You have a great idea. You turn this great idea into a great business and create a great website to advertise all that you offer.
The problem is that your website is not showing in Google search. This is a major frustration for growing businesses and one you need to deal with. The majority (93.35%!) of people in the UK use Google as their chosen search engine. According to Backlinko, not even 1% of that number is likely to go beyond the first results page.
Success in SEO takes more than a live website and is critical to your business growing effectively. It’s important to know why your page isn’t ranking on Google, so here are 10 of the most common reasons why a site may fail to rank and some fixes and tips to help.
1. You’re Targeting the Wrong Keywords
To improve website ranking, you need to be targeting the right keywords.
Search Intent Matters
Search intent is the reason behind the words a person types into Google. Are they looking for a specific website? Do they want a specific question answered? Are they looking for information or looking to buy? Understanding search intent and responding to it can help you rank higher on Google.
How to Fix It
- Use keyword research tools to find keywords that rank well and are relevant to what people are searching for in your industry.
- You’re in a battle against other sites. Discover the keywords your competitors are using and what is working well for them. Find the gaps!
- Align your content with what your users are after. Create “How-to” guides for those seeking information, and incorporate active CTAs that are for users looking to make a purchase.
2. Your Content Lacks Depth or Quality
Content that is dull, low quality, short on keywords and adds little value to a topic is known as thin content. To improve website ranking, the site’s content needs to be significantly enhanced.
Why Thin Content Fails
If your content appears duplicated, unsourced, and offers no answers, then it is useless. Bounce rates will increase, and user engagement will go down. Content is also a key aspect of Google’s indexing, resulting in lower visibility for your pages.
How to Fix It
- You need to create insightful and unique content that informs and attracts users.
- Focus on posts that vary in style, with multimedia aspects and be more long-form.
- Ensure that each piece of content matches search intent, so that you are answering the questions that potential customers are asking.
3. Technical SEO Issues Are Holding You Back
Technical SEO is more about what is going on in the background of a site, the building blocks of your pages, compared to the words and images that make up content. It’s something that many people ignore, but it’s actually incredibly important if you want your site to show up online.
Common Tech SEO Problems
Common technical SEO issues include broken links that lead nowhere or to the wrong place, and crawl errors that prevent Google from crawling and indexing your pages. Other issues, such as the absence of an SSL certificate, mean your site is not secure. Poor site structure makes it difficult for users and search engines to navigate your site.
How to Fix It
- Performing an SEO audit involves a comprehensive review of your entire site to identify technical issues. These things can happen quite frequently, so aim to do this monthly.
- Find broken links and fix them. Create 301 redirects that direct users and search engines from old to active pages.
- Optimise your site to make it easier to navigate. Menus, a better, sleeker design and intuitive navigation can provide a better experience for users and search engines.
4. Your Site Is Too Slow
There are around 11.1 million websites in the UK. That’s a lot of competition. If your site is slow, you’ll go to the back of the queue for most users.
Page Speed Impacts SEO & UX
One of the main SEO ranking issues is page speed. If your website load time is slow or navigation is time-consuming, it impacts user experience (UX). People will just end up going to another site, and this can crush your SEO prospects, even if your content is really great.
How to Fix It
- Don’t forget to optimise your imagery! Compressing them reduces the file size, making them load quickly, and ideally makes them webP.
- Enable caching. This occurs when the user’s browser saves a version of the webpage during their visit. When they come back, it loads up a lot faster.
- Minifying your code means getting rid of unnecessary code that offers nothing. Streamlining your code without changing the functionality of your site greatly increases the page speed.
5. You Don’t Have Enough Backlinks
The great thing about the internet is connection. Even in an extremely competitive environment, outside influence can help you rank higher on Google.
What Backlinks Are & Why They Matter
Backlinks are links from other websites to yours. They matter to Google because they provide your site with authority and credibility. If other major websites trust your website to link to it, then Google realises that consumers will too.
How to Fix It
- Reach out to journalists and bloggers with relevant and newsworthy content. Become a source of statistics and case studies so they link to you.
- You don’t have to write all your content. Find authoritative and relevant guest posters in your industry that could help increase traffic by creating engaging content for you.
