Google search advocate John Mueller said being indexed does not guarantee good ranking and urged webmasters to provide specific details for diagnosing why pages might not appear in search results.
Mueller’s comments came after a webmaster reported key pages from a large, established site disappeared from Google search results, impacting brand queries and site visibility.
Webmaster Stefano reported his site experienced a sudden drop in visibility over two to three days, with Search Console impressions nearing zero, according to a post on the Google Search Central help forum.
The affected pages remained indexed, according to the URL inspection tool, and the site had no manual actions, security issues, or recent technical changes, Stefano said.
Other sites in the same sector also observed a concurrent phenomenon, Stefano reported, suggesting a broader issue.
Mueller said he lacked sufficient concrete details to provide a specific diagnosis or explanation for the reported ranking drops.
He emphasized that the term ‘brand query’ is vague without the actual query, noting that generic brand terms differ significantly from unique ones.
Mueller also clarified that qualifiers like ‘large’ or ‘established’ do not inherently ensure high visibility or good ranking in search results.
He advised webmasters facing similar issues to publish specific details, including affected URLs and exact queries, on the Google Search Central help forum to receive expert advice.
Source: Abondance
