Accurately monitoring how your website is performing in Google isn’t easy; even with Google Analytics installed, it only shows you a top level insight into your traffic and sales. If you’re at your wits end trying to troubleshoot why your website is performing poorly in Google, you may actually be doing more harm than good by trying to fix things that aren’t broken.
In this guide we are going to share with you the top 10 reasons why you’re probably not getting any traffic from Google and how to get around them!
Google Can’t Index Your Website
If you have built your website yourself or worked with a web designer with little experience, a huge mistake that can commonly occur is it is left in noindex mode after launch. What this means is that a small snippet of code is telling Google to not add any of your pages into the Google search results!
Your Code Is A Mess
If your website is built using a cheap, or even free, website builder it is likely that your code is going to be messy and extremely hard for Google to understand and read. Working with a web designer that has knowledge of SEO and how Google ranks websites is crucial, your website is an investment and what you put into it will often determine how much you get out.
Your Website Isn’t User Friendly
Is it hard for users to navigate around your website and find what they are looking for? If you have a website that looks and feel unprofessional and not fit for purpose, this will result in poor user engagement. Sites that don’t offer the user what they want never rank well, your competitor with a much more streamlined website will always rank above you.
Check Your Backlink Profile
Whilst it is true that backlinks are no longer king in the world of SEO (we all know by now that content is king), if you have any spammy or poor quality backlinks pointing to your website this is likely to negatively impact not only how Google ranks your website but also how trustworthy they deem your website. It is crucial as a webmaster to regularly check your backlink profile and remove any links from untrustworthy websites.
Your Website Has No Substance
Are users disappointed by the lack of information on your website? Google ranks well websites who provide the best answers to users search queries, if your website is very light on information you won’t be getting the traffic you could have if you thought in the mindset of the user.
Black Hat SEOs
SEO has changed and if your SEO agency is still stuck in the days of keyword stuffing and bulk directory submissions, they’ve likely ruined your shot at good SEO rankings. Watch out for black hat SEOs offering first position rankings overnight or submissions to 1000 directories for £10, these are black hat techniques that Google will punish you for. White hat SEO takes time and results don’t come overnight; to make sure you’re using a legit SEO agency, check to see if they’re a Google Partner Agency.
Too Many Websites
An old SEO technique consisted of creating multiple websites for your business for different locations and services you offered, nowadays this is just confusing and unnecessary; Google would much rather see one great website for your brand that 8 low value and content thin websites for different services you offer.
All Your Content Is Duplicated
A big no-no in the eyes of Google, and just in general, is to never copy content from elsewhere on the web and claim it as your own. Google has really cracked down on plagiarised content over the past decade and will give your site a manual penalty until all the content is removed. The content you write and provide the users ultimately determines whether or not they choose to work with you, why not take the time to create some great content that reflects your business? If you don’t have the time, there are content development agencies that can write to your brief on a monthly basis to write regular content that Google loves for long term results.
Your On Page SEO Sucks
How are your pages looking from a technical point of view? All your pages should have correctly optimised title tags, meta descriptions, h tags, images tags and so much more. Even websites with hundreds of thousands of pages need to get this right, this isn’t an area in which you can slack on.
We understand it can all sound very overwhelming so get in touch now and request an on page technical audit which we will check your website against 80 known ranking factors and send you an in depth report on what your website is doing right, and where you are failing!