- Create content that other sites will link to. Make content in your niche that is compelling and linkable.
6. Your Site Isn’t Mobile-Friendly
Data from December 2024 found that mobile browsing made up around 55% of internet traffic in the UK. Mobiles are no longer just for calling people, and one of the big search engine optimisation mistakes is not having a mobile-optimised site.
Google’s Mobile-First Indexing
Google puts a premium on the mobile experience, now employing mobile-first indexing. This means they look at the mobile version instead of the desktop one to rank your website.
How to Fix It
- A responsive web design means it adapts to changes to different screen sizes and devices. Elements may disappear or be changed, without losing the important features you wish to show. Make sure you have this!
- Google offers free tools like Lighthouse and PageSpeed Insights to help you test your pages and ensure they are mobile-friendly.
7. Poor On-Page SEO
If your on-page SEO is lacking, even the best-looking, quickest and most mobile-friendly site will fail to rank highly with Google.
Metadata, Headers, and Internal Linking
On-page SEO is not just keywords. You need metadata, headers (titles and subheadings in content), and internal linking (links to other pages on your site) to create a rich, search engine-optimised page.
How to Fix It
- Title tags are the headlines that appear on SERPs (search engine result pages). Optimise them by including keywords and ensure the title tag is unique and descriptive, clearly informing users what the page content is about.
- Meta descriptions are the short summaries of a page that appear below the title and are displayed on results pages. Include a target keyword, a CTA and make sure it matches search intent.
- Use structured headings. This organisation helps Google understand your page hierarchy, improving the user experience.
8. Google Isn’t Indexing Your Page
Technical issues around crawling and indexing may stop Google from even indexing your website, so your pages won’t turn up anywhere.
Indexing vs. Crawling
Crawling is when Google explores webpages by following links on your pages. Indexing involves storing and organising all this content, which will then be displayed on SERPs.
How to Fix It
- Check robots.txt. These are files that tell search engines how to crawl your site. Check that your pages are not blocked in robots.txt so they can be crawled and indexed.
- Submit a Sitemap. A sitemap is a list of your website’s indexable pages. If a page is not included in the sitemap, it might not be crawled by bots. Add all the pages you want to a sitemap, ensuring they are crawled and indexed by Google.
- Request indexing manually. You can sign up to Google Search Console and request indexing, and it usually makes Google get around to it a little faster.
9. Duplicate Content Confuses Search Engines
There are many Google ranking factors, but duplicate content isn’t one of them. However, it can confuse search engines and prevent your page from ranking properly.
Internal and External Duplicates
Internal duplicate content occurs when you have identical content on different pages of your website. External duplicate content is content that is copied or similar to content on other websites.
How to Fix It
- Use canonical tags. They are bits of HTML that tell search engines which URL is the preferred one for indexing. Even if you have a lot of similar content across pages, search engines will know only one is the preferred URL.
- Take time to rewrite pages so that they each stand out and add original insights.
- Never copy and paste from other websites. Do your research and take your time to write original content.
10. Poor User Engagement Signals
A key aspect of SEO ranking issues comes down to user behaviour. How long someone stays on a page, what they click and how long they stay on a page are all user engagement signals.
Bounce Rates and Dwell Time
Bounce rates are the percentage of people who go onto a page and then leave without further exploration or any clicks. Dwell time is about the amount of time users spend on a page, a key aspect of lead generation and becoming a more trusted brand.
How to Fix It
- Improve your UX. Target the right audience and create compelling CTAs that incite curiosity and improve UX on your site.
- You can also keep people engaged with content that not only pulls them in but is also informative. Including media and visual components will make your website more dynamic and easier to engage with.
Need SEO Support? Get In Touch
You might not have all these issues, but looking at and improving the 10 reasons above can help optimise your website for Google. It’s important not to rest on your laurels as SEO is always ongoing and complex.
To stay competitive, you need to embrace SEO, and we at Maxweb Solutions can help you improve your site’s performance with our expert help and advice.
Contact us now to learn about the range of Maxweb Solutions SEO services, including a free SEO audit. You can talk to an SEO specialist now by calling us at 0151 652 4777.
Posted on Thursday, July 31st, 2025 in Latest News.
