Main Reasons Why Websites Don’t Get Enough Traffic

Before Google launched in the latter part of the 1990s, we used search engines such as Yahoo, Lycos, AltaVista and Excite, none of which were every really that good.?Every search yielded a barrage of unrelated results that made internet users question what they were even looking for in the first place.?Google came on the scene with a much better algorithm that it had fine-tuned over the years to give us the convenient user experience we all know today.

User experience is very important to Google, which is why 85-90% of all search traffic, worldwide, belongs to the search engine behemoth.?It’s estimated that Google takes over 200 factors into consideration when deciding how to rank websites.?The internet is like a big popularity contest and Google is the main judge, defining the rules and continuously changing them.

The truth is that Google doesn’t want to make it easy for website owners to obtain good organic ranking.?What they really want is to frustrate them into buying pay-per-click ads.?This is why they regularly change their algorithms.?SEO techniques that work today did not work in the past and probably won’t work in the future.

So why not just buy PPC ads to get on the first page of Google??Well, you could.?Although, it’s not the most effective form of digital marketing.?Statistically, the ROI ration for Google ads is about 2:1.?That means for every dollar you spend on Google ads, you can expect to receive about $2 in return, on average.?The ROI ratio for organic traffic is closer to 5:1 or even as high as 10:1 if done right.?The reason for this is that no one really wants to be sold.?Even when consumers are looking to buy something, they would rather seek out information so that they can make an informed decision on what to buy. Everyone knows that clicking on an ad means that someone it trying to sell you on something, which most consumers find obnoxious.

The average organic to PPC ratio is 8.5:1.?This means for every person who clicks on a Google ad, 8 or 9 people are skipping right over the top sponsored links and going to the first or second organic link.?SEO is the only way to obtain good organic ranking on the search engine result pages.?This is not to say that Google ads don’t work.?We’ve all been victims of advertising at some point in our lives.?The important question is, where do website owners get the biggest bang for their buck??Afterall, not every marketing strategy has merit. It’s very possible to waste money on marketing.

The unfortunate truth is that most website owners don’t know enough about how SEO works or why Google ranks websites in the manner in which it does.?Everyone wants their website to be on page one for related keywords but very few seem to truly understand what is necessary to get there.?The following is a list of the main reasons why websites don’t achieve good organic ranking and, therefore, don’t get enough quality traffic:

1.?????No SEO

2.?????No Blog

3.?????Weak social media presence

4.?????Not enough backlinks

5.?????The keywords you’re trying to get indexed for are too competitive

6.?????Not enough keyword-rich content

7.?????Duplicate content

8.?????No FAQ section

9.?????No sitemap

10.??No Privacy Policy or Terms and Conditions page

11.??Not enough relevant keywords on homepage

12. No SSL certificate/website not secure (http not https)

13. Not mobile friendly

14. Slow load times

15. Broken links/bad code

16. No Contact Us page

SEO – Search Engine Optimization is the best way to get good organic ranking.?If you’re not running an SEO campaign, you can be sure that you’re missing out on a lot of traffic.?SEO involves both onsite and off-site optimization.?Proper SEO tactics are labor intensive and generally too technical for people who are not SEO experts.?This is a function that is best outsourced to professionals.

Blog – A blog is every website owner’s secret weapon and most don’t even know it.?Some websites don’t even have a blog while others do but are not adequately populated or have been abandoned.?Many website owners are too busy running their business to continuously write blog articles, but this is the best way to add relevant content to your website.?Blog pages always get ranked higher than any other type of web page.?In some circumstances, it is more probable that your visitors will find your blog before finding your homepage.

Social Media – The average adult spends between 2-3 hours per day on the various social media platforms while younger generations (millennials and generation Z) can spend up to 4-5 hours per day.?Therefore, if you want your company to be seen or found, social media is a good place to be.?Unfortunately, many companies fall into the trap of making their post appear too much like advertisements.?

Social media followers find ads boring so posts that look like ads are often ignored and don’t foster any significant follower engagement.?However, if social media posts offer value by being interesting or informative, then followers are more inclined to start clicking around, taking notice of company names, logos and ultimately finding their way to the company’s website.

Backlinks – Building quality backlinks is difficulty and time consuming but, unfortunately, a necessary part of the SEO process.?Google looks for backlinks so this is a step that cannot be overlooked.

