If you’ve paid good money for a website – and even if you haven’t – there is still an expectation that it should be ranking on Google. After all, that’s one of the main reasons for having a website. Even if you get most of your business through referrals and see it as a ‘brochure’ site, it should still be paying its way. There are various reasons why websites don’t rank on Google. The chances are your website is suffering from one or more of these issues.
The main reasons websites don’t rank on Google
- They’re targeting the wrong keywords
- Google doesn’t understand what the site is about
- Poor on-page SEO
- Technical issues are making it hard for Google to index or return them in searches
- The site lacks authority and trust
- Competitors are doing SEO better than you
- They don’t have a proper SEO strategy
- They’re expecting results too quickly
Each of these issues on their own can have an impact, but it’s rarely just one thing.
It’s targeting the wrong keywords
If your website targets the wrong keywords, it will get the wrong traffic. If there’s a mismatch between informational and commercial intent, you’ll get people seeking information rather than to buy your services.
If your keywords are too broad or too competitive, you’re competing with the rest of the internet. You could also appear in searches for various things, most of which will have nothing to do with what you want visitors for. If you don’t have a clear primary keyword for each page, this also makes it hard for Google to index you appropriately.
Google doesn’t understand what your site is about
Google doesn’t do nuance, metaphor, or vagueness. If your pages are not clear about what they are, Google will struggle. If you’re not clear about your offerings and services, Google won’t know how to index you. If you talk about the same thing on multiple pages Google doesn’t know which page to send people to in answer to their query. Effectively you’re then competing against yourself too. Google needs to know you can answer the question – and be confident you know what you’re talking about.
Your website has poor on-page SEO
Without on-page search-engine optimisation, Google is missing the signals it needs to understand your website properly. Missing title tags and headings, multiple H1s, duplicates, a lack of heading hierarchy, no internal linking, not enough content (thin content), and so on. All these things mean the key information Google needs is lacking. It’s a bit like trying to read instructions – with half the key information redacted.
Technical issues are making it hard for Google to index or return you in searches
Technical SEO issues can also lead to indexing issues. If you’ve got links that go nowhere or multiple redirects, duplicate content or canonicals, security issues, slow loading speeds, or your website is not optimised for mobile, your visibility will be limited.
Your site lacks authority and trust
If all your website has is a list of services, how does Google know you’re any good at what you do? How can you be trusted? You need strong signals like reviews, testimonials, or case studies, and blog content that’s building authority and proving your expertise. Otherwise there’s not a lot to go on. Thin or generic content and links to poor quality sites or no-one with any authority linking to you doesn’t help either.
Your competitors are doing SEO better than you
If you competitors have got their technical and on-page SEO sorted and are producing more relevant content, they are going to rank higher. If they have better website structure and user experience, and stronger authority signals, you’re not competing on a level playing field.
You don’t have a proper SEO strategy
If you think that SEO isn’t a thing, or it’s just something you do once and then it’s done, you’re missing out. Search-engine optimisation, like your website, needs to be maintained. Things ‘break’ all the time. SEO evolves all the time.
The current fixation on generative engine optimisation, or GEO, over SEO, or as something that needs a completely different approach to SEO is flawed. GEO, AI-search optimisation – it’s all just good practice SEO with a few tweaks and things to think about. Just like anything that evolves, SEO moves with the times – and AI is just the next new thing to needs to be incorporated.
With a proper SEO strategy you can see what’s working and what’s not. When you’re measuring results you can keep on evolving and improving.
You’re expecting results too quickly
SEO is not a quick fix answer. Anyone offering you amazing results quickly is at best exaggerating and at worst actively conning you. You don’t just ‘SEO your website’ and everything switches up overnight, although it seems like it should. After all, if you’re missing title tags and you put them in, that should help, If you change your keywords to target the right terms, if you deal with the technical issues and so on – you would expect that to be reflected immediately.
Unfortunately it doesn’t work like that in practice. It takes a while for Google to crawl and index your site appropriately and to begin to trust it. You’re competing with established domains. You’re competing with websites that have consistently worked on their SEO strategy. Keep yours up over time and you’ll start to see your website ranking on Google.
How long before you really start to see a difference will depend on your starting point and who you’re competing with.
How to start fixing your ranking issues
- Take a step back from your website and look at it from your ideal customer’s point of view.
- Review your keywords and any SEO strategy you currently have.
- Look at any technical issues the website has.
- Improve the quality of your content to build authority.
- Do a review of keywords and intent
Make sure you have distinct keywords for each page and that the search terms your ideal customers will be using align with the required intent. See what you’re being found for in your Google Search Console (it’s free). Use a free keyword tool like Google Keyword Planner or People Also Ask on Google results pages. - Do a technical audit
There are many SEO tools that offer free options as well as the paid options professionals will use. You can download Screaming Frog, or use something like SEOmator. Run a technical audit and then work through the errors to correct them to give yourself the best chance of success. They’ll flag both on- and off-page issues. - Improve your content and make sure you’re adding to it regularly
Make sure you continue to prove your authority and expertise and relevance as things change. Include FAQ to pre-empt commonly asked questions and barriers. These can be helpful for visibility in AI searches too. - Build authority
As well as the authoritative content you offer your website visitors, make sure everyone knows how good you are at what you do. Add reviews and testimonials where you can and write in-depth case studies where possible.
When to get professional SEO help and advice
No website is too small for effective SEO, despite what large agencies might tell you. If you don’t have the time or the inclination to do your own, speak to a professional. If you’ve been doing your own SEO and it’s not as effective as it was, it could be time to bring in someone else.
An SEO audit will give you a lot of answers – and bring up some new questions too. There’s a lot that can’t be ‘seen’ – and the answers and the best course of action are not always obvious . A professional can help you navigate this and to focus your attention on the most useful way forward.
If you want to do it yourself and would like my help to know where to start, an SEO website copy audit will give you all the information you need. It looks at your website copy and on-page SEO. Alternatively, you can hand all your SEO over to a professional (me) and get ongoing SEO support. I’ll do all the hard work for you.
What ongoing SEO support looks like
Get your website ranking on Google – for the right search terms.
With my SEO Services, you get all the technical and on-page support you need, along with my expert website copywriting skills to back it all up. SEO without effective website copywriting is wasted – and vice versa. I have several packages ranging from my Core service at £350 pcm and I can also create bespoke packages as necessary. The SEO on your website, like your website itself, needs constant monitoring and maintenance. Things change, things break – and it all has an impact.
Why not book a free, no-obligation call, or get in touch via my form?
