@richardmclaughlin

With the decrease in ranking and PageRank, it sounds like some of their back links dropped off.  Do they have a baseline report for their links?  It would be easy if you had a report at the end of your work with them last time, any linking report during the time they’ve had their website and now.  

It’s also possible their content has gone stale…they could have taken a hit with the freshness update.

Another possibility is their content just isn’t as relevant as their competitors.  

There are a lot of factors that could contribute to a decrease in ranking.  As far as PR goes, it’s really just something to look at to “get an idea” since it’s not updated regularly enough, it’s not a great indicator.  However, since PR is directly related to links, it’s an indicator that the link quality and/or amount of links has gone down.

With Google Webmasters, you can check out what links that are currently showing in Google.  If you have a baseline report from your previous work, you can look to see what has changed.  Often times, if a link has not been clicked in a long period of time (3 years would definitely do it), it stops getting counted.  You can always go back and check to see if the link still exists and click it.

These are just some guesses, it’s impossible to be accurate with out any data but I would say one or all of these could be a problem.

I really like this site - http://www.sheerseo.com for their simplistic reporting.  They have a report that allows you to check what links you have and links you used to have (I believe you have to have had the software installed to keep an eye on it for any length of time).  You can also keep a watch on specific links. You can use it for the links you’d really would hate to lose.  

@deairbyYes, it can.Keep an eye on your analytics, it can speak volumes.

@richardmclaughlin

Understandably, a more detailed response would be ideal, however, without looking at the analytics, it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what happened to their rankings.

In Edinburgh, the social networks are very much the same, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+.  Bebo is also pretty popular but other than that, I’ve not seen much difference.

Thanks folks, usual it is.This is a beauty treatment salon establishment.

@rich-brooks In England AA is the auto association, color is not colour and chips are not chips and a fag is a cigarette. I don’t see a difference in algorithm, but a question of language.

There is also the other social media sites that are popular by country. SkyRock is the 54th most visitied site in France according to Alexa – that is a social site used by the 12 to 20 year olds. Sure, everyone uses FB, but I just wonder if there is a SkyRock in the UK these days.