Recover Lost Rankings with Surfer SEO

Advanced SEO TipsPublished: 2019-10-18

Video Lesson

Overview

Matt dropped from #1 to #2 for "SEO coaching" and used Surfer SEO to diagnose and fix the issue. Within 6 days, he was back at #1. This video shows the exact process.

The Problem

Metric	Before	After
Ranking	#1	#2
When Dropped	~7 days prior
Keyword	"SEO coaching"

Surfer Audit Findings

Issue 1: Word Count Mismatch

Matt's Page:     2,000+ words
Competitors:     200-800 words
Status:          OVER-OPTIMIZED

The SERP had changed - competitors were now ranking with much shorter content.

Issue 2: Multiple H1 Tags

Found:     5 H1 elements
Should be: 1 H1 element
Cause:     Designer changed H2s to H1s

Issue 3: Keyword Density Issues

• Some keywords used 54 times (suggested: 34-45)
• Over-optimization detected
• True density needed adjustment

The Fix

Step 1: Reduce Word Count

• Converted testimonial text into images
• Removed unnecessary content sections
• Brought word count into competitor range

Step 2: Fix H1 Structure

• Changed rogue H1s back to H2s
• Single H1 for page title only

Step 3: Adjust Keyword Density

• Important: Fix word count FIRST
• Then recalculate true density
• Adjust to green scores in Surfer

Step 4: Resubmit to Google

• Updated content
• Submitted URL in Google Search Console
• Triggered recrawl

Results Timeline

Day 0:  Noticed drop to #2
Day 1:  Ran Surfer audit, identified issues
Day 2:  Implemented fixes
Day 3:  Rankings started fluctuating (1↔2)
Day 6:  Cemented at #1

Key Lessons

Surfer SEO Best Practices

1. Check word count first - Don't adjust density until content length is correct
2. One H1 only - Watch for theme/designer changes
3. SERP changes - What worked before may not work now
4. Quick turnaround - Fixes can show results in days, not weeks

Order of Operations

1. Run Surfer audit on your page
2. Check word count vs competitors
3. Adjust content length FIRST
4. THEN fix keyword density issues
5. Fix H1/H2 structure issues
6. Resubmit URL to Search Console
7. Monitor rankings

View Full Transcript

Alright guys, check this out. So today is October 11, 2019 and I noticed I dropped to number two for this SEO coaching term that I was ranking for.

When did this happen? It happened a few days ago, seven days ago. So let's see if Surfer can tell me how to fix this.

I've run a Surfer analysis on it and check out my audit. I can see missing three out of eleven common backlinks - that's not that bad, probably tell outreach guy to go get those links.

True density - there's a lot of work to be done here. Before I do it I want to check on word count and see if something has changed in the SERP.

Oh absolutely, something definitely changed in the SERP. Everyone ranking is ranking with like 200-800 words and I'm the weird one on page one with 2,000 words. So I don't want to mess with these keyword density numbers until I actually tweaked my word count.

Also notice down here there's five H1 elements on the page. I guess the designer took his own liberties to change a bunch of H2s to H1s.

So what we're gonna do is reduce the word count. I think probably the easiest way to do it is to take these testimonials here and convert them into images.

Hey what's up everybody, it's been six days since I filmed the last section of the video and I was a good boy and I did all the things I said I would do.

Let's see how I'm looking in Surfer SEO now. Words and paragraphs - I'm within range now. I used to be like 2,000 billion before but now I'm right in that sweet spot.

H1s - one H1 element, thank you very much.

We go over to the rank tracker - SEO coaching, number one. It just goes to show that Surfer's a good tool for figuring out what are some blatant mistakes.

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