Why Your Website Is Not Ranking on Google
If you own a website, it is imperative that you ensure it ranks well on Google Search. Even with all your efforts, if your website is not ranking or showing on Google Search, there could be some internal issues that could be easily rectified. What are the factors that could be preventing your website from showing on Google or other search engines? The website may not be Indexed by Google, not listed on Google My Business for local SEO, contains poor SEO with no meta tags or image optimisation, lacks mobile-friendliness, and authoritative web content.
Google search is very complex with algorithms determining how your site ranks, you have to make sure you satisfy the relevant requirements. With thousands of websites out there, competition is fierce and by not ranking, you could be missing out on a significant amount of traffic. You may be thinking of Pay Per Click to cover the cracks, but hold on.
In this post, we will consider some of the possible reasons why your website might not be ranking on Google and how you can fix them.
My Site Content is not Ranking on any Google Page
If you head to Google and input a search query in the hope of seeing your website ranking on the first page, you need to understand that you are not searching for your website in its entirety. In fact, you are searching for certain pages within your website and this is something you have to understand.
Google has to be aware of the existence of the specific web pages online for which you might be trying to rank for in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages), if not, then it will not reveal the page anywhere in the search results.
This is the reason why you should ensure that:
- Google is aware of the existence of your website while being able to find, as well as access every page on your website.
- There is a page within your website that is relevant for the given set of keywords that you are searching for.
- You have confirmed with Google that the website pages are authentic and worthy of ranking for the given target search query.
Reasons Why Your Website is Not Showing on Google Search
While you might not be satisfied with the fact that your website does not rank on Google, the good news is that there is a multitude of things you can do to ensure it does. The following reasons such as no site map submissions, no local google status, and bad SEO can be culprits. Let us explain more below.
1. Not ranking on Google because of no Google My Business
If your website is not registered with Google My Business, then Google might not consider your website to be authentic, authoritative, or trustworthy.
Google is known to take the most convenient route when it comes to finding and delivering relevant results. When your online business or dental practice has a dedicated Google My Business account, it allows the search engine to determine that your website wants to be ranked and that it is updated with relevant information that searchers will find informative.
You can visit the Google My Business official page and follow the instructions to create your Google My Business account. Here, you are required to enter crucial details about your business, including name, address, phone number, email address, and opening times if required.
Along with this, you’ll benefit from user reviews and feedback as this will also inform Google as to who you are whether you are legitimate. Local SEO is highly effective when implemented correctly.
You must maintain this listing like a social media page, maintain it with new photos, create posts to make it appear active to your end-user.
2. Not ranking on Google due to Poor Website SEO
SEO management remains at the core of website ranking on the SERPs. If your website is not showing on Google, the chances are that you are not implementing the right SEO strategies for your business.
Whether you are not making use of the right SEO strategies or utilizing bad SEO practices, the results are going to be impacted negatively.
While SEO is about generating traffic for your website through improved rankings, poor SEO practices will achieve the opposite.
This can include duplicate content to not using relevant backlinks, keyword stuffing in content, using low-quality guest posts and more –there are several factors that could contribute to poor SEO.
When you want to improve the overall ranking, it is recommended that you implement the right SEO strategies. For the best outcomes, you should consider using professional SEO services.
Any inactive website will see rankings decline unline SEO content is spear headed.
3. Not ranking on Google due to quick, DIY SEO Tricks
While it is highly tempting to make use of blackhat shortcuts, it simply does not work in the long term when it comes to Search Engine Optimisation. There are several unauthorized SEO service providers that offer improved results instantly with the help of quick, DIY SEO practices.
However, it is important to note that SEO requires expertise, planning, and the correct strategies that achieve results organically. You are required to consider several factors while implementing SEO strategies for your business.
Most of the DIY SEO black hat tricks that promise results overnight tend to be unethical and irrelevant. Moreover, if Google finds out you have taken this approach, it could even penalize your website. Therefore, the experts always recommend that you should refrain from using shortcuts, and only trust reliable, professional web development experts.
4. Not Ranking On Google Due To No Website Index Submission
If you have just launched your website, and it is not ranking on Google, then the chances are that Google has yet not listed your website. How do you know if your website is indexed or not?
