A HubSpot survey has found that about 75% of users don’t go past the first page of Google while searching. Also, about 28% of the users click on the first organic result on any given SERP.
So, if you are not showing up on the first page or acquiring the top spot, you are not only losing visibility, but you are also losing revenue. But why are you failing to do so? You have invested a lot in the website in terms of money and time, yet there are no fruitful results.
If you are wondering, Google is simply ‘ignoring’ you, then that’s not the case. Such issues usually stem from small and overlooked problems that search engines take very seriously.
Let’s dive deep and explore some of the major reasons that are hindering the website ranking and their fixes.
Why Is My Website Not Ranking On Google? A website may not rank on Google due to technical SEO issues, search intent mismatch, weak content depth, poor internal linking, or lack of authority signals such as backlinks and EEAT. Even indexed pages can fail to rank if competitors better satisfy user intent. |
Why Is My Website Indexed But Not Ranking? Indexing only means Google has discovered a page. Rankings depend on relevance, content quality, user experience, internal linking, backlinks, and intent alignment. Weak authority or poor engagement can suppress rankings. |
Top 10 Reasons Why Your Website Is Struggling To Rank On Google
Ranking on the first page of the SERP is no longer optional; it is essential for every business. But every website has one issue or another that hinders its Google ranking progress.
So, here are some major website issues that every business owner and marketer should look into –
(i) The Website Has Technical Issues
Before reviewing the aesthetics or the content of the site to find issues, it is a good idea to check the foundation of the site. Technical issues are often overlooked, and they pile up to make the site difficult for the search engine bots to go through, leading to a sharp drop in ranking, traffic, and all conversion metrics.
How To Fix Google Crawling And Indexing Issues? To fix Google crawling or indexing issues, ensure pages are not blocked by robots.txt or noindex tags, are included in the XML sitemap, properly internally linked, optimized for speed, and submitted for indexing via Google Search Console. |
The Major Technical Issues To Take Note Of Are –
- Crawling Blocks: Google bots need to crawl into a page to index it and subsequently rank it. So, if there are any issues with the crawlability of the site, then it will fail to show up on SERP. For instance, if there are issues with the Robots.txt code of your site, it will tell the search engine bots not to crawl certain pages and sections of the site, lowering its ranking.
- Indexing Issues: If a page is not indexed with Google, it will never show up in the SERP. Therefore, if there are no index tags attached to pages, it will tell the search engine’s bots not to crawl this page, and it will never rank.
- Broken Internal Links: Internal links establish content relevancy within the website for Google bots. So, the lack of internal links or linking to irrelevant pages or poorly written anchor text contributes to the website not ranking. Additionally, the broken links (404s) indicate dead ends that frustrate both users and bots.
- Website Speed:A slow-loading website hurts user experience, a key trust signal for Google rankings. Common causes include large images, slow hosting, and too many plugins. Modern web development trends now address with performance-focused, lightweight builds.
- Meta Content: The lack of or duplicate meta content is a major roadblock for website ranking. The meta content (title and description) gives a snapshot of the webpage’s content, and missing it reduces the user experience.
How Do I Fix Google For Not Crawling Or Indexing My New Pages? To fix the issue of Google not crawling or indexing the new pages of the website, you need to focus on ensuring the pages are properly interlinked, included in the XML sitemap, and not blocked by robots.txt or no-index tags. Along with these, you also need to improve the site structure, fix technical issues, and request indexing through Google Search Console. |
(ii) You Are Targeting The Wrong Keywords
The next issue lowering the Google ranking of your site is the keyword strategy. So, even if you are producing high-quality content, Google will not rank the pages if they don’t include keywords and phrases that users are looking for.
The Major Issues With The Keyword Strategy Of A Site Are –
- Too competitive: Choosing only competitive keywords is never a good idea. The reason is simple: breaking into the first page with them is almost impossible.
- Too broad: Using broad match keywords means you are targeting a wider range of possibilities that usually don’t work out well.
- Doesn’t match search intent: When keywords don’t match the search intent, they lose relevance during search and don’t help ranking.
- Has no search volume: Keywords don’t have search volume because people are not using them. Therefore, ranking using them is impossible, as no one will look for it.
Why Do High Search Volume Keywords Not Bring Traffic? High search volume keywords often fail to bring traffic because they are extremely competitive or dominated by established websites. In many cases, the keyword intent does not match the page’s content, resulting in low rankings or poor clicks. |
(iii) The Content Is Not Up To the Mark
Content is one of the crucial Google ranking factors, and if your website fails, then it will struggle for visibility on the SERP. Now, the major issues with website content that hamper ranking are –
- Irrelevant: When the content is irrelevant, it delivers no value to the user, which means no one reads it, leading to a higher bounce rate and a drop in ranking.
