A website that is not ranking in Google is like a fancy car that refuses to start. Even if it looks good, it is not useful if it cannot transport people from one point to another. When your site does not rank, it is usually due to one aspect that is not functioning properly. This single problem can drag the whole site down and affect its performance, leaving it completely stranded.
The following five tips will help your website to rank.
Set Up Google Search Console
To solve any sort of problem, it is best practice to eliminate the obvious. You don’t even need SEO experts for this step. Setting up an account in Google Search Console will immediately help you in three ways:
• Crawling
• Indexing
• Errors
Any crawl errors found should be fixed quickly to resolve ranking problems. While not all pages and images will be indexed, most site content should be in the search engine. If this is not the case, checking site:domain.com will show if your site has been crawled at all. The objective is to resolve the big and obvious issues that are preventing the site from ranking.
Check for Duplicate Content
While you probably do not try to plagiarize content from another site, it is possible to be penalized by Google for duplicating self content. For example, if your site has many images but minimal written content, the written portions need to be unique in order to be indexed properly. Copyscape is a tool that checks web pages for duplicated content. In general, 70 percent or less is the number you should aim for. Of course, content should never be copied from another site. It is not worth the risk of getting caught and having your site shut down.
Do a Mobile Test
The web is becoming more mobile each year, which makes your site’s mobile experience so important. If your site is loading slowly on smartphones and tablets, this will hurt your ranking, even when you do a desktop search. Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test and fix any problems that it finds. This should improve your ranking quickly.
Analyze Your SEO
The keywords you use in your website content help Google to determine its relevance to what people are searching for. Higher relevance means a higher ranking. If you use WordPress to run your site, the Yoast plugin will help you pinpoint and resolve many issues with your search engine optimization.
Check Backlinks
When a site links back to your content, it boosts your Google rank. If your site is functional, and you have optimized your content properly, you may simply need more promotion because content, time and promotion always leads to ranking. Small SEO Tools provides an excellent backlink checker to see which sites are linking to your own. Using social media or email campaigns will get the word out and encourage people to share your links or bookmark them for later.
If you have tried all of the above tips, and your site is still not ranking, it is time to get help. After a professional assessment, you will know whether you can fix the issues yourself or hire an expert to solve the problem.