Top 5 Reasons why your SEO is failing

If you take note closely, you can almost hear the lamented cries of business owners across the globe every day as they observe their search engine rankings crash and burn. Over and over again those who are the most sincere and determined do not see their efforts come to completion, and this usually transpires in a fit of confusion. If you are one of the many perplexed and bothered online entrepreneurs trying to understand why your SEO efforts keep falling flat, read on and take a sincere look at which of your decisions cause Google to send you to the backside of the line.

1) A Website that can’t adapt

Before you jump into link sharing, keywords and various other external tactics, it’s vital that you first examine what’s not working with your own website. All the clever SEO tricks in the world won’t move your revenues if your site fails to adapt visitors. So before you throw all your efforts into rankings and traffic, first make sure your website is ready to welcome the masses. If your present conversion rate is lackluster, targeted marketing efforts will only representation this all the more. Make sure navigation is intuitive; your homepage is compelling and instructive, there are no content dead ends or other bad user experiences, and that your ecommerce experience is fluid and perfect.

This may seem like general sense, but it’s staggering how many business owners don’t recognize their problems start at home. If you have a website worth shouting about, only then is it time to call in the marketing hounds.

2) Doing Everything Yourself

It’s tempting to take on SEO (and just about every other role) yourself when you’re stepping into an entrepreneurial position, but think twice if you want professional results. You likely know previously that the world of SEO is complex and exceptionally dynamic. Staying on top of trends and your own site’s current rankings is a massive undertaking. Those who do SEO intermediate get results to match, so as soon as it is probable, hire a consultant or staff member that spends at least half their day paying attention on your SEO and social marketing efforts. You’ve got many other aspects of your business to run.

3) Using out-of-date Strategies

Another sure-fire way to reduce your rankings is to follow archaic strategies. According to a recent report from RivalI-Q, over 50% of companies still use Meta keyword tags, even though Google has not used them in their algorithms for years. Not only is this a waste of time, but it also publicly reveals your keyword strategies to your competitors. This is further confirmation that you shouldn’t own SEO responsibilities yourself, except you are aces at staying on top of trends.

4) You’re Not Playing good with others

Many business owners are uncertain to link to other sites for fear they are sending traffic to their competitors. While it is necessary to choose your link share partners wisely, building content in a silo will not get search engines to notice you. Google and company like businesses that clearly play well with others, so targeted links to and from your site are necessary to great SEO. Likewise, as we newly emphasized in a separate article on link sharing, if you’re linking to any site that has shady partners of any kind (spammers, link builders with no content, etc.) you, too, will be punished. So play good, but choose your partners cleverly.

5) Guessing at Your Keywords

Most site owners work hard at predicting which keywords their clients will most likely use to find their site. While a little guesswork is required pre-launch, it is far more essential to watch and see how traffic finds you once you’re live. Failure to optimize your content and keyword strategy based upon these real-world results will certainly cripple your ranking efforts. Most SEO tools have a “search in reverse” function – make this your best friend once your site is live.

Even better, put together your tool with your analytics source (like Google Analytics), so you can see how well your site is optimized for the keywords that are driving traffic. Don’t assume you know the best keywords for your content. It’s a match of psychology, ultimately, and your users will tell you how they are attempting to find your content. The key is to listen, and react accordingly.

Achieving envy-worthy search engine rankings requires the ideal marriage of a great website, stellar content and savvy marketing tactics. Collapse to excel in any of these areas will not turn out top thier results. Naturally, business people who are most frustrated about their lackluster search rankings are focusing too much on one area, and are not embracing the need for balance. Google’s ultimate goal with all their algorithms and best practices is to give their users the best probable experience when they search for anything on the web. So your first step is to make sure your site does just that.

Once you have the self-belief that what you have created is top-shelf, then (and only then) is it time to get the attention you justify. Results-oriented SEO is not about magic tricks and pixie dust – it’s about stellar content and smart, honest marketing and connecting. Not including this balance, Google will persist to look right past you.