There are many factors that determine how Google views your website. If Google loves your site you can be rewarded with high rankings in search results, however there are many issues that can cause the opposite effect.
Below are 7 factors that could cause a serious loss in your Google Rankings.
1. Duplicate Content
Google wants websites that are written for humans, not search engines. Duplicate content (both on pages, tags, titles and descriptions) is a fast way to a penalty and a drop in rankings.
Tip – make sure content on your pages is at least 30% different to any other page on the site.
2. No Sitemap
Google uses the XML sitemap to crawl your site and understand what pages should be indexed in search results. Not having an XML sitemap is poor practice and likely to hold back your performance in searches.
Tip – use a tool like Siteliner to check the match percentage of duplicate content on your pages.
3. Slow Loading Websites
A slow website leads to frustrated visitors and a generally poor user experience; Google downgrades the rankings of slow loading websites.
Tip – test your load speeds on a regular basis and take steps to ensure your site performs as quickly as possible.
4. Non-Mobile Friendly
Over 50% of website searches now take place on mobiles and tablets, a like for like mobile friendly site will nearly always outperform non-mobile friendly websites in search results.
Tip – Use the Google Mobile Friendly tool to test if your site passes or fails.
5. Broken Links
Broken links on your site will not only cause a poor user experience, they will also hamper Google when it crawls your site – this can cause major issues in your trust and credibility with Google and lead to a drop in rankings.
Tip – Use one of the many tools to check for broken links on a regular basis.
6. Internal 404s
Make sure that every page on your website exists and is working. The last thing you want is Google to crawl your site only to find internal links are incorrect and lead to a page that no longer exists.
Tip – Ensure you have a dynamic XML sitemap that updates with the latest live pages on the site.
7. Bad Backlinks
Bad backlinks to your site could cripple your rankings and incur a penalty; it is vital to ensure that any backlinks coming to your site are good quality, from trusted locations that have a good reputation with Google.
Tip – Avoid bulk buying backlinks, they can land you with a penalty from Google.
If you would like to find out how Google looks at your website, or information about getting your site found in Google searches, simply visit www.total-seo.co.uk and request a free review.
