5 Reasons Why Your Site Doesn’t Rank Well On Google

These days businesses live or die on their Google rankings. So, what can you do when your site looks great but is pages away from the top rankings? To point you in the right direction, we’ve got some often overlooked reasons why your website doesn’t rank well on Google.

1. Poor on-page optimization

You’ve posted content that’s useful. Your keywords are on target. And you’ve managed to get some strong backlinks. But still, your site is underperforming. So what’s wrong? It might be that your site’s on-page optimization is well, less than optimal.

On-page optimization, in case you’re not clear about it, is basically on-page SEO. It refers to everything from proper keyword placement and density to optimized meta tags, title tags and meta descriptions. Without it, even the best content will suffer.

The fix: If you’ve got a WordPress site, install Yoast SEO, if you haven’t already. It will help you get your site on point.

2. No sitemap

A sitemap file helps search engines do a few important things. It helps them find specific pages on your website. It helps them understand your site’s structure. And it helps them crawl your site more efficiently. If you don’t have a sitemap file on your site, definitely add one.

The fix: Same as above. For WordPress sites, install Yoast SEO or the Google XML Sitemaps.

3. URL and website errors

Nobody likes getting an “Error 404 – Page not found” on your site, including search engines. There are a few reasons why visitors to your site will get the dreaded error, including URLs that have been removed, URLs that are incorrect and URLs that have been changed. Have too many 404s and it could negatively affect your rankings.

The fix: Run a report on Google Search Console and see which URLs you need to fix.

4. Website not mobile friendly

Most of us know that phones and tablets overtook desktops in terms of internet use years ago. But maybe because most sites are developed on desktops, people sometimes forget about mobile while creating websites. This is especially unfortunate because search engines like Google weigh mobile performance heavily in their rankings.

The fix: Adopt a mobile-first approach and make sure that every page on your site looks good on mobile, is functional and loads quickly.

5. Low-quality content

Even if your website is perfectly programmed, it won’t rank well without high-quality content. You don’t necessarily need to shell out a lot of money for it, but you do need to make sure your content is informative, engaging and well-written.

The fix: Invest in quality content going forward and look into ways to improve the content you already have, too.

If you need help with this, get in touch. Our team here at Mediaplanet would love to put together a content plan that works for you and your business.