You have a website. You think it looks pretty good. But when you search for what you offer, you’re nowhere to be found. Competitors you know aren’t as good as you are ranking on page one, while you’re stuck on page five—or worse.

What gives?

There’s no single magic fix for rankings, but there are common issues that hold websites back. Let’s walk through the most likely culprits.

Your Website Is Brand New

Google doesn’t trust new websites immediately. If your site is less than 6 months old, you’re still in the “sandbox” period where Google is figuring out if you’re legitimate.

What to do: Be patient, but don’t be passive. Build your site the right way, create content, and earn backlinks. The sandbox isn’t permanent.

You’re Not Targeting the Right Keywords

This is one of the most common mistakes. You’re optimizing for terms that:

Nobody actually searches for
Are way too competitive for your site
Don’t match what customers actually type into Google

What to do: Do real keyword research. Use Google’s Keyword Planner or tools like Ubersuggest. Look at what competitors are ranking for. Focus on specific, local terms (long-tail keywords) rather than broad generic terms. Our SEO basics guide explains keyword research in more detail.

Instead of “plumber,” target “emergency plumber Knoxville” or “water heater repair West Knoxville.”

Your Content Is Thin

Google wants to rank pages that thoroughly answer searcher questions. If your service pages are 100 words saying “We offer [service]. Call us!”—that’s not enough.

What to do: Expand your content. Each service page should:

Explain what the service includes
Address common questions
Describe your process
Include relevant details about your service area
Be at least 500-800 words (more for competitive terms)

You Have No Backlinks

Backlinks—links from other websites to yours—are still one of the most important ranking factors. If nobody links to your site, Google sees it as unimportant.

What to do: Build links naturally by:

Getting listed in local business directories
Joining your local Chamber of Commerce
Partnering with complementary businesses
Getting featured in local news or blogs
Creating content worth linking to

Don’t buy links or participate in link schemes. Google is smart about detecting them.

Your Site Is Slow

Page speed is a ranking factor, and it affects user experience. If your site takes 5+ seconds to load, visitors leave before it finishes—and Google notices.

What to do: Test your site at PageSpeed Insights. Common fixes:

Compress and resize images
Remove unnecessary plugins
Use a better hosting provider
Enable browser caching
Consider a lighter theme if you’re on WordPress

Your Site Isn’t Mobile-Friendly

Google uses mobile-first indexing, meaning it primarily looks at the mobile version of your site for rankings. If your site looks terrible or is hard to use on phones, you have a problem.

What to do: Test at Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test. Make sure:

Text is readable without zooming
Buttons are easy to tap
No horizontal scrolling required
Pages load quickly on mobile

You Have Technical Issues

Sometimes the problem is under the hood. Technical SEO issues like broken links, missing meta tags, crawl errors, and improper redirects can hold you back.

What to do: Run a site audit using tools like Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, or Semrush. Fix critical issues like:

Broken internal and external links
Missing title tags and meta descriptions
Pages blocked from indexing accidentally
Duplicate content issues

Your Competition Is Just Stronger

Sometimes you’re doing things right—competitors are just doing more. They’ve been at it longer, have more content, more backlinks, and more reviews.

What to do: SEO is a long game. You won’t outrank established competitors overnight. Focus on:

Creating better content than what’s currently ranking
Targeting keywords they’re missing
Building your authority steadily over time
Dominating on Google Business Profile while you build organic presence

You’re Being Outspent on Ads

Check if your competitors are running Google Ads. If the top of the search results is all ads, organic rankings have been pushed down. Your site might be ranking fine organically but getting buried under paid results.

What to do: You have two options:

Accept that ads dominate that search and focus on other keywords
Run your own paid ads to compete

For high-intent local searches, sometimes paid advertising is necessary to be visible.

You’re Tracking the Wrong Things

Are you sure you’re not ranking? Sometimes business owners think they’re not ranking because:

They search from their own computer (Google personalizes results)
They’re searching for the wrong terms
They’re checking rankings on the wrong keywords

What to do: Use a rank tracking tool or search in an incognito window from a different location. Make sure you’re tracking keywords that customers actually use.

What to Do Next

Diagnosing ranking issues requires looking at your specific situation. But here’s a general priority order:

Fix technical issues that prevent Google from crawling your site properly
Ensure your site is mobile-friendly and fast
Improve your content to better target relevant keywords
Build your backlink profile over time
Be patient — SEO improvements take 3-6 months to show results

If you’ve tried everything and still aren’t seeing results, let’s talk. Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes can identify issues you’ve missed.