Why isn’t my Website on the First Page of Google?

If you’re like me, you want your customers to find you and take action to increase revenue for your business. And one of the key ways they can find you online is by searching for you through use of relevant keywords and finding you in the number one spot on Google!

I would imagine all businesses not only want to be on the first page of Google, but in the number one spot for organic search. Any business that can crack the code on arriving and staying in this spot, while at the same time inspiring customers to take action is going to be a profitable business indeed. And since Google changed their algorithms more than 500x last year alone, it can sometimes seem a mystery as to how companies get there.

So you’ve done your research, you’ve optimized your site content for Google, you’re concentrating on improving your organic search results and keyword research. A few months go by and you notice that you’re slowly climbing up the search results, but you’re still not on page one, nor in the number one spot. What is going on?

Here are some typical mistakes we find our clients making when trying to rank for organic search:

Improper use of URL structure, Titles and Anchor Links

Establishing a strategic URL structure, supported by Titles and Anchor links are some of of the most effective ways of improving your website rankings for organic search results. Often the best SEO firms find that companies over-optimize their websites through repetitive use of brand names, excessive use of duplicate keywords, using the same title as the website url and/or failure to incorporate anchor links. When incorporated correctly, this strategy is a powerful way to optimize your site for SEO.

Poorly Written Content

Some companies focus so much on SEO tools and/or keywords, that they forget the importance of relevant, quality on-page content. The Google algorithms can tell whether content is fresh and relevant for readers. So if you are incorporating poorly written, low quality or bulk content that is not properly optimized for search, nor relevant to your reader audience, you are not going to be able to get to page one.

Optimizing for the Wrong Keywords

This is one of the easiest ways to stumble when performing SEO techniques. Many of our clients optimize for global, broad-based keywords without doing adequate research on local and long-tail keywords that are easier to rank. So organizations try to rank highly competitive keywords that are far more difficult to incorporate to improve your SEO ranking. At Catalyze Digital, we specialize in finding and ranking the keywords specific to your niche.

No Internal Linking Structure

One of the biggest mistakes website owners and even a few digital marketers make is failure to internally link web pages. Establishing a more siloed website structure, with sub-sections linked by relevancy can go a long ways in improving your SEO digital optimization. It is also helpful to get listed in online business directories.

Not Using Analytics

Do your research, do your research, do your research! Review your site analytics to determine how your customers are trying to find you. Experiment with incorporating lesser competitive keywords. Lower traffic keywords in some cases tend to convert better simply because they are more specific to your niche audience, resulting in more sales. The best way to determine what’s converting and what’s not is to use an analytics tools such as Google Analytics. Once you get the results for each keyword phrase, compare them with each other to determine what’s bringing in the best results. This will help you better optimize your website, and also learn which efforts are worth it and which ones should be let go.

If you need help, let one our digital strategist or SEO digital consultant can help you! Give us a call at 480-447-9522.