The internet has completely changed the landscape of marketing. Information on anything you need is just a Google search away! With so much information readily available and sitting in our pockets, you can be sure that there is a lot of traffic generated. Online traffic is essentially the lifeblood of digital marketing. In order to get organic traffic on the internet, you need to have a website. It is an essential tool for marketing in the modern world.
However, these sites and their pages need to be optimized for search engines if they are going to have any chance of ranking high in SERPs. If they are not, they will potentially go unnoticed by your target market. Website ranking is not an exact science, but there are some ranking factors that you need to adhere to. Here are a few key things to check if your site isn’t ranking.
Has Google Indexed You?
If you have invested your time and money into making a website, you will need to be patient to get results. Many people that are new to Google’s ways create a website and expect to show up in search results instantly. Unfortunately, that is not how it works. Once a site is made, it needs to be crawled and indexed in order to even start ranking. This process is unpredictable and can last weeks, even months. While there are no certain ways to affect the speed of indexing directly, there are a few steps you can take to potentially get indexed more quickly. They are:
- Create and submit a sitemap to Google Search Console
- Use link juice from pages that are already ranking
- Create blog posts and publish them regularly
- Take the time to create an RSS feed
- Guest blog and link back to yourself
- Install Google Analytics
- Share on social media
These are some of the ways to get more traffic and let Google know you have an active website. If you are unsure if a page is indexed, you can use the URL inspection tool to check the status of a current page. It will give you detailed information about a page and let you know if it is indexed.
Make Sure You Are Mobile Friendly
Mobile-friendliness has become a necessity. Statistics show that most people use their mobile to surf the web. Google is aware of this and favors websites and pages that are “responsive.” This means that your webpages can adapt to the type of device that is viewing it. If your site is well designed and looks stunning on a desktop, but it is not optimized for mobile visitors, it is sure to affect your website rankings in search.
An excellent tool for checking the responsiveness of your website is the Mobile-Friendly Test. All you have to do is insert the URL of the page you want to check, and the site will let you know if you are responsive and give you a preview of how it looks on mobile.
Quality Over Quantity
Many people believe that the key to ranking on Google is increasing output and pumping out as much content as possible. The problem with this strategy is that it tends to produce thin content. High-quality content that can attract visitors is the real game-changer.
Your content needs to be informative, helpful, well written, and engaging. Short articles that only touch on a topic are not likely to attract many readers. In-depth and great content that has done the proper keyword research and targets the right audience is the key to success and better ranking.
Slow Load Speed
One of the most significant ranking killers can be your page load speed. Google is aware that convenience is a driving force of the online world, and they prioritize quick websites for their better user experience. Nobody wants to spend five seconds waiting for a page to load. Slow pages increase the bounce rate of a website, and they can significantly lower the ranking of pages. Make sure to work on your loading speed when conducting page optimization.
These are four key reasons why your web pages are not ranking. Is all about website optimization. There are a lot of other factors that can also affect your ranking. If you want to rank faster and get more organic traffic, you will need a good SEO plan. If you wish to start enjoying good results for your business faster, don’t hesitate to contact me. I’d love to discuss your marketing strategy and help in any way I can.
Rob Dunford is a Marketing Consultant in the Great Toronto Area with over 20 years of experience in implementing marketing plans for small businesses.