SEO or Search Engine Optimization is a set of techniques and procedures used to improve a website’s rankings on the SERP.

As easy as it may sound by its definition, SEO has its own set of complications. Search engines like Google may penalize websites for a technical error or non-compliance with security guidelines.

Common Reasons Why SEO Projects Fail

Calling an SEO expert to figure out the failure is a costly affair; not all businesses can afford it.

So, they may have no other option but to rely on their development team to do the job, which is why we are going over seven common reasons for SEO failure.

Let’s take a look:

1.    Not having an SSL certificate

When a user visits a non-SSL website, Google displays a red “Not Secure” warning sign with a grey background.

The search engine will force users to go back to the SERP or enter the website at their own risk.

And users trust Google’s warning over your website; make no mistake about it. So, the only solution to that is installing an SSL or Secured Socket Layer certificate.

An SSL certificate will protect your website connection and establish a secure channel for communication between your website’s servers and the user’s web browser.

Non-compliance with SSL will deny you the advantages of online business, such as accepting online payments and ranking on the top of SERPs.

An SSL also facilitates HTTPS or Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure encryption, which allows you to get a secure padlock ahead of your URL.

The question is, which SSL is optimal for your website?

Well, we recommend you go for a certificate like Comodo PositiveSSL certificate, RapidSSL certificate, or AlphaSSL certificate. Not only are they authentic but cheap as well.

So, buy an SSL today to stay in Google’s good books.

2.    The website is not indexed.

Website indexing is essential for Google to list your pages in its search results. You must ensure that each page of your website is indexed appropriately.

To check that type- “site:yourwebsitename.com” and see how many pages are shown in the search results.

If the results are more petite, the chances are that some of your pages are not indexed properly or blocked by a robot.txt file.

However, if you find that more pages are indexed than you expected, perhaps the older versions of your site are ranking along with the new ones.

So, get the newer page versions indexed at the earliest to improve SEO.

3.    Generate your XML sitemaps

XML sitemaps help Google bots crawl and understand your pages well. Without XML sitemaps, you cannot get a place in the search rankings.

To check whether you have an XML site map, type “/sitemap.xml.” If you get a 404 error, you need to create XML sitemaps to get crawled by search engines.

Here is good news for WordPress site users: you can install the Yoast SEO plugin that can take care of all the technical aspects of SEO, including the creation of an XML site as well.

4.    The page speed issue

If your site does not load within 3 seconds or less, you will see a rise in bounce rate. In Google’s recent Page Experience Update, it has already mentioned that page speed will be a vital factor in deciding how fruitful a user’s experience with the site is.

If you don’t know why your website is having trouble maintaining page speed, we recommend getting insights into it through Google’s page speed insights.

Moreover, you must focus on images and videos. You must compress and optimize them to shrink their size.

5.    Multiple homepage versions

We create multiple versions of our homepage at times, such as www.domain.com or “domain.com.” There can be multiple HTTP or HTTPS versions of the homepage too.

But this will create many redirects. Different versions of the same homepage will get displayed when entered using different URLs.

To remedy that, you need to type “site:domain.com” and see how many people are already indexed.

If you find out that search engine crawlers index multiple versions of your homepage, you need to set up 301 redirects to ensure that all URLs redirect to the same website.

6.    Duplicate content

Duplicate content can harm your SEO like no other. If you want to succeed in the online world, you have to be genuine and innovative.

Some websites simply copy the content from others to fill in blank spaces and save some money.

But we recommend you hire copy/content writers who can help uplift your brand’s value by creating freshly brewed content that will entice users.

Once the engagement is built, more users will come to your website, and your bounce rate will significantly decrease, resulting in higher search rankings.

7.    Alt tags are missing.

Search engine bots cannot crawl images in the same way it crawls text. That is why alt texts are there.

Alt texts tell bots about the relevance of the image in the content. Since Google is more inclined towards promoting visual content, relevant images can help you stay in its good books.

Images that do not have alt tags are considered to be broken or irrelevant, something you can’t let search engines consider your particular infographic.

Some websites prefer to talk more with visuals than text. Alt texts are essential for their indexing.

Final Thoughts

After reading all these points, we are sure you must have understood how SEO projects fail to deliver the desired results for businesses.

Search engines are getting smarter and better with time. What might work five years ago may not work now.

Today, if your website lacks SSL certificates and has a slow page speed, they cannot even think of ranking in Google’s SERP.

Search engine crawlers, too, have gotten more robust in indexing. Websites having multiple URL redirects and duplicate content are ranked lower and sometimes penalized.

So, if you want to make your website SEO work in your favor, we recommend addressing these seven issues today.