Why do some websites or blogs do well in terms of ranking while others don’t? This question is in the minds of thousands of SEOs, bloggers and website owners daily.
You can see in the Google index that some websites rank higher, while others don’t rank at all.
EcoSEO Agency told us that sometimes a website or blog puts in a lot of effort in creating content, building up links and domain authority but still receives almost no traffic.
And no traffic to your website means no leads or sales.
On the other hand, your competitor is getting more traffic than you, even though they have much less content and backlinks than you.
You will probably be thinking about why your website is not ranking on Google and getting more traffic. We have written this article to guide you on this problem. But first, we will discuss why some websites rank well while others don’t.
8 Reasons why some websites don’t rank in the Google index:
Slow speed of the website or blog.
The slow speed of your website can kill all traffic to your website. The website’s speed is more important on mobile because 62.69% of internet users surf the internet through mobile devices.
On average, a media or eCommerce website takes about 5-6 seconds to open but have you ever thought about how long the users are waiting to open the website? Just 3-4 seconds on average!
If your website is not ranking, it might be due to the slow speed of your website. You have to fix it; otherwise, many people will bounce back to the Google index without visiting your website, and Google will count your website as “non-engaging”.
Google looks at your engagement matrix when ranking your website. Engagement matrices include many factors. This factor is the time the visitors are sticking around your website and the bounce rate of your website.
If your website is too slow, people will leave it before it opens, and you’ll get no traffic. Therefore, you have to solve the speed issue if you want to rank your website. You can use many free tools to check your website speed on both desktop and mobile.
EcoSEO suggest you use Google’s website speed tool, PageSpeed Web Dev. These kinds of tools allow you to see the speed of your website on both mobile and desktop and provide you with various speed problems your website may have and even how to fix them.
You are not following SEO best practices.
A website needs SEO information on each page to show search engines that your site is SEO friendly. These SEO basics include headers (from headers 1 to 5), alt tags, meta titles and descriptions, keyword density, and helpful writing content that contains no grammar or punctuation mistakes.
Other SEO best practices include installing an SSL on your blog or website, using schema markup and ensuring the site has been verified and connected to Google Analytics and Google Search Console Tools. All of these tools affect your search rankings; thus, it is essential to ensure each page has been fully optimised.
The website is not mobile-friendly
Google introduced a mobile-friendly algorithm update a few years ago. They told web admins and website owners that if their website is not mobile-friendly, it will not feature on the search rankings if the person is searching using a mobile phone. Half of all internet searches are done using a mobile device.
Therefore, if your website is not mobile-friendly, you will not feature in the main rankings, thus losing many visitors.
Again, Google has developed a tool called Mobile-Friendly Test Tool. As a user, you can check your website using this tool if it is mobile-friendly. If you are starting, we suggest you insist your web designer develop a mobile-friendly website.
Non-Engaging Content
Non-engaging content is another reason why some websites don’t rank on Google. When you think about developing your website, the first step is the selection of a highly profitable niche. Niche is a topic or domain you will represent on your website.
Some niches are beneficial, while some are useless. Selecting the wrong niche is one of the biggest reasons your website may not get traffic. If nobody is searching for your product or services, there is almost no chance you will get traffic.
On the other hand, if you have selected the right niche, your content must be according to the taste and demands of the readers. Engaging content is always according to the taste of the target audience.
Non-engaging content can cause visitors to leave your website within a few seconds. Leaving your website within a few seconds will increase your bounce rate, which is not great for rankings.
You can develop engaging content by knowing what people want to read. Keyword research is the best way of understanding people’s demands. Many tools are available for this purpose, such as Ubersuggest or the Google keyword tool. In addition, recent Google algorithm updates have prioritised content that asks and answers a question. So, we suggest all new writers opt for a question-and-reply blog post.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) of your content
SEO is one of the keys to ranking on Google. SEO of your content means creating content that is useful to the readers and contains the correct number of targeted keywords in your content.
Search Engine Optimisation can sometimes be somewhat confusing to an end user. If you are writing your content and using a CMS like WordPress, you can optimise your content using tools like Yoast SEO or Ahrefs to check for link-building opportunities.
Once you have written the content and it has been uploaded to your blog, you can update your sitemap and get Google to update your website and find your new content. It will increase both your website ranking and your domain credibility.
You are publishing content now and then.
Publishing content every few months could be why your website is not ranking on Google. People who love your blog or website want to read fresh content every day, and if you fail to update new content, they will start leaving your website. Therefore, we highly recommend that you should publish at least 2-3 posts every week.
You will undoubtedly see your search ranking increase if you publish fully optimised content regularly. Remember, Google always wants updated information, and if you provide updated information through your website, Google will rank you as an authority in your particular niche.
The poor navigation system of the website or blog
Internet users want a straightforward website navigation system where they can search different pages with just a single click. So, an overcomplicated navigation or organisation system could be why your website is not ranking on Google.
You should have a clear organisational structure for your website. Visitors will visit your website again and again to read your content. But the “bounce rate” will increase if the website navigation is complicated.
Remember, the more comfortable and accessible your website is, the more traffic you get and the longer visitors stay on your blog or website. So, as you start building a website, always focus on your website’s structure and navigation system.
An ideal website structure is that people can quickly move through different pages by clicking on them. As a golden rule, all your most important pages and categories should be available on the homepage. You can use the assistance of an expert developer for this purpose.
Working in a super competitive niche
If you have chosen a super competitive niche in the market, you will have to work hard to rank it in the Google search index. Some niche slots or industries are complicated to rank.
For example, the “Insurance niche” is very competitive nowadays. Therefore, you should choose keywords with low competition if you are starting. Trying to force your way to the top of the rankings within a few months is almost impossible. (except if you are running Google ads)
Google does not rank new websites, especially in a competitive niche. This is why we suggest opting to rank for low-hanging fruit or low-competitive keyword phrases.
As we discussed earlier, you can find low-competition keywords using some free tools such as Ubersuggest or the Google keyword tool. Therefore, if your website is brand new, choosing a super competitive niche is not bad, but choosing highly competitive keywords is terrible from an SEO perspective.