There are several tools that you can use and one simple tool to use is inputting Site:yoursite.com into Google. This will return results that indicate which if any of the pages are indexed. If there are no pages, your website is not indexed and will need to be submitted using the Google Search Console. This is a very quick and easy process that takes very little time but will ensure your website will eventually become visible to Google.
If your website is relatively new and you have submitted it to Google through the Google Search Console then it might take a few weeks for Google to come across your website and list it.
5. Not Ranking On Google Because Your Website is Not Mobile-friendly
Mobile devices are now becoming mainstream and are now more widely used than desktops and so, Google is now opting to return mobile-friendly sites before standard desktop sites.
Therefore, it is crucial for you to have a website that is mobile-friendly. More people are opting for convenient browsing on their smart devices and this is why Google is now considering it important.
However, your website should be responsive. This implies that the website can be easily viewed and navigated on all devices –including smartphones, tablets, and desktops. Your website should be simple to navigate, providing a seamless and enjoyable experience for your users. If you fail to do this, then it will only result in Google penalising your website.
If you are new to SEO then you may be placing keyword anchor links everywhere, interlinking wherever possible. These links can appear too close together on mobile and users will not be able to clearly click on what they see on the screen. Google will hinder your indexing as it will class the page as not mobile-friendly.
Always check the responsiveness of pages on mobile, i.e. your new services pages and blogs. Your WordPress suite (Elementor) can show you page views on desktop, ipad and mobile. Best to check before you Publish that page.
Any reputable web designer will ensure that every website is responsive. It’s an industry standard and something that should be considered during the design process.
You could consider installing additional website plug-ins to ensure your website is mobile-friendly. Having a mobile-friendly website is extremely important –both for the overall SEO and user experiences.
6. Not Ranking On Google Due to Meta Tags Not Optimised.
Search engines are known to make use of meta tags as a way of understanding what your website is and what it offers. Every page on your website is expected to have its own set of meta tags. The meta tags that you use on your web pages can be optimised to describe the particular content on your chosen pages.
Some portion of the information will be visible in search engine results. Therefore, you should ensure the meta description are clear, concise and get to the point. This is because it is going to be the first thing that most visitors will learn about the particular webpage.
The Header tags that you use on the website are extremely important as they are going to impact the respective search engine ranking based on what you include in them. To optimize the meta-tags you can:
- Include the respective keywords for which you want the webpage to rank
- Keep the overall length of the tag within 55 characters
- Download ‘All On One SEO’ or ‘Yoast SEO’ which have easy user interface plugins to help direct you on this area.
7. Not Ranking on Google Due to Bad Content Optimisation
Have you optimised the overall content of every web page? There are more than 200 ranking indicators that Google makes use of for ranking your website in respective search results. Most of the indicators can be improved upon by either editing or adding different elements of the website such as the meta-description, meta-tags, and more.
Google is highly complex but it expects websites to provide useful content that delivers user satisfaction. The more relevant the content, the more likely it is to be returned.
Everything, including the titles, page headings, file names for the images, and even internal links should be optimised to improve search engine ranking results. For the best results, you should consider professional SEO assistance to optimize the content on your website.
8. Not Ranking On Google Due Lack of Quality Content
The presence of high-quality content on your website can have a significant impact on how well your website performs as far as the overall rankings are concerned.
Your website should have relevant content to ensure it is valued by Google and your target audience and that it ranks well. It is recommended that every page on your website should have informative, engaging content that satisfies the requirements of Google. Some of the most effective ways to post high-quality content is to:
- Develop useful content that educates, engages and informs.
- Create content that resonates with your target audience.
- Focus on problems your readers experience while providing solutions.
- Avoid duplicate content with every page you post.
The conclusion to Ranking on Google Search
There are several factors that help determine the ranking or visibility of your website on Google. You should aim to follow the correct guidelines to optimize the overall visibility of your website on Google and other search engines. Website Maintenance plans can help to keep track of the monthly changes your website is hit with.
The more you are able to understand digital marketing, your website and Google criteria, the easier it will become for you to deliver a high-quality user experience and rank well with Google.
