Ranking well on Google is important for online success, but a lot of website owners have trouble getting their pages to show up in search results. Do not worry if your website is not ranking; this could be due to a number of factors, and most of them can be fixed. This guide will explain the most common SEO problems that are keeping your site from rising and give you steps you can take to move up the search engine results pages (SERPs).
1. Google hasn’t indexed your site.
Why This Takes Place:
- Google hasn’t checked out your page yet.
- Robots.txt is blocking your page.
- There isn’t a good sitemap on your site.
How to Make It Right:
- Check to see if Google is indexing: To check if your pages are found, go to Google Search Console and type site:yourwebsite.com into the search box.
- Send in your sitemap: Use Yoast SEO, Rank Math, or Google XML Sitemaps to make an XML sitemap, then send it to Google Search Console.
- Check to see if Robots.txt is blocking Google: Check the robots.txt file at yourwebsite.com to make sure you’re not stopping search engines. Not allowed: /.
- Request Indexing: You can use Google Search Console to ask for important pages to be indexed by hand.
2. Your site doesn’t have any or very few backlinks.
Why This Takes Place:
- Your site is new and doesn’t have much influence yet.
- There are no external links from trustworthy sites in your work.
How to Make It Right:
- Post as a Guest on High-Quality Websites: Find blogs in your field and write useful guest posts with backlinks.
- Use HARO (Help A Reporter Out): Answer questions from reporters and get backlinks.
- Make content that people will want to link to. For example, you could publish infographics, case studies, or in-depth guides that easily get links.
- Strategy for Internal Links: To pass authority within your site, link your high-ranking pages to new material.
3. Your writing is thin or not very good
Why This Takes Place:
- Your writing is too short and doesn’t go deep enough.
- It’s the same thing that’s on another page.
- It doesn’t meet the user’s needs.
How to Make It Right:
- Write In-Depth Content: Aim for 1,500 words or more of well-organized, precise content.
- Use the E-E-A-T principles. Google likes material that is based on Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness.
- Avoid Duplicate Content: To make sure your work is unique, use Copyscape or other plagiarism tools.
- To make material more interesting, use short paragraphs, bullet points, and subheadings to make it easier to read.
4. Not using keywords well
Why This Takes Place:
- Keyword stuffing is when you use too many terms.
- Lack of keywords that are important.
- Long-tail terms are not being used.
How to Make It Right:
- Do research on keywords. You can use Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Ubersuggest to find phrases that people are looking for.
- Naturally optimize: Use keywords in the title, headers, first 100 words, and URL, but don’t use them too many times.
- Use semantic keywords, which are things that Google connects to your topic.
- Focus on Search Intent: Know what kind of search the user is doing (informational, transactional, or navigational) and make sure your content fits that need.
5. Your site loads too slowly
Why This Takes Place:
- Heavy scripts and pictures that aren’t optimized.
- Not good web service.
- Not enough caching.
How to Make It Right:
- Get hosting from a company that is quick. For faster speed, pick SiteGround, Cloudways, or Kinsta.
- Cache should be turned on. You can use WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, or LiteSpeed Cache.
- Optimize pictures: Use ShortPixel or Smush to shrink pictures.
- Minify CSS and JavaScript: Use Autoptimize to get rid of code that isn’t needed.
6. No optimization for mobile
Why This Takes Place:
- That’s not how your site works.
- It’s too small for icons and fonts.
- Cell phone speed is slow.
How to Make It Right:
- Use a Mobile-Friendly Theme: Astra, GeneratePress, and Kadence are all flexible themes that you can use.
- Test with Google’s Mobile-Friendly Tool to find and fix problems with how your site works on mobile devices.
- Turn on AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages). This will help mobile devices load faster.
7. Poor SEO technical work
Why This Takes Place:
- Link problems.
- Not right redirects.
- There is no organized data markup.
How to Make It Right:
- Fix Broken Links: Broken Link Checker can help you find broken links and fix them.
- Put in 301 Redirects. Correctly: Instead of removing old pages, redirect them correctly.
- In order to make organized data more visible in search results, you can use Schema.org to add schema markup.
8. Not any social signals or activity
Why This Takes Place:
- Not on any social networks.
- Blog posts that don’t get enough attention.
How to Make It Right:
- Share your content on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest, and make sure people see your posts.
- Get people to leave comments and share: Talk to people in the comments area.
- Showcase comments and content made by users as “social proof.”
9. Google Search Console and Analytics Are Not Being Used
Why This Takes Place:
- No insights based on facts.
- SEO problems aren’t seen.
How to Make It Right:
- Set up Google Search Console and look for problems with indexing and performance measurements.
- Track how people use Google Analytics and make changes to your SEO techniques based on what you find.
- Regularly check on performance: Keep an eye on changes in traffic and fix problems right away.
10. Penalties for algorithms or actions taken by hand
Why This Takes Place:
- Your site doesn’t follow Google’s rules.
- Link farms or backlinks of bad quality.
- Anchor text that is too refined.
How to Make It Right:
- See if there are any penalties in Google Search Console: If an activity that needs to be done by hand is found, do what Google says.
- Don’t follow bad links. To get rid of harmful backlinks, use Google’s Disavow Tool.
- Don’t use black-hat SEO techniques like cloaking, keyword stuffing, or secret text. Instead, use white-hat techniques.
Last Thoughts
If Google doesn’t rank your website, it’s probably because of a mix of the things listed above. The good news? You can fix most SEO issues! Just a quick review:
✅ Go to Google and see if they have found your site.
✅ Use high-quality links to improve your backlink plan.
✅ Make long-form material that is useful.
✅ Use terms wisely and not too much.
✅ Make your site faster and make sure it works well on mobile devices.
✅ Fix any technical SEO mistakes and make use of organized data.
✅ Get more people to interact with you on social media and in comments.
✅ Google Search Console and Analytics can be used to track and make changes. Keep up with changes to Google’s system to avoid getting fined.
If you use these tips, your site will have a much better chance of ranking on Google, which will lead to more traffic, leads, and sales over time!