Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months, but your website is not ranking on Google? And are you overwhelmed by reading tips and tricks?
So don’t be disappointed; it is a normal issue. We at Waffle Bytes have faced and solved this issue many times, and we know the main reasons why a website is not ranking on Google.
In this blog we will share with you the 10 reasons why a site is not able to rank on google and how you can fix them.
Let’s begin!
11 Reasons Why Your Website Is Not Ranking on Google
First of all, I suggest you read Google’s SEO starter guide before reading these 10 reasons. You may be unaware of the fundamentals of SEO, so it would be helpful to read the guide first. If you have already read it, then you can start reading these reasons.
1. Newly Launched Website
Yes, it is possible that your site is newly launched but when I say new it means the age of the site is between 1 to 90 days. So you have to wait at least 3 to 6 months and during this period of time you have to focus on Technical seo, on page seo, and helpful content creation for your target audience.
But if your site is more than 3 months old, here are the 9 reasons again, and I hope you find and fix this time:
2. Website Structure
When we talk about ranking on Google SERP, website structure plays a crucial role. Website navigation helps Google crawlers crawl websites from link to link. Therefore, you need to check your website structure manually or using site structure tools like ahrefs.
But if your website is an ecommerce store then you should read the google search central guide on e-commerce structure.
3. Poor Mobile Responsiveness
Check if your website is mobile responsive using a mobile-friendly test tool or by testing it manually. Google prioritizes mobile-first indexing, and if your site is not mobile responsive, it may negatively impact your search rankings and even prevent your website from being indexed by Google
If your website is mobile friendly then move to the next reason.
4. Duplicate Content
It is possible that you or whoever created your website has copied and pasted someone else’s content onto your website. Google insists on having helpful content for users, and as part of this initiative, Google has launched an update called the ‘helpful content update‘.
Hence, check your website content and there are many ways to do it but I recommend you to use the Scribbr plagiarism checker.
5. Irrelevant Keywords
Irrelevant Keywords are words or phrases that do not match with your website or brand.
For example: using terms like ‘best digital marketing agency’ in content. Obviously, if you are best you don’t have to mention in your website that you are best.
So conduct keyword research that aligns with your brand and has low KD and has at least 100 monthly searches.
6. Keyword Stuffing
When a website includes a phrase repeatedly, it is referred to as keyword stuffing, and Google strictly discourages it. Therefore, it is crucial to assess the keyword frequency on your pages, particularly on your website’s homepage.
To do this, you can utilize the Ctrl + F function, enter your primary keyword in the dialog box, and count the number of times it is highlighted. If the count exceeds 6, it indicates keyword stuffing
7. Unoptimized Meta Tags
Meta tags, such as title, description, robots meta, and OG meta tags, are all important and act as ranking factors on Google. Therefore, it is crucial to check your meta tags using tools and manually. If you come across any errors, make sure to fix them and wait for 7 days; this approach will certainly yield positive results.
8. No sitemap in website
Sitemaps are files that contain URLs of a website, including images, videos, and PDFs. These files serve as addresses for your website, aiding Google crawlers in effectively crawling your site. Therefore, it is important to ensure that your website has a concise sitemap. To check your sitemap, simply add ‘/sitemap.xml’ or ‘/sitemap.html’ after your website URLs, like ‘example.com/sitemap.xml’ or ‘example.com/sitemap.html’.
9. Poor Internal Linking
We all know that backlinks (external linking) are crucial for search rankings, but internal linking is equally important. When your site is new and lacks linkable content, it becomes challenging to acquire external links. Internal linking helps in understanding the content of your site, and personally, I strongly believe in its effectiveness.
To assess your internal linking, go to the links report in the search console and check the number of internal links you have. If the count is below 100, it is necessary to create more internal connections through linking.
10. Domain Name Contain Topic
Sometimes, without realizing it, you may purchase a domain that already has a specific topic or query associated with it. For instance, domains like ‘Digitalmarketers.com’ or ‘HowTo.com’ clearly indicate a specific topic or query. I don’t mean to imply that such domains won’t rank on Google, but it may take some time and significant effort to achieve desired results
11. Poor User Experience
A user visited your website, but after 10 seconds of waiting for the website to load, they decided to close it. This creates a poor user experience, and as of 2023, it is now a factor in ranking websites on google. To assess your website’s loading speed, you can use tools like PageSpeed Insights. If improvements are needed, refer to the article on Core Web Vitals for more information and actionable insights.
12. Content Generated By AI Tools
In 2023, many people are utilizing AI tools like ChatGPT, Copysmith, Article Forge, and others to create content. However, a significant problem arises when thousands of individuals generate content on the same topic using these tools, resulting in duplicated content being circulated among those thousands of users. As a consequence, if you rely on these tools to create content for your website, it is highly probable that Google will consider it as scraped content.
Therefore, it is advisable to write based on your own knowledge and expertise, rather than relying on AI writing tools to generate content. Using such tools for content creation may not yield the desired results.
Final Words
These are the 10 reasons I believe are obstacles to your website’s rankings. If I come across any new reasons in the future, I will include them in this article.
My personal advice to people who are trying to rank their website on Google is as follows:
- Don’t copy others; instead, focus on writing what you know.
- Rather than obsessing over traffic or rankings, prioritize helping your customers or readers.
- Stick to the basic principles of search engine optimization.
- Contribute to the internet with your knowledge and expertise.