- No depth and unique value: When the content has no depth and offers no unique value, it lowers user engagement. It means the average time users spent on the site decreases, and so does the ranking.
- Low readability: When the content is low on readability, which means it is poorly structured, lacks subheads, has no flow, etc., the users struggle to go through it. It prompts the users to leave the page and search engines to lower the ranking.
- Outdated information: If the content has outdated information that is of no use to the readers, it lowers user experience and ranking.
- Lack of credibility: When the content lacks credibility, which means no citations, author bio, backlinks from reputable sources, etc., it leaves no impact and subsequently drops in the ranking.
(iv) Lack Of Mobile Optimization
As smartphones and internet penetration across the world are increasing rapidly, Google has shifted to a mobile-first indexing policy. It means the search engine first looks at the mobile version of the site and then decides the ranking. So, even if the desktop version of the site looks good, but the mobile version doesn’t, it will affect the ranking.
Some Of The Major Issues To Look Out For Here –
- The text is too small to read on the phone.
- Buttons are stacked close together.
- Content doesn’t fit the screen and runs off to the side.
- Pop-ups cover the mobile screen.
(v) The Backlink Profile Is Weak
A weak backlink profile is one of the major SEO mistakes to avoid to improve SERP ranking. Why? Well, backlinks represent the vote of confidence from other publishers in the segment. So, even if you have a great site, but do not link to it, then it will hamper your Google ranking.
Usually, weak backlink is a very common issue with new websites, and if you don’t make an active effort to acquire them.
How Does Internal Linking Affect Google Rankings? Internal linking helps Google understand page importance and topic relationships. Pages with strong contextual internal links tend to rank higher than orphaned pages, even when content quality is similar. |
(vi) The Website Is Not Optimized For AI Overviews
Google has integrated AI in its search engine, which is now offering summarized answers to all your queries, known as AI-overviews. These answers are well-structured, clear, and concise, and were created by taking references from the content of your site.
As AI-overview now dominates the search, you want your website to feature on it; otherwise, you will lose visibility and traffic.
Now, The Issues That Stop Your Site From Featuring On AI-Overview Are –
- When the content of your site is not well structured with proper headings and sub-headings.
- If it doesn’t have relevant FAQs.
- When the content lacks bullet points, tables, and other similar elements.
- If the content doesn’t have any semantic keywords.
(vii) If You Are Not Publishing Content Regularly
The next major issue that affects the ranking of your website is not publishing content regularly. Google prefers websites that remain active and publish content regularly. Now, the interval of content publication is different for different sites. For instance, if you are publishing blogs every Tuesday and Saturday, then you need to ensure a new piece is live every week on these two days.
Otherwise, the lack of regular content publication will make your website irrelevant and eventually inactive. The users who waited to read from your site will slowly move to other websites in the niche, which will drop organic traffic, credibility, and eventually Google ranking.
(viii) The Site Has Been Penalized
Sometimes a site loses its Google ranking because it has been penalized by the search engine. The possible reasons behind this are –
- Buying or selling links that pass PageRank.
- Low-quality and misleading content.
- Keyword stuffing.
- Excessive pop-ups and intrusive ads.
- Sneaky redirects.
- Cloaking.
(ix) Not Claiming The Google Business Profile
Even though this is not an overarching issue that plagues every website, if a business is targeting the local audience, then the brand has to focus here. Not claiming the Google Business Profile means you are leaving local traffic on the table that is prone to conversion. This listing is vital for your business website to be visible for the ‘near me’ keyword and local map searches.
(x) Your Website Is New
While this is not exactly an issue, it is also a factor behind the non-ranking of a website. In case you have a new website, it will, for all obvious reasons, not appear on the first page of the SERP.
Typically, a new website sits in the sandbox of Google for 3 to 6 months as the search engine tests the site for legitimacy and credibility. Once this test is over and your site emerges successful, it will slowly climb up the ranking as you implement the SEO and content marketing best practices.
How To Improve Google Rankings?
The shortcut way to improve Google ranking is to work on the issues mentioned previously. When a website is technically strong, offers excellent content, and improves user experience, it automatically earns the trust of the search engine and climbs the SERP ladder.
Keeping that in mind, here are some actionable tips to fix a website’s rank –
(i) Conduct A Website Audit
The solution to every problem starts with its identification, and the same principle applies here as well. To find out the possible issues with your website, first, you need to conduct a full audit. Here, you can use the help of platforms like Ahrefs, SEMrush, etc., and then use human oversight and experience to better analyze the results and decide the next steps.
