammy page titles. You could easily compete if you changed the page contents and structure.

 

[JS Girard]

Your page title isn't helping:

"Pore Clogging Ingredients Checker | Check Products for Pore Cloggers | Ingredients that Cause Acne | Non-Comedogenic Ingredients - The Acne Lab"

Google really doesn't like this sort of spammy title. Keep it simple and under 60 characters.

Webpage rules are very different from GBP naming rules. Sterling Sky have directly demonstrated that long page title are absolutely no reason to be concerned. there is basically no such thing as being punished by google search (NOT google maps/local) for a long page title.

 

[fisicx]

Webpage rules are very different from GBP naming rules. Sterling Sky have directly demonstrated that long page title are absolutely no reason to be concerned. there is basically no such thing as being punished by google search (NOT google maps/local) for a long page title.

It's not so much about being long. In this case it's the repeated keywords Google doesn't like.

 

[fisicx]

And whilst the description isn't a ranking signal this sort of thing doesn't help:

"Avoid skincare products with pore-clogging ingredients to prevent acne breakouts. Use The Acne Lab’s Pore Clogging Ingredient Checker to check for pore cloggers in any product."

Which when added to the title:

"Pore Clogging Ingredients Checker | Check Products for Pore Cloggers | Ingredients that Cause Acne | Non-Comedogenic Ingredients - The Acne Lab"

And initial content:

"Check for Pore Clogging Ingredients. Do you have acne-prone skin? Then you will always need to avoid using products with pore-clogging ingredients. Check for pore cloggers in any products that come in contact with your skin:"

And then even more further down the page.

You can see why a red flag might be raised at the Googleplex.

@WellCrafted also said the page was ranking well but then tanked. It's possible the changes the designer made triggered an automatic review which then gave the page the thumbs down.