7 Most Common Reasons Your Site Isn’t Showing Up on Google (And How to Fix Them)

Problem: Search engines like Google use backlinks to understand a website’s reputation. In fact, backlinks are one of Google’s biggest ranking factors. A weak backlink profile can result in lower rankings or a site that doesn’t appear on Google.

Solution: Develop compelling content, tools, and insights to attract links from reputable sites in your sector. Link building is competitive, and one of the most difficult parts of SEO optimization, which is why many businesses will partner with reputable SEO companies for link building.

WebFX Approach

• Our dedicated earned media specialists tirelessly pursue high-quality backlinks from authoritative sources, boosting your site’s credibility and rankings.
• Our skilled copywriting team crafts compelling, informative content for your site that naturally attracts backlinks from reputable sites.

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Problem: Google aims to please — and that includes serving content that answers a user’s question, also called search intent. Content that doesn’t answer the question (or doesn’t answer it fast enough) will struggle to show up on Google search results.

Solution: Look at the search engine results pages (SERPs) for your target keyword. Understand what users want from the search, and how the top-ranking pages meet that intent. Consider the content structure and reading level, for example, and then bring those takeaways to your content.

WebFX Approach

• SEO projects start with in-depth keyword research, identifying high-intent queries that align with your target audience’s needs.
• For ongoing clients, our expert content strategists collaborate with skilled copywriters to create and refresh content that resonates with user intent and search engine algorithms.
• Ongoing content audits and content clustering analysis proactively detect and resolve any content cannibalization issues, ensuring a seamless and focused user experience.

WebFX SEO Services

Problem: Your content doesn’t offer unique value and/or is lower quality than what’s ranking. Search engines like Google want to deliver helpful and trustworthy content, and are prioritizing that when indexing and serving content in search results.

Solution: Produce unique, high-quality content as a part of your content strategy. Your experience, from your knowledge of the industry to your target audience, can help create compelling content that appears on Google and persuades users to take action, like contacting your business.

WebFX Approach

• Our comprehensive content audit identifies gaps and opportunities within your existing content strategy.
• We craft a tailored content strategy aligned with your business goals.
• Our team of professional copywriters creates compelling, search-engine-optimized content.

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Problem: With more users browsing the web from smartphones and tablets, Google takes a mobile-first approach to crawling, indexing, and ranking content. Sites with a poor mobile experience, whether due to display, speed, or other issues, will likely see lower or nonexistent rankings.

Solution: Adopt a responsive design — which adapts to a user’s device — to deliver a seamless user experience, no matter the device. Consider other page experience upgrades, too, like improved usability and page speed to deliver an optimal user experience.

WebFX Approach

• Our initial SEO audit analyzes your mobile experience, identifying areas for improvement to boost rankings.
• Our expert CRO team collaborates seamlessly, leveraging data-driven insights to optimize your mobile UX.
• When redesigning your website, we prioritize responsive design from the ground up, ensuring a seamless and engaging mobile experience.

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Problem: Manual or algorithmic penalties can erase a site (or parts of it) from Google overnight. In Google Search Console, webmasters can check for a manual penalty using the Manual Actions report or an algorithmic penalty in the Performance report, which appears as a steep drop.

Solution: Expect to read documentation and make site edits when resolving penalties. A manual action will include guidance on what needs improved or changed to re-enter Google’s index. In comparison, algorithmic penalties will often fall back on Google’s best practices for search.

Problem: Companies want to become #1, and that can result in ambitious strategies and goals, like ranking #1 for “sneakers,” but these strategies often result in a website that doesn’t show up in Google search results.

Solution: Re-evaluate existing SEO efforts. Consider targeting relevant long-tail keywords vs. short-tail keywords, for example, and investing in link acquisition to build a site that’s capable of ranking for more competitive terms.