Why is your website so low in Google search results?

This is a question I ask often, and most of the time people either don’t really know, or know a little but are confused. Sometimes even SEO specialists struggle to identify the reason. Most of the time though, the source of the problem can be identified and addressed.

SEO is a complicated matter, there are no strict guidelines and the mechanisms behind it are constantly changing. Some things about it don’t change, for example, despite all the constant changes, getting links to your website is still the basis of search engine positioning.

Finally, one thing you cannot skip is optimizing your website for various browsers.

Here are the basic errors that can be stopping your website from getting more inbound search engine traffic.

1) If you’re using the NoIndex meta tag – stop. It specifically blocks site indexing by Google and you want your pages to be indexed. It might seem obvious, but I’ve learned we sometimes don’t pay attention to obvious things and it can be our downfall.

2) The Canonical Tag is not equal to the address of the page. Google doesn’t think they are the same and neither should you. By using this tag you’re sending mixed signals to google bots – the bot might be on website A, but you’re suggesting it’s on A/example.html

3) Robots.txt – another obvious thing, but if you block google bots in robots.txt, your website will never appear high in search results.

4) You have no inbound links. Think of links to your page as votes, and of search results as elections. If you don’t have enough votes, especially if you have competition that’s getting more, you will lose the election.

5) Ranking websites pages for the same phrases. If relatively simple scripts can find your websites using Whois, IP, DNS, AdsenseID, AnalyticsID and other tools, Google can do more. With Gmail data, Google webmasters tools and many more, they can see right through this.

6) Making access to your website password protected.

Having listed what you shouldn’t do, here’s a handful of things you should utilize to achieve seo success:

1) H1 – this is an extremely important part of your website. Use it to show both your users and search engines what the site is about.

2) Alt tags – tag your images and graphical content. Without alt tags they’ll be irrelevant, with them google bots will treat them as valuable content.

3) Make sure the website is directly accessible, any extra redirects makes you bleed link-juice and you don’t want that.

4) Generate a sitemap.xml. It will make it significantly easier for google bots to locate content on your website, especially if it has several thousand pages.

5) Optimize the loading time of your website – this way you’ll increase the conversion rate, usability and rank of the website.

6) Make sure you’re using a reputable server – if it’s hosting spammer domains, you can be punished as an “accomplice” of sorts.

Conforming to the rules listed above will not get your website to the number one spot.

This short tutorial is here to give you a heads up on common mistakes made sometimes even by seo experts, and very common with seo newbies.

If you listen to the advice, keep working on quality content and obtaining quality inbound links, your position in search results will soon significantly improve.

Remember SEO is a marathon, not a sprint.

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12 comments

sagar nandwani December 28, 2013 - 2:28 am
So now even creatives developers, hosting services,Information Architecture(Technical Architecture), Information design all matters to SEO - in short it is to say build your website properly and help users/internet growth !
Sunday December 28, 2013 - 2:48 pm
At least, the details shared in this post have reminded us of the basic steps that should be employed to increase SEO skills. Website ranking in the search engine is chiefly as a result of good SEO, however, many are guilty of the errors pointed out here. So, its really good having this post share details that can help the marketer succeed with ease. I have lots of takeaways from this post. I guess its time to take action! I have shared this comment in kingged.com where this post was found. Sunday - kingged.com contributor http://kingged.com/why-is-your-website-so-low-in-google-search-results/
Itender Rawat December 29, 2013 - 1:11 am
Nice post! I think most of people will do these type of common or basic seo mistakes and thats the reason their sites or blog has low appearance in search results. Thanks
Anil Kumar December 29, 2013 - 2:49 pm
Hello, I think you've shared absolute points regarding the low search results in google. The only reason not performing correct seo. Thanks for the tips
Neha December 30, 2013 - 6:23 am
Website ranking in the search engine is chiefly as a result of good SEO, however, many are guilty of the errors pointed out here.its really good having this post share details that can help the marketer succeed with ease.
Logo Design December 31, 2013 - 12:56 am
The most important thin you missed in your post which is "responsive website". Now days Google is getting more than half of total searches from smart phones, tabs and other devices and in this scenario if you website is not responsive definitely it will not get good position in search engine ranking and Google will not prefer your website in search appearance because your site is not supporting for other devices. So responsive site is essential now to be successful in online business.
Jacek Wieczorek December 31, 2013 - 2:31 am
I don't agree with over 50% from mobile devices. Usually the traffic from smartphones is about 10-15%. Tablets will deal with most sites well. Responsive design is recommended but it's not needed yet.
Kool Design January 8, 2014 - 2:03 am
May be not on your website, but it is authentic news that almost 50% from Google's total searches are coming from other devices including smart phones, tablets, ipods etc and in 2014 only those websites will survive which use responsive designs as well. Therefore in my opinion it is essential now having a responsive website.
Mary December 31, 2013 - 6:23 am
OMG who is even thinking of NoIndex attribute? That must be crazy!! Be careful of keywords in each blog post. Too much (ratio 3.5% or higher) might trigger a Google alert somewhere...! All the best in 2014 everyone :)
Jacek Wieczorek December 31, 2013 - 6:26 am
You'd be surprised how often we find at seokitten.com that there is noindex. Or robots.txt blocking the whole website.
Tommy Landry January 9, 2014 - 1:09 pm
Good tips overall, although the links section could use a bit more specific direction. Quality of backlinks and relevance of topics (alignment between domains) matters a great deal, and it has grown in importance the past 2 years. If you want to build links and stay off the radar for Google Penguin, these are must-have characteristics to pursue with link building. Cheers!
syed javeed January 23, 2014 - 6:22 am
ranking of the website in the search engine is main as a result of good SEO, however, many errors got noticed here.its good having this post share details that can help them succeed.
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