Reasons why your website isn’t ranking well on Google
If you tell anyone to search for something on the internet, what do they do? They go on google.com and type in their search query.
Then Google shows a list of millions of websites that includes the intended search query.
Even if you might see people saying that SEO is old or outdated, it’s not true. Search ranking still matters and holds the top place as being efficient and cost-effective methods or digital marketing strategy that most of the digital marketers would vote for.
Why search engine rankings matter
What is search engine ranking?
According to moz.com, ranking refers to the process search engines use to determine where a particular piece of content should appear on a SERP.
For businesses, it must rank on search engine if it wants to see a growth in their business in terms of leads, sales and get huge ROI.
So why ranking on Google search engine matters.
Study says, on average, Google processes over 40,000 search queries every second.
Imagine having your business ranked on Google search engine pages and is visited by thousands of visitors interested in the products or services that you are offering too.
But there’s a catch here…
SEO experts says 75 per cent of search engine users never bother to check the second page of results. Which means if your business website doesn’t show up on the first page of Google, you are going to lose on your intended audience.
You might be thinking that I have got the best website with the best features, then am I not ranking on Google? why am I not getting enough leads through my website?
There are can be various reasons why your website isn’t ranking on Google.
It’s really important to understand what’s wrong with the website and what we can do to fix it.
Below are ten of the most common issues that your website might be having that we need to address as to get listed on the top page in Google?
Slow website speed
Visitors wait for a website to load in less than 5 seconds. The more time it takes, the visitors tend to come out and visit other links. Website speed is important if you want internet visitors to stay on your website and explore what your business offers and eventually call on your business number or email.
How to check your web page load speed?
There are many tools available online that measure your website loading speed. What you need to do is add in your website URL. After the process, check if your website speed is below 5 seconds. If not, then check your website for browser cashing issue, optimise the images used to speed up the loading speed.
Lack of quality content
Content is the king when it comes to promoting your business on the internet. Having high-quality content placed on your business website is a must. That is what will keep your visitors engaged on your website. Also, the quantity matters when it comes to ranking. A good 300–400 words of content optimised with relevant keywords will indicate Google that your website is good enough to be shown to the searchers and thus rank it in the top list.
How to create high-quality content?
First of all, let’s discuss what is quality content? When your content writer drafts a piece of content that is targeted to achieve all the marketing objectives that you intend to, it is called quality content.
Poor website navigation
Having a website poorly designed or structured can cost you a lot in terms of traffic and customers. Website navigation is one of the important factors when it comes to ranking on Google.
Bad navigation can lead to an increase in bounce rate.
What is bounce rate?
When a user lands on your website and then leaves the website in seconds is called a bounce rate.
When a visitor encounters a bad website, he/she might bounce right back off and visit other links on the search page. The more bounce rate your website has, it will indicate to Google that your website is not up to mark to be shown to users. Google will drop you from your rankings.
How to get visitors to stick to your website for long?
Just make navigation simple. Enhance your site navigation strategy and offer personalized website experience to your visitors that help them find what they are searching for quickly. Get attractive navigational menus that also reflect your sitemap and provides easy access to your website visitor to all web pages.
Website not optimised for search
When you are drafting a web copy, it is important to understand what your target audience would type to search for the products he/she needs. One has to work on keyword strategy to formulate the website content.
User intent changes from time to time, thus keywords research will help you better understand your audience and give you the right direction in approaching your audience. But keep in mind, keyword stuffing is a bad SEO practice. Also, it comes under Black Hat SEO techniques, termed by SEO experts, which is not supported by Google algorithms.
So how to optimise content for search
First, you need to do keyword research to find the niche keywords for your business which you can optimize on the website. There are tools available on the internet which you can use to mine some rich profitable keywords. One of the most widely used tools is Google keyword planner. Once you get a list of keywords relevant to your products or services, you can start with optimising your title & meta-description tags. Sprinkle keywords in the content copy of your website and let Google understand the relevancy and rank you accordingly. Doing this will increase rankings and improve click-throughs from the search listings.
Not enough high-quality backlinks
Google always prefers those websites that are trustworthy and reliable. This can be achieved by getting high-quality backlinks to your website. Backlinks from top sites show Google that your site has high authority, and the content on your website is worth sharing.
Seeking backlinks for your website from top authority websites is something one should focus on but not to forget that quality matters more than quality. Having few high-quality backlinks from a relevant website in your niche is far more valuable than 100s of low-quality backlinks
How to check the backlinks for your website
Like above, there are a few online tools to check backlinks that will show you which websites are linking back to yours. Also, you can analyze the backlink profile of any website and evaluate the quality of each backlink.
Pages with “no-index” tag
A no-index meta tag on your website tells search engines like Google not to crawl your webpages. The webpages will not get indexed (even if you have submitted the sitemap to Google Search Console) and won’t appear on search engine when people place the keyword targeted by that page.
Wondering why would anyone place this tag on their website?
There’s a reason for that!
When your business website is being developed or worked on, the web developers might inject this piece of code on your website so that the search engine does not index the incomplete phase of the website. The problem arises when they forget to remove this tag.
Also, while on working on website development platform like WordPress if you select a wrong option, then WordPress might by default place this code.
How to check if the page is indexed?
Google Search Console will guide you with the list of errors and warnings. It will inform you if your website is indexed on not.
Not mobile optimised
Nowadays everybody is on mobile. Mobile usage has drastically increased in a short period. According to statistics, 52% of global internet traffic comes from mobile devices. In short, mobile usage has overtaken desktop. Thus it is vital to have a mobile optimised website.
A user should be able to view your website on any device he uses to browse. Any dragging and pinching to view the content of your website will mark it as a bad user experience and Google doesn’t like it.
How to get a website mobile responsive
To build a mobile responsive business website, you need a hire a professional website development agency. If you are serious about generating revenue through the website then it is extremely important to have a responsive website that will help you rank better and convert visitors into buyers.
How can I improve my website’s Google search visibility?
Ranking on Google search engine is a process that requires continuous efforts done in the right manner. Optimizing your website for organic search requires expert hands that know in and out of how websites are ranked on Google.
As we have seen poor on-page optimization of a website and poor content can bring your website down in search ranks.
Get help from a professional digital marketing company like Leigia who have experience in optimising websites for Google search engine or for that matter any search engine that people use.
Our digital marketing experts in Goa will make it an easy process to find and fix the factors that are preventing your website from ranking on Google.
Get connected with us and let us help you improve your website’s search visibility, increase your traffic and generate more revenue from your website.