You spend all day penning your masterpiece: a tour-de-force write-up that’s bound (or so you believe) to be received positively and secure a favorable position in the SERPs.

You gleefully hit publish and eagerly await the arrival of your readers, but they never materialize. Your blog isn’t ranking on Google, and all of your hard work and creativity seems to have been in vain.

Sound familiar? Believe it or not, blog ranking issues are a common problem, and there are plenty of reasons why Google (or any other search engine, for that matter) might decide that your blog doesn’t quite cut the mustard.

Of course, in situations like this, it’s tempting to give in to frustration and give up, but fear not — there are plenty of ways you can improve your blog’s rankings.

Below, we’ll dig into four key reasons why your blog may be performing poorly in the SERPs, followed by actionable steps you can take to ensure your writing doesn’t go unnoticed. 

4 Key Reasons Why Your Blog Isn’t Ranking High On Google

1. Lack of keyword optimization

Nobody wants to read keyword-stuffed, spammy content, but if you want your blogs to rank, you’ve got to make sure your blog is packed carefully with relevant keywords. The trick, of course, is to find a balance that appeases the search engines without turning your readers off.

Keyword research is an essential part of the blogging process, but it’s one that so many novice bloggers ignore. Let’s say you’re writing a blog on the best ice cream recipes. By using a tool like Ahrefs, you can quickly discover that some popular related terms include “vanilla ice cream,” “homemade ice cream,” and “how to make ice cream in a bag.”

Want your ice cream blog to rank? Make sure you include those terms strategically using SEO writing best practices. 

Just remember: always integrate your chosen keywords naturally — your primary focus is on creating valuable and engaging content, not cramming as many ice cream-related terms as possible. In fact, search engines tend to penalize websites that publish keyword-stuffed content.

Here are some tips for effective keyword optimization:

• Conduct thorough keyword research using tools like Ahrefs, Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Moz’s Keyword Explorer. Identify relevant keywords and phrases that your target audience is searching for and note them down.
• Integrate these keywords naturally into your blog content, including in the title, headings, meta tags, and body text.
• Include your primary keyword (in our example, this would be “ice cream recipes”) in at least one of your headings.
• Avoid keyword stuffing and maintain a balanced distribution of keywords throughout your blog.
• Focus on creating valuable and engaging content for your readers, ensuring that keywords fit naturally within the context.
• Consider using long-tail keywords to target niche audiences and increase conversion potential.
• Regularly monitor keyword performance using tools like Google Analytics or Search Console.
• Make necessary adjustments to optimize your chosen keywords and improve your blog’s ranking potential.

2. Poor website performance

Website performance plays a crucial role in determining your blog’s ranking in search engine results. Furthermore, if your website is slow, unresponsive, or plagued with technical issues, it’s rather naive to assume that this won’t bother your audience.

Google classifies page speed as a direct ranking factor, so if your website isn’t optimized, then this will be reflected in the amount of traffic your blog receives. 

Here are some key areas to focus on to improve your website’s performance and enhance your blog’s ranking:

• Optimize your website’s loading time by minimizing file sizes, compressing images, and leveraging caching techniques. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to identify specific areas for improvement and follow their recommendations to enhance your website’s loading speed.
• Ensure that your blog is mobile-friendly and responsive across different devices and screen sizes. With the increasing number of mobile users, search engines prioritize mobile-friendly websites in their rankings. Test your blog’s mobile responsiveness using tools like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test and make necessary adjustments for a seamless mobile experience.
• Evaluate your website hosting provider and plan. Opt for a reliable hosting provider that offers sufficient bandwidth, storage, and server resources to handle your blog’s traffic. A fast and stable hosting environment is crucial for ensuring optimal website performance.
• Minimize the size of your website’s code and scripts by removing unnecessary spaces, comments, and line breaks. Minification reduces the amount of data that needs to be transmitted, resulting in faster page load times.
• Keep your website and blogging platforms up-to-date with the latest versions. Regularly update plugins, themes, and security patches to ensure smooth functioning and minimize vulnerabilities that can affect performance.
• Consider investing in a full site audit if your ranking issues are persistent. Digital marketing & SEO agencies like ours (or, if you’re seeking a local, for example, UK-based assistance, Seeker) specialize in locating and resolving any technical SEO faults hindering your site’s overall performance and SERP ranking. 