Keywords – Google is a massive database that is collecting information on user patterns every second of every day.?Internet users type in about 8.5 billion searchers on Google per day and Google keeps data on every one of them.?Sometimes website owners focus too much effort on being ranked for general keywords that every other website in their industry are also trying to get ranked for.?Niching it down to less competitive and more specific keywords can go a long way and also help to ensure your visitors are the type of visitors you want.

Content – The origin of the phrase, “Content is King” is split between Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Viacom’s Sumner Redstone.?Regardless of who said it first, it is as true today as it was then.?Unfortunately, most websites don’t have enough of it.?Content in the form of text is how Google determines what your website is all about.?Textual content is how Google knows to list your website on the search engine result pages when someone types a relevant keyword into the search field.?If your website doesn’t have enough relevant keywords, Google won’t know to list your website when someone types it into the search field.

Duplicative content is just as bad as not having enough content.?A website will be penalized by Google for having content that is the same or similar to that of another website’s content.?In fact, both your website and the website you stole the content from will be penalized.?Going back to the user experience that Google wants to preserve, having only 100% original content on your website will make Google believe that your website is offering something valuable and different than any other website.?This will want to make them rank your website higher.

FAQ – A Frequently Asked Questions page is important to a website because it’s one of the things Google looks for.?Many Google searches are phrased in the form of a question.?Therefore, if you have answers to commonly asked questions on your website, there is a higher probability that Google will use your website to answer such questions.?It’s pretty simple if you think about it.

Sitemap – A sitemap is a page that lists all the other pages on a website.?If you make it easy for Google to crawl your website, they will reward you with higher ranking.?Sitemaps can also enhance the user experience, making it easier for your visitors to navigate your site.?The less frustrated visitors are with your website, the longer they will stay on it.

Privacy Policy/Terms and Conditions – If Google looks for it, your website must have it if you want to be ranked properly.

Homepage – If you want your website to be ranked for certain keywords that are relevant to your business, then those keywords should be on your homepage.?It seems like such a simple concept but so many websites are lacking in this area.?Keywords must be listed naturally in the content.?Google has become wise to keyword stuffing or autogenerated text and will penalize websites for it.?The penalty will be getting ranked down or blacklisted altogether.?Trying to trick Google is never a good SEO strategy.

SSL Certificate – There was a time that an SSL certificate was only important for ecommerce websites.?Recently, Google has decided that all websites should begin with https rather than http.?This shows Google and visitors that your website is secure and less susceptible to being hacked.

Mobile-Friendly – In recent years, about half of internet users have viewed websites on their mobile devices (such as smart phone or tablet) rather than their laptop or desktop computers.?Therefore, if you want Google to take your website seriously, it must have a mobile version.?

Load Time – Again, taking user experience into consideration, if your website has pages that load slow or images that load slow, Google will view this as an unfavorable quality.?This will negatively impact your ranking and bounce rate.?Website visitors are impatient and fickle.?They know they have an ocean of information at their disposal and will navigate away from your website in a matter of seconds if they become frustrated with your website.

Broken Links/Bad Code – Broken links and bad coding will wreak havoc on a website’s conversion rate and Google rank.?This too goes back to Googles interest in preserving user experience.?If Google is confused about your website or has a difficult time navigating its way around your website, it assumes visitors will as well.

Contact Us Page – Having an effective call to action is an important component to any website.?Depending on the business model, some companies may be less interested in hearing from its website visitors.?Nevertheless, a Contact Us page is something that Google looks for.?As mentioned above, they make the rules.

Summation – Nowadays, just about every company needs a website and most companies want their website to be easily found by its clients and prospective clients.?There are many strategies that could increase traffic to a website, some more effective than others.?Either way, we’re all bound by the rules that Google has imposed upon us, or at least until the next big search engine knocks Google of their stump.?Just don’t hold your breath for that to happen.?Even if it does, that new search engine will undoubtedly have its own set of rules for websites to adhere to in order to maintain good ranking.?

The internet is a vast monstrosity that is very easy to get lost within.?The days of hanging a shingle in order to get noticed are long gone.?Businesses must now scream a little louder to have their voices heard.?Even jumping up and down and flailing your arms might not be enough to gain the attention of your target audience these days.?Digital marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways of promoting a business.?Like everything else, it just needs to be done properly.

For more information about increasing website traffic, call 1-800-619-3734 or visit www.IlluminationConsulting.com.

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