Why Isn’t My Site Appearing on the First Page of Google?

You’ve put the final touches on your website, launched it, and are now waiting for the hoards of visitors to come flooding in. But where are they all?

They’re visiting other websites that pop up on Page One of Google. People are much more likely to see sites ranking really well with Google compared to sites that are sitting on page 100. So if your site isn’t ranking that well, there are probably a few problems with its SEO.

Here are 4 reasons why your site isn’t ranking well with the search engines.

1. You Haven’t Added the Right Keywords to Your Content

Keywords are considered either single words or phrases of up to five words, and are vital to ranking well in the search engines. These terms should be those that are relevant to your website and business, and are the ones that are more likely to be searched by people who are looking for your services. Without focusing on these keywords, you could jeopardize your site ranking well in Google.

2. You’re Using Keywords That Are Too Competitive

Before you decide on the keywords to focus on in your website, consider using tools like Google’s Keyword Tool that allows you to determine the popularity of certain keywords, as well as their level of competition. Highly competitive keywords (which tend to be single words) can have thousands and even millions of people fighting over them, making you less likely to score big on these. Instead, try to pick keywords that are low- to medium-level of competitiveness, while still having a solid amount of popularity among people searching.

3. You Have Duplicate Content

In the world of search engines, content truly is king. Google doesn’t look favourably on webpages that have the exact same content – word-for-word – as another webpage floating around in cyberspace. Instead, your content should be entirely unique, and never copied or spun in any way. Not only that, but the content should be interesting and engaging, and something that your site’s visitors will want to read.

4. You Don’t Have Enough Backlinks

One of the biggest factors today when it comes to search engines is backlinks. Google looks for backlinks, which are links from other webpages pointing back to your site. Ideally, these links should be coming from well-respected sites that are already ranking well in Google. If your webpages have a number of sites linking back to your page, Google will identify this particular page as one of the best.

If getting your website as SEO-optimized as possible is something that’s way over your head, you should probably get in touch with a professional web developer and designer who is experienced not only in designing a website, but making sure that it’s primed for the search engines. You’ve spent the time getting your site up and running, now it’s time to let the world know about it!