Now that Google has started using the new external keyword tool interface, there’s one thing I noticed that may trip some users up.

When you enter your keyword or website, just make sure to change the country to the one of your choice.

I’m in the U.S. and the country is usually pre-listed as Australia or the United Kingdom.

Hope this helps.

It can be a rude awakening. You’ve worked hard getting your site to the 1st page of Google and keeping it there.  But maybe you’re #7 and you want to move up a bit.

So you add or change your content or other SEO elements…then ugghhh…what happened?

Your site has dropped like a tons of bricks to # 28 way down on the – gulp – 3rd page!!!

The worst thing you can do at this point is panic and start changing things to chase Google.  More than likely Google is playing with you.

It’s what we SEOers call, The Google Dance.  See, when you make changes to your site, sometimes it’ll drop like a ton of bricks.

And yes, you’ll have to sweat it out…anxiously checking your ranking daily.  But more than likely, in about 10 days or less, you’ll end up at least where you left off.  In this case, #7 or maybe even higher!

So don’t panic if this happens to you.   Remain calm and wait for the mystifying thing we call, Google, to finish it’s dance.  And in the end, hopefully you won’t be dropped!