dropped from #1 on google search

For the last 8 months i have been 1st or 2nd under "window tinting" in my area . I checked last week i am now at #6 and the 1st and 2nd one dont even have a website (google map) and 2 others have closed down that when clicked on them they go to a blank google page.i have decent traffic from my google analytics ans i now those others dont have the traffic i have. My web guy cant figure it out , Has this happened to any one else? any suggestions

Yeah mine drpped a few places too. Then again i havnt been keeping up with my site like I used too.

it came back after a couple of weeks , No one could figure it out .

they might have paid for ad space... or maybe they added some more keywords.... or maybe they took the address out and just put the city name so as to cover more area and seem bigger... there are a lot of ways to tweak this google junk... i'm still number 4, but I just added our place about 8 months ago. it depends on what term they search for as to what numbered spot I am in. if they search for step bars. i'm number one... if they search for racing perfomance parts... number one... bullydog i'm number one... window tint.... number 4

yeah there alot to this search engine stuff . I show up #2 on local listings and # 3 under the regular listing. Do you think it makes sense to do pay per click for sponsered links?

I personally don't like to pay for something that is free, but its growing more and more apparent that radio advertisement is extremely expensive for what it brings in. Advantage of google advertisement is you only pay when they click on your link... with radio your paying whether the projected audience is listening or not. If you had a kick ass website I would say pay on google... as it is my owner is too cheap to pay someone to set up a decent website so ... I really don't want to many people seeing the one we have so i'm sticking to the free local ads.