How To Improve Stagnant Search Rankings In Just 30 Days
Watching your site’s rankings slow to a crawl can be frustrating.
Especially if you’ve been stuck in the same spot for weeks, months, or even years!
But whether you’re stuck on Page 5 or in the Top 5, today we’re helping by sharing the techniques we use to help new clients jumpstart their stagnant search rankings.
These proven methods include:
- Checking your competitors for lucrative opportunities.
- Re-optimising – and de-optimising – your important pages.
- Providing support to your stagnant pages with targeted links.
Let’s get started.
Table of Contents
Why Have My Site’s Rankings Stalled?
Watching your site’s rankings slow to a crawl can be frustrating.
Especially if you’ve been stuck in the same spot for weeks, months, or even years!
But whether you’re stuck on Page 5 or in the Top 5, today we’re helping by sharing the techniques we use to help new clients jumpstart their stagnant search rankings.
These proven methods include:
- Checking your competitors for lucrative opportunities.
- Re-optimising – and de-optimising – your important pages.
- Providing support to your stagnant pages with targeted links.
Let’s get started.
Surely People Will Still Find Me If I’m Not On The First Page, Right?…
…unfortunately, that’s not the case.
In fact, only 25% of people ever look beyond Google’s first page.
If you’re not on the first page, you’re missing out on valuable traffic, leads, and sales.
Don’t believe us? Check out these (well-sourced) stats
I’m Already On Google’s First Page, Is This Guide Even For Me?
The short answer: Yes.
The long answer? Yessssssssss.
Jokes aside, Page 1 isn’t a great place to stop promoting your site…
…instead, it’s the perfect place to start.
Stuck outside the Top 3? Here’s why you’re missing out
4 Ways To Supercharge Your Stagnant Search Rankings
- 1Scope out the competition for any newcomers
Though your rