So you’ve optimized a page on your website, but it’s not ranking well in Google SERPs (search engine result pages) for the keyword you’ve optimized it for. While optimizing your pages may seem like it should be an easy task, there are many ranking factors and best practices you need to consider when crafting content. Ranking well is most often not something that happens by accident or without a solid strategy.
Below are just a few common (of many) reasons why your page may be struggling to rank well within Google SERPs.
1. Low-Value Content
Google prefers high quality content. The most important thing you can do is provide useful, easy to navigate information that your users actually want to read. It’s not just all about your chosen focus keyword.
You may also want to consider how much content is on your page. There is no magic number of words your page should contain. However, it’s likely that if there are only a couple sentences, you may not be providing overly useful content and Google will decide not to index it. If your page contains just one small paragraph of text, it’s highly recommended that you re-think the purpose of the information you’re trying to convey & if it’s really necessary for that information to exist on its own page.
Please keep in mind that if your page doesn’t have a ton of content but is providing quality information, refrain from adding content just for the sake of getting more words on the page. Only add more content if it’s going to be beneficial to the reader.
2. Highly Competitive, Broad Focus Keyword
It’s possible that the keyword you’ve chosen to rank for is too competitive or very broad. Is your focus keyword highly relevant, or does it encompass a wide variety of things? If your term is too broad there are likely going to be a very large number of average monthly searches with many other webpages that could rank for that term as well. Also, chances are there are a wide variety of intents that come with a broad term, and you may not be working toward driving the right audience to your page. If the competition is too high, it’s going to be very difficult for you to compete with all of the other pages that could rank well for that term as well. Re-evaluate your page content and decide if your focus keyword needs to change and be refined to something more specific, with the right intent and lower competition.
Example of Broad vs. Long-Tail Keywords
shoes = broad, not specific
women’s black nike running shoes = long-tail, very specific with clear intent
3. Keyword Stuffing
Gone are the days when you can get favorable results by carelessly throwing keywords onto your page. A very common mistake is over-optimization of a keyword on a webpage, which can be seen as “keyword stuffing”. Placing your focus keyword onto a webpage too many times is going to be obvious to Google, and will look like an attempt to play the system. Oftentimes, using one focus keyword too many times is also going to sound goofy to the user and even make it difficult for them to read.
The best advice is to use the keyword as you would naturally. What is going to make the most sense to a user? Your content should sound natural, not forced. You should really be writing first and foremost for your intended audience, not Google.
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With a solid Marketing Foundation & Active Searcher plan in place, you will be found online as an obvious choice. Schedule a call today so we can help you follow the right steps to build upon your Marketing Foundation!
