Is your website not ranking well because Google indexing for websites is not set up correctly? Read on to learn more about indexing pages on your website Here are some things to check:

Is Your Website Mobile Friendly?

Google first started addressing the issue that more and more users are accessing websites through their mobile devices in 2016. By 2021, Google introduced Mobile-First Indexing. This means that Google predominantly uses the mobile version of content for indexing and ranking.

Not sure if your site is mobile-friendly? Go to the Mobile Friendly Test on Google Search Console You are looking for a “passed reading.”

Is Your Site Too Slow to Load?

Google ranks slow-loading sites lower than others simply because it has so many to look at and prioritize, it wants to give users the best experience possible first. While speed is one of more than 200 ranking factors, that Google uses to rank sites, it is one of the most important ones. Users are far more likely to bounce from a slow website, and the probability of this happening increases by over 100% if a page load time goes from just 1 second to 6 seconds.

Want to check your website’s loading speed? Google has a free PageSpeed Insights tool to check both your mobile and desktop loading speeds. It will run a scan and give you a list of opportunities to optimize your site speed. This can include items like reducing unneeded code or reducing the impact of third-party code, ensuring images are in next-gen formats, to properly sizing and compressing images.

Do You Have a Sitemap?

This seems like a no-brainer but it’s surprising how many websites are built without them. The preferred format is currently XML Sitemaps. HTML sitemaps are not preferred. An XML sitemap is a file that lists a website’s essential pages so Google can identify and crawl them. It helps search engines understand your website structure.

Is Your Coding Complicated?

Sometimes a theme is not the exact fit or you have a custom site. Complicated or outdated code can cause indexing issues because Google simply gets lost trying to crawl a complex site that may not be laid out simplistically. Again, try out the Mobile Friendly Test on Google Search Console to determine how mobile-friendly your site actually is.’

Don’t hide any Javascript or CSS coding. Google needs to see all of it when it crawls in order to make sense of the whole site. If any are blocked, ensure they are unblocked.

Do You Have Enough Quality Content?

Not only should you have at least 300 words on every indexed page, but it must be well-written as well. Sites that have over 1000 professionally written words will rank higher than others. So does this need you should ramble on and on about something in trying to reach a high word count? Absolutely not! The content on your site needs to answer pertinent questions, provide information, or have a point of view that’s different enough from other sites in the same niche as yours. Google compares your content to others and will rank the one it believes has the better content higher.

Is Your Website User-Friendly?

There is nothing worse than having a frustrating site. Viewers cannot find what they need or they have to jump through various hoops just to get a simple answer. Even worse, it just looks messy. Google takes note of this and will reward clean sites that offer correct information simply and easily. Distractions like ads in the opening banner or sites that have so much to load that it slows everything down is a definite red flag.

Are All Your Links Working Correctly?

Did you change the name of a page but forget to update the link? Are there any redirect loops or typos causing a “page not found” error? Use Google Search Console to crawl the site and look for any 301 or 302 redirects, or 404 errors. Fix them and then resubmit the sitemap. Don’t forget to check all plug-ins to ensure they are not being blocked.

How is Your Domain Set Up?

If you changed from an http:// to https:// site, ensure that all variations are changed and verified in Google Search Console accordingly. If you have multiple domains attached to your site, ensure they are verified as well. Check whether or not your web address starts with “https://XXX.XXX…” which means that someone might be typing in an IP address instead of a domain name and getting redirected to your website.

Learn more about the difference between sites starting with http:// versus https:// here.

What about Meta Tags?

If your pages’ meta tags are set to “noindex,nofollow”. Those pages will not be indexed. Sometimes your site may have a plugin that blocks Google from recrawling so that must be checked as well. The best way to address this is to simply change any meta tags with the words “noindex,nofollow” to “index,follow” one by one. This can be frustrating especially if there are hundreds or thousands of pages but it must be done.

How is Your On-Page SEO?

If your website has a ton of errors, Google will take note and penalize you for it. You may have bad or missing meta descriptions, blocked pages, title tags that are too short or too long (or even worse, duplicate title tags), or a long list of other grievances.

What if Your Website Has a Long History of Unresolved Issues?

Penalties from Google are hard to get rid of. If everything isn’t cleaned up, Google just won’t index your site. Google employs an army of human reviewers to manually review and flag websites. If you receive a manual action report through Google Search Console, you must thoroughly explain the history of the issues and fully explain the resolution in a “Reconsideration Request”. Yes, it is as bad as it sounds. Google want to ensure you are not pulling anything over viewers like sneaky redirects or cloaked images.

The best way to get out from under this cloud is to rebuild the site from the ground up with new content or do a complete content overhaul.

Need Help with Google Indexing for Websites?

With over 35 years of experience in technology, marketing, and design, 5-star Google-rated Charlotte’s Web Designs, LLC offers everything you need to help your business to get to the next level. I am fast, small business budget-conscious, creative, and will be in your corner every step of the way.

Please contact me today for a free consultation.

Follow Me!