Anyone else lose rankings after using SurferSEO suggestions?

I usually use Keysearch to find keywords and write optimized articles, but earlier this year, I trialed SurferSEO. I had success with two articles I wrote with Surfer, as they reached top 5 for several keywords.

So, I got a month subscription to SurferSEO and wrote six new articles with it. I also reworked some older articles that looked like easy wins to improve. Now, one of those old articles has seen a huge drop in page views, and a couple of others are struggling too.

Before anyone says it—I optimized without going overboard. I also added more helpful content to these articles, and according to Surfer, these posts scored 75-80, which was higher than competitors. So they should be performing better, not worse.

Anyone else experience this? Should I just go back to Keysearch? I’m pretty confused, as Surfer was so helpful for my first two articles.

So you think Surfer-optimized content alone is enough to rank? What about building authority, backlinks, and making sure the user experience is good?

Ellis said:
So you think Surfer-optimized content alone is enough to rank? What about building authority, backlinks, and making sure the user experience is good?

Obviously, I’m also building authority and backlinks and improving the user experience. My question was just about Surfer specifically, since I initially had good results with it but am now seeing drops. I was hoping someone had similar experiences with recent Google updates, maybe even that Surfer’s methods are now seen as ‘over’ optimization?

@Randall
Nobody’s assuming anything here. You mentioned a 75-80 Surfer score and expected rankings from that. Rankings aren’t based on third-party tool scores, though, as you know…

If you’re mindful with entities, attributes, and secondary keywords, over-optimizing shouldn’t be an issue. Hope you get the answers you’re after.

Algorithm updates can affect rankings overnight. If there was an update around the time you made your changes, that might explain some of the drop.

Tools like Surfer are just that—tools. They can help, but they don’t guarantee results. The SEO world keeps changing, so what works today might not tomorrow.

Sometimes, we get too caught up in advanced optimization and forget basics. Is your content engaging, informative, and valuable to readers?

By the way, Odd Angles Media offers a free SEO audit. You could give that a look.

Those Surfer scores aren’t all that meaningful. I wouldn’t base much off of them. Same goes for other similar tools.

I actually posted about this recently. You really have to be careful with Surfer and Frase now.

Over-optimization is definitely something Google might penalize, and these tools are often based on outdated techniques. Following all their recommendations can make content too ‘optimized’ and actually hurt rankings.

You also end up writing for Google instead of readers. Personally, I avoid these tools these days.

Could there be any seasonal trends affecting those articles?

Aidan said:
Could there be any seasonal trends affecting those articles?

No seasonal trends for these articles! The drop was sharp and happened right after I optimized with Surfer—like a 70% drop in traffic the next week for one of them.

Do you have backups of the old articles? You could restore them and see if the rankings return.