3. Insufficient backlinks and poor link building strategy

A backlink is any link that sends a user to your website. You can think of backlinks as votes of confidence from other websites, indicating that your website is valuable, trustworthy, and relevant.

Without a strong backlink profile, your blog is likely to struggle in the SERPs. 

Gaining backlinks isn’t easy, but every link counts when it comes to improving your blog’s ranking, so they’re well worth chasing. How do you earn backlinks? Take a look at the tips below:

• Guest blogging: Reach out to authoritative websites in your niche and offer to write guest posts. Ensure that the content you provide is high-quality, valuable, and relevant to their audience. In return, you can request a backlink to your blog within the guest post or author bio.
• Broken link building: Find broken links on reputable websites that are relevant to your blog’s content. Contact the website owners or administrators and suggest replacing the broken link with a link to a relevant and valuable resource from your blog. This approach benefits both parties by providing a solution for broken links and earning a backlink for your blog.
• Content promotion: Share your blog posts on social media platforms, forums, and online communities where your target audience is active. Engage with users, answer questions, and provide helpful insights. This can attract attention to your content and potentially lead to natural backlinks from users who find your blog valuable.
• Influencer outreach: Identify influencers or experts in your industry and build relationships with them. Collaborate on content, interviews, or expert roundups, and request that they share the content on their platforms with a backlink to your blog. Influencer endorsements can significantly boost your blog’s visibility and attract relevant traffic.
• Internal linking: Use internal linking within your blog posts to connect relevant content on your website. This not only helps search engines understand the structure and hierarchy of your website but also encourages visitors to explore more of your content, potentially leading to more backlinks as they share and reference your blog posts.

4. Weak content

It takes an enquiring, self-critical mind to ask, “Is my content good enough to rank?”

The truth is that SEO can only take your blog so far, and if your articles aren’t worth reading, this is going to hinder its ranking potential. It isn’t just about your writing either — how does your blog feel to navigate? Is your site clunky, disorganized, and unattractive? 

If these apply, this may cause your readers to leave shortly after they’ve arrived — a phenomenon referred to as ‘bouncing.’ Your blog’s ‘bounce rate’ isn’t a direct ranking factor, but one study has found that lower bounce rates strongly correlate to a high-ranking position on Google, so it’s definitely a factor worth paying attention to. 

Want to create an excellent blog that your readers can’t help but click on? View the tips below:

• Ensure that your blog posts provide value to your target audience. Address their pain points, answer their questions, or offer unique insights. Research your topic thoroughly and provide well-researched, accurate information that demonstrates your expertise.
• Avoid regurgitating information that already exists elsewhere. Aim to bring a fresh perspective or unique angle to your content. Add your own thoughts, experiences, and examples to make your content stand out from the crowd. Original and unique content tends to attract more readers and encourages them to share and link back to your blog.
• Write in a conversational tone that captivates your readers. Use clear and concise language, break up your content with headings and subheadings, and make use of bullet points or numbered lists to improve readability. Engaging writing keeps readers hooked and encourages them to spend more time on your blog, which can positively impact your rankings.
• Enhance your blog posts with visual elements such as images, infographics, or videos. These elements not only make your content more visually appealing but also help to convey complex information in a more accessible way. Engaging multimedia content can increase user engagement, reduce bounce rates, and improve your blog’s overall ranking.
• Consistency is key. Regularly update your blog with fresh, high-quality content. Search engines favor websites that provide up-to-date and relevant information. Aim for a consistent publishing schedule to keep your blog active and maintain a loyal readership.

Conclusion

If you’re facing challenges with your blog’s ranking, remember that there are actionable steps you can take to improve its performance in the SERPs. From keyword optimization to enhancing website performance, building a strong backlink profile, and creating compelling content, every effort counts.

However, if you find these tasks overwhelming or need expert guidance, ReVerb is here to help you succeed. Our expert SEO team specializes in optimizing websites for search engines, increasing visibility, and driving organic traffic. Contact us today to learn how we can assist you in ranking your site higher and reaching your target audience effectively. Don’t let your hard work go unnoticed – take action and elevate your blog’s rankings with ReVerb!