Some common reasons for a drop in rankings include:
1. You stopped building links, but competitors did not...
SEO is ongoing. If you pause while competitors continue, they will gradually outrank you. This is the most common cause of gradual ranking decline.
2. A Google algorithm update
Major updates cause both gains and losses. A sharp drop after a known update may point to something on your site rather than competitors outperforming you.
3. Technical or on-page issues
Site speed & core web vitals problems, crawl errors, thin content, or keyword cannibalisation (to name a few) can hold rankings back even with strong links.
If you are concerned about your site, we highly recommend running it through this course to ensure all modern SEO standards are met.