John Mueller from Google explained why a website with “good SEO” doesn’t rank even with little competition. Although his response initially appears controversial, paying attention to what he says is essential.
Good SEO, But Poor Ranking?
What people think makes for ‘good SEO’ can vary a lot.
There’s no set rule that everyone agrees on. It depends on how much someone knows and understands about it.
Many people who have read “everything” about SEO believe they are experts when just starting their journey.
Until failure makes a knowledge gap obvious, it isn’t easy to know what one does not know.
This is one way to interpret the question’s context, while John Mueller provides a different and utterly legitimate interpretation.
Why Does a Website Rank Poorly Despite Good SEO?
The person who asked the issue was frustrated because they are in a situation with little competition and have used what they believe to be “good SEO.”
They inquired:
“Why doesn’t my site rank despite having little competition and effective SEO? I have indexed pages, backlinks, fresh material, a sitemap, and on-page optimization.
However, my website still needs to be among the top 200 for my keyword searches.
John Mueller responded by first pointing out the flaw in Google’s SEO guidance.
He claims that Google’s recommendations frequently focus more on the technical aspects of SEO, such as structured data, page speed, and content quality, and less on on-site marketing.
Mueller’s reply was:
“I frequently encounter this type of query.
When discussing SEO, Google frequently emphasizes numerous technical factors, but you must do more.
Mueller then focused on the aspect of site marketing that Google needs to discuss honestly.
He went on:
“Comparing it to the offline world is a valuable approach to think about this.
Does having a decent cover image, manageable sentence length, minimal spelling errors, and a topic that interests the reader guarantee that a book will be a best-seller?
Or does having a clean kitchen and employing the correct ingredients ensure that your restaurant will be busy?
Although it’s essential to address the technical aspects, success requires more.
Site Promotion and SEO?
The requirement to market and optimize a website may sometimes seem excessive.
However, promoting a site includes:
- Speaking on podcasts.
- Attending conferences to make contacts with the press and business leaders.
- Using radio.
- Creating YouTube videos.
- Running advertisements.
However, the fact that a site can’t rank highly for low-competition keywords may indicate that there is still some SEO to be learned.
Please don’t assume you already understand SEO; instead, have an open mind. It can be surprising to find knowledge gaps in an industry that has been nuanced for more than 20 years, like SEO.
How site promotion helps in ranking the site?
Site promotion plays a crucial role in improving the ranking of a website. Promoting your site increases its visibility and reputation online, positively impacting its search engine ranking. The following is how site promotion aids in a site’s ranking:
- Increased Visibility
- Quality Backlinks
- Improved User Engagement
- Social Signals
- Brand Authority
- Reduced Bounce Rate
- Long-Term Traffic