📊 Ranking States

Ranking State is a concept from Koray's Framework that explains the ranking cycles of search engines. It helps SEOs analyze a website's current state to avoid abandoning the optimization journey or making unnecessary changes when results are about to improve.

🔍 Types of Ranking States

• 1️⃣ Positive Ranking State ✅ – When a website gains rankings and traffic increases as Google tests it in higher positions, keeping it there if it performs well.
• 2️⃣ Negative Ranking State ❌ – The website is losing rankings, possibly due to algorithm updates, technical issues, or poor content strategies.
• 3️⃣ Neutral Ranking State ⚖️ – When a website loses rankings and traffic declines due to factors like increased competition, algorithm updates, lack of freshness signals, or poor topical coverage.

Key Takeaways for Ranking States

• 1️⃣ Don’t let ranking changes dictate your emotions 😰 → Plan for the long-term (15+ months).
• 2️⃣ Negative ranking states take time to recover ⏳ → Even with improvements, recovery takes a core update cycle.
• 3️⃣ Brand value matters 📢 → If no one searches for you, you’re at risk in HCU updates.
• 4️⃣ Topical authority is a ranking state 🧠 → Keep updating your content maps & semantic networks.
• 5️⃣ SEO is a journey, not a one-time fix 🔄 → Continuous optimization is key.
• 6️⃣ Search engines rank web sources, not just pages 🕵️ → Entire site relevance matters, not just one article.
• 7️⃣ Outdated content can hurt rankings 📉 → Even old content from 2010 can cause traffic drops.
• 8️⃣ Watch for information redundancy 🔄 → If you're not adding new value, Google won’t rank you.
• 9️⃣ Engagement & community signals help rankings 🔗 → Build social presence & endorsements.
• 🔟 Avoid sudden SEO strategy changes 🛑 → Consistency wins over time.

📌 Google’s Key Ranking Factors

🟢 Positive Factors

• 🔄 Content freshness & updates
• 📚 Semantic content networks
• 🔍 Consistent brand searches
• 🤝 User engagement & social validation

🔴 Negative Factors

• ❌ Over-optimized content (spammy SEO techniques)
• ⏳ Poor historical performance
• 🛑 Lack of new content & updates
• 🔄 High redundancy in search results

🔄 Recovery & Migration Strategies

🚧 If stuck in a negative ranking state:

• ✔ First, aim for naturalization (stabilization) 📊 before expecting full recovery.
• ✔ Site migration can be a last resort – If a website is beyond recovery, a redirection strategy can work.
• ✔ SEO is about persistence – Websites that don’t stop optimizing eventually recover!

📈 MinisterBrass.com Ranking Journey

MinisterBrass.com reached its current ranking level with just 20–25 initial articles, but why did it take around 10 months?

⏳ The Role of Historical Data

This brings us to the concept of historical data, which includes:

• ✔️ Clicks, mouse hovers, and query activity per second
• ✔️ Impressions and search engine confidence levels

🔗 New Website Ranking States Process

Without backlinks or active linking campaigns, historical data plays a crucial role in ranking. Here’s how the process works:

• 🛠️ Initial Testing: Your website enters a positive ranking state for evaluation.
• 🔄 Replacement Testing: Google replaces it temporarily to re-test its relevance.
• 📊 Ranking Stability: If it passes all tests, it enters a neutral ranking state and moves up gradually.

🏆 Why Some Websites Maintain Rankings for Years

Many people wonder why some websites maintain their rankings for years without publishing new content, while others lose rankings quickly. The answer lies in industry competition and Google’s ranking algorithms.

Different industries have different ranking signals and metric combinations that Google considers. If no other source provides fresh, high-quality content, your website will continue to rank well for a long time, even without updates.