11 reasons your SEO isn’t working

We all know that SEO is a long-term game, and it’s often hard to tell whether your rankings are improving, stable, or in decline. There are multiple factors at play, and it’s easy to miss something important.

There are plenty of reasons why SEO isn’t working well for your site. In this post, I’ll cover some of the most common reasons that your site is not ranking well on Google and other search engines.

I’ll also cover how you can fix it and get your SEO back on track.

1. You have no idea what keywords you’re ranking for

This is a big one. If you’re not tracking your keyword rankings, how do you know what’s working and what’s not? It’s important to monitor your keyword rankings to see where you stand and if there are any areas you need to improve. If you’re not ranking for the right keywords, you’re not going to get the right traffic.

There are a lot of tools out there that can help you track your keyword rankings, but my personal favorite is Ahrefs. It’s super easy to use and gives you a ton of great data.

To visually track ranking changes or content performance, using a screenshot editor can help you create clear comparisons and share progress reports with your team or clients.

2. You haven’t set up Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a free tool that helps you see your website as Google sees it. It shows you how often your site appears in Google search results, which search terms people are using to find your site, and how many people are clicking through to your site from search results.

If you haven’t set up Google Search Console for your website, you’re missing out on a wealth of valuable information that can help you improve your SEO.

Not only does Google Search Console help you track your site’s performance in search results, but it also provides valuable insights into how Google indexes your site. This can help you identify and fix any technical issues that could be holding your site back in search results.

3. You’re not writing for humans

The days of keyword stuffing and writing for search engines are over. Google has made it clear that it wants you to write for humans and not for its algorithm.

That means you should focus on creating high-quality, engaging content that your target audience will want to read. If you’re not sure what that looks like, take a look at the content your competitors are creating and see how you can improve upon it.

By writing for humans, you’ll naturally include keywords in your content that will help you rank in the search results. But more importantly, you’ll be creating content that your target audience will love.

4. Your site is slow

Site speed is a crucial ranking factor. Google wants to provide the best possible experience to its users, and a slow website is not a good experience.

If your site is slow, you won’t rank well in search results. And even if you do, users are less likely to click on your listing if they see that your site is slow.

There are a lot of things that can cause your site to be slow. Large images, too many plugins, and a bad hosting provider are just a few examples.

5. You’re not using the right keywords

Keywords are the foundation of SEO. It’s essential to use the right keywords in your content so that search engines know what your content is about and can show it to the right people.

If you’re not using the right keywords, your content won’t rank well in search results, and you won’t get the traffic you want.

To find the right keywords, start by doing keyword research. There are many tools you can use to find the best keywords for your content, such as Google’s Keyword Planner, SEMrush, and Ahrefs.
If you’re conducting outreach for link building or guest posting as part of your keyword strategy, a reliable email lookup tool can help you find the right contacts to pitch your content to.

Trending searches—like those related to celebrity net worth—can also reveal high-volume keyword opportunities you may be overlooking.

Look for keywords that are relevant to your content and have a high search volume, but low competition. This will help you get your content in front of the right people and improve your chances of ranking well in search results.

6. Your site isn’t mobile-friendly

If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re missing out on a lot of potential traffic and customers.

That’s because Google uses mobile-first indexing, meaning it looks at the mobile version of your site when determining how to rank it in search results.

If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, it won’t rank as high as sites that are, and you’ll miss out on a lot of potential traffic and customers.

7. You’re not using internal links

Internal links are hyperlinks that connect one page of your website to another page on your website.

When you use internal links, you’re telling search engines what your website is about and what pages are important.

This can help you improve your website’s SEO and increase your chances of ranking higher in search results.

If you’re not using internal links, you’re missing out on a great opportunity to improve your website’s SEO and increase your chances of ranking higher in search results.

8. Your content is thin

Thin content is a big no-no in the world of SEO. You need to produce high-quality, in-depth, and valuable content if you want to rank well and drive organic traffic to your site.

Thin content is content that has little to no value to the user. This can include duplicate content, automatically generated content, and doorway pages.

Doorway pages are low-quality pages that are created to rank for specific keywords and funnel users to your main website. These pages are typically thin and do not provide any value to the user.

To ensure your content is not thin, make sure you are writing for your users and not for search engines. Your content should be well-researched, informative, and valuable to your target audience.

You also need to make sure your content is in-depth. This means covering a topic thoroughly and providing as much information as possible.

In addition, you should be creating a variety of different types of content, including blog posts (you can use AI blog writing prompts for this), videos, infographics, and more.

Finally, make sure you are updating your content regularly. This will help you keep it fresh and relevant, which can improve your search engine rankings.

9. You’re not using title tags and meta descriptions

Title tags and meta descriptions are HTML elements that you use to tell search engines what your content is about.

Title tags are used to display the title of a web page in search results and in the browser window. They are crucial to on-page SEO and can have a big impact on your click-through rate.

Meta descriptions are used to summarize the content on your web page. They are not a direct ranking factor, but they can influence your click-through rate.

If you’re not using title tags and meta descriptions, or if you’re using them incorrectly, you could be missing out on a lot of traffic.

10. Your site is hard to navigate

If users can’t find what they’re looking for, they’ll leave your site quickly. This is called a high bounce rate, and it’s bad for your SEO.

Bounce rate is a measure of how many people leave your site after only visiting one page. If you have a high bounce rate, it signals to Google that your site isn’t offering the information users are looking for.

Make sure your site is easy to navigate and that users can find what they’re looking for quickly. This will help keep your bounce rate low and improve your SEO.

11. You’re not using alt tags

Alt tags are the text alternative to images when a browser can’t properly render them. They’re used to help search engines understand what an image is about.

If you’re not using alt tags, or if you’re stuffing them with keywords, you’re missing out on a great opportunity to get your images found in search.

Conclusion

SEO is a long-term strategy that requires patience and consistency. If you feel like your SEO isn’t working, it’s important to first determine why that’s the case. Then, you can make adjustments to improve your strategy and start seeing better results.