Have you ever asked, “I’m doing SEO, why am I not on page 1 of Google?” This is something that many business owners ask. However, there is a reason for it. Usually, that reason is something that was missed or you haven’t given it enough time. That’s right, it takes time to get to the top of the search engines. Long ago you could rank a website by filling the page up with the keyword you were looking to rank for. People found that ranking was simple and played the system. While some are still playing the system, ranking a website has become more of a challenge. The search engines take into account a variety of factors. The weight these factors mean to the search engines is forever changing.
Come to think of it, “I’m doing SEO why am I not on page 1 of Google?” has an entire industry built around it. Let’s take a look at some of the ins and outs of ranking in Google organically.
Content Quality and Length
Most of the time the longer your content is, the better, but that isn’t always the case. As with all SEO, it is about what is working in that particular industry. It is a little tricky and you will hear a lot that “it depends”, which it does. If you are writing on a subject that can easily be talked about in great length and in a manner people will want to read, then longer is better. If you are talking about something simple, such as shampooing carpets, you might find that even Google knows that people are not going to read 5k words on that. But, that’s something one needs to learn and figure out. Content also needs to be created regularly, this is not a set and forget task.
Mobile Friendly Website
A mobile-friendly website is really important in today’s market. People are forever going to their phones to look things up. If your website is not mobile-friendly, then you will not have the chance to capture that audience. Mobile-friendly websites, also known as responsive are sites that can adjust to the various screen sizes. You can check if your website is mobile friendly using Googles free tool.
Backlinks
When you are asking, “I’m doing SEO why am I not on page 1 of Google?”, have you thought about your backlinking profile? OK, not sure what a backlink is? A backlink is another website that mentions you, your product or your services. It is a blog post perhaps or even just a link in a list of products that someone likes. While backlinks are great, you want a backlink from a source in your industry. This is called niche relevancy. Niche relevancy is really important and getting more important all the time. It is far better to get a backlink from a government website related to your industry for example than a local blog which receives hardly any visitors.
Page Speed
These days, page speed is highly relevant to SEO as the search engines do take it into account, Google wants fast loading websites for its searchers as part of its aim to bring the best experience for them it can serve. Similarly, it is also your job of serving your audience who visit your site. You don’t want your website to load slowly. A slow website will deter people away and your bounce rate will increase. This will then be a signal to the search engines that your website is not being served to the right audience. This could answer your question about “I’m doing SEO why am I not on page 1 of Google”. Just a thought. Your website could appear to load quickly and properly on your computer but not on others, this is due to what they call cache. To properly determine the site speed there are online website speed checkers that you can use. Google has its own page speed checker here.
Brand Authority
While most people think that it is all about their keywords, it is not. It really is about powering up your entire brand. Your brand needs to be known for the services and products you offer to people. Branding can be a few things from your social profiles to the age of your domain. Your domain’s age is a factor in SEO and if you haven’t had it for very long, the search engines need to warm up to it. You should have relevant and SEO written content that people actually want to read, the more content the better.
Secure your pages
Secure your pages with the https://. If you don’t have your pages secure then it might stand a chance of having a page pop up to your potential client that is white and says “Go back to safety”. It may not do this on your computer, because, well, it is that caching thing again. But, it will do it on computers that are not cached. Get SSL installed on your website immediately.
URL Structure
URL structure is also an important factor in your SEO. The URL is the website’s name then .com or .org or whatever it may be. Then there is a / and this is what tells the search engines what page that is. You want whatever is after that / to be human-readable. Some websites will put weird terms such as /%^*jljdg%$.com and that is not good for SEO. If you can’t read it, neither can the search engines. You probably want the URL to be a keyword or location for example to better SEO.
Example:
www.BBC.co.uk/7-day-weather-forecast-for-essex.htm
is far better than:
www.BBC.co.uk/noriveimpmcpe1248690-984h.htm
While this is some of what you should do to help with your website to rank on page 1, there are, of course, more. SEO is very time consuming and can really test anyone’s patience.
Other factors for ranking
Another factor that you need to consider is working with Google My Business. Google My business or the GMB is the map area that you see in search engines. This is a very powerful area for those that offer local services. It is where most people go to find services near them. This area though requires a totally different approach for ranking than the website. It also is an area that will help with your branding, when it is done right. GMB ranking is a skill all of its own and like search engine ranking, it is changing all the time.
Citation Creation
Creating citations is filling out those online directories with your name, address, and phone number (NAP). This helps build your authority and brand as well as helps with map rankings too.
Remember there are many, many ranking factors. So, when asking “I’m doing SEO why am I not on page 1 of Google” give yourself a break and take some time to look at all of these factors to determine what it is your website is missing.
Finally, SEO is an ongoing task, the list above should be completed over time and not in one go expecting that you will shoot to the top of Google page 1 overnight. Things like creating content and citations for example are ongoing tasks with the aim of creating multiple pieces of content, e.g blog posts per month. If you feel like you do not have the time to complete these tasks feel free to get in touch with us and we can take care of all of the above for you. It is far better to outsource the things you don’t have the time or skills to complete, leaving you to concentrate on the things you are good at.