(ii) Start With A Technical Fix
Once the audit is complete, you should start addressing the technical issues first. It means fixing the page’s loading speed, removing the crawling blocks, updating meta content and schema markup, fixing the broken internal links, and any other major issues that come across. This initiative will significantly increase organic traffic and SERP ranking.
(iii) Draft A Better Keyword Strategy
As the technical glitches are fixed, you should move on to the keyword strategy. Here, you need to research and find relevant keywords, have search volume, are more specific, and don’t have too much competition. Additionally, you have to ensure that you have a good mix of long-tail keywords and semantic keywords on the site for it to rank on voice search and AI-overviews.
Why Is My Website Not Ranking For Target Keywords Despite Indexing? Some of the major reasons behind a website not getting ranked despite indexing include weak keyword ranking, low-quality content, slow website, lack of interlinks and credible backlinks, or poor search intent to match. |
(iv) Create Better Content
Since content holds the whole website together, the next fix that you need to focus on is the content. You must invest in creating high-quality, relevant content that delivers value to users. The benefits are obvious; it increases user engagement and drives conversions.
(v) Ensure Mobile Optimization
Considering the rise in mobile traffic and Google’s mobile-first policy, not optimizing websites for handheld devices is a serious mistake. To keep users engaged, brands must deliver seamless mobile experiences while prioritizing website speed and performance to ensure fast load times and smooth interactions on smaller screens.
Do Core Web Vitals Affect Google rankings? Yes, Core Web Vitals affect rankings. Pages that fail for metrics like LCP, INP, and CLS may lose visibility even if the content is high quality, because poor user experience is a negative ranking signal. |
(vi) Strengthen The EEAT Signals
Today, Google places a great deal of emphasis on the credibility and legitimacy of a website. To evaluate a site on these parameters, the search engine has developed the EEAT framework. This framework stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.
It means a website must offer content that shares first-hand experience; the author has expertise and authority to write the content, and it has enough transparency to build trust. Improving onthese signals is important for a website to achieve a higher Google ranking.
Why EEAT Signals Matter For Google Rankings? Google evaluates content using the EEAT framework—Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Websites that clearly demonstrate real-world experience, expert authorship, transparent business information, and trustworthy backlinks are more likely to rank consistently. This is especially important for service-based businesses like Viacon, where credibility directly influences conversions and search visibility. |
(vii) Use white-hat SEO Practices
SEO malpractices are one of the major reasons behind a site getting penalized and losing SERP ranking. So, you need to ensure that you are using the white-hat SEO practices, which include –
- Using keywords judiciously.
- Maintaining the content quality.
- Properly interlinking the page, ensuring relevancy.
- Acquiring high-quality backlinks.
- Improving the UI and UX of the website.
Why Do High Search Volume Keywords Not Lead To Traffic Or Rankings? Keywords with high search volume often fail to generate traffic or improve Google ranking due to the search intent. If they don’t match the content of your website, it will not bring any fruitful results. Also, for the high search volume keywords, the results are often dominated by more established websites. |
(viii) Strategically Invest In A Paid Ad Campaign
While strengthening the organic SEO efforts is important, you need to strategically invest in paid-ad campaigns to improve traffic and subsequently the ranking. Here, you need to channelise your efforts to complement organic strategies.
For instance, you have published content on ‘Best CRM Tools for Small Businesses’. However, since your website is new, it would take weeks for the content to find any traction. However, if you run an ad campaign targeting small business owners looking for CRM solutions, it will improve the traffic to the site and increase engagement.
These engagement signals will help Google comprehend that your content is valuable and aid in improving the Google ranking.
Build And Optimize Your Business Website For Higher Google Ranking With Viacon
Modern businesses need a high-performance website to remain ahead of the competition and find success. But there are plenty of issues like technical glitches, wrong keywords, low-quality content, etc., that can thwart the efforts.
However, it is important to remember that these problems are not permanent. They can be identified and resolved to create a website that unlocks business growth, and the best thing is that you don’t have to do it alone. You have a reliable partner in Viacon.
How Long Does It Take For A Website To Rank On Google? Most websites take three to six months to start ranking as Google evaluates trust, content quality, backlinks, and engagement signals. |
Can AI Overviews Reduce Organic Traffic? Yes, AI Overviews can reduce clicks if content is not structured for citation. Websites optimized with FAQs, clear answers, and strong topical authority are more likely to maintain visibility. |
At Viacon, we specialize in building high-performing websites and implementing data-driven SEO strategies that help companies find success. From fixing bottlenecks to crafting content that truly converts, our team is ready to guide you to the summit of SERP.
