5 Reasons Why Your WordPress Website Isn’t Ranking on Google

You are a small business owner who owns a WordPress website. You’re consistent in your efforts but, still, your website isn’t ranking on Google. 

Tough, is it?

There could be various reasons why this is happening. To avoid this problem, you need to find a way to work with the Google algorithm rather than around it.

The process can be a bit complex, but we are here to guide you through every step of the way. 

This article highlights some of the common mistakes that may be barring your website from ranking on Google. 

Have a look.

Weak Content

The most vital element of your website is your content. If you lack in this department, your website may not stand a chance to rank on Google. On the other hand, certain factors combined make up excellent content that your audience would love.

Before posting your content on your website, make sure you ask yourself the following questions:

Is the content informative?

If your content is well-researched and provides some value to the audience, it’s bound to generate more traffic. Thus, increasing the Google ranking of your website.

Is your content grammatically sound?

Before posting, make sure your content is grammatically sound. It includes taking care of punctuation, typos, poorly worded sentences, the use of informal slang, etc.

Is my content the correct length?

The minimum length of your blog post should be at least 500 words. However, thoroughly well-researched content that resonates with your audience often touches the mark of 1,000 words.

Am I regular in my posts?

The more fresh content you offer your audience, the more they will come back to your website. Therefore, it would be best if you tried to post new and fresh content at least once per month.

Your Site is Not Mobile Responsive

You have created your site, and it looks fantastic on the browser. But, about people who will be accessing your site via their mobile phones? More than half of the traffic on your website is mobile-generated.

During the website designing phase, make sure to make it user-friendly. Such a website is compatible with various devices – mobiles, browsers, tabs, and other similar devices. 

Doing this will increase the response of the website and improve the rankings (you know Google prefers ranking mobile-optimized websites, do you?)

Your Permalinks are Changed

Permalinks refer to the permanent link to your website. Therefore, it would be best to ensure that your website’s permalinks are highly descriptive and include the keywords that your page is targetting.

Suppose your Permalinks include extra bits like a random combination of numbers and alphabets, or words like, e.g., at or do. In that case, you should change them to make them reader-friendly and traceable by Google.

However, this can be a very intricate process. One wrong step and Google will lose track of your pages, thus burying your website beneath millions of other websites and blogs.

Here’s what your post and page permalinks should look like:

• Post: www.yourwebsite.com/5-tips-to-negotiate-clearly/
• Page: www.yourwebsite.com/About-Us/

Make sure there are no dates and other unnecessary trash in your permalinks. 

Your Website is Hidden from Search Engines

If you are relatively new to WordPress, you might not be aware of most of its customized settings. There is a chance that you might’ve changed some of the settings without realizing how it would affect your site rankings or SEO Optimization.

Log in to your WordPress account and click on Settings. Next, scroll down to Reading Settings, and there, click on Site Visibility. If everything is normal, you should find the checkbox checked beside “Allow search engines to index this site.”

If it is not, make sure to check it, and you will be good to go.

It’s Your Keywords!

If none of the above options bears any fruit, chances are, your keywords are the root cause of all your troubles. Keywords are vital in optimizing your website for Search Engines, but they do more harm than good if they are used incorrectly.

There are some things you should keep in mind while assigning keywords to your website:

Don’t overstuff your blog post with keywords

Keywords should come naturally in the text and should not look forced. It would help if you didn’t try to overfill the paragraphs with the keywords you’re targetting on your website.

Don’t use many high competing keywords on low competing sites

Suppose your site is new or does not rank very high on Google. In that case, you should try to employ more low competition or medium competition keywords. This would prevent your website from being buried in search engines.

Use more long-tailed Keywords.

Long-tailed keywords refer to four or five words. Even longer keywords are built to target what the audience wants specifically.

Final Word

Merely owning a website is not enough. So many things go into the maintenance and success of the website. 

It is crucial to optimize your website to make sure that your website gets Google rankings.

Many Maryland Website design agencies can optimize your website, should you find the process overwhelming.

Good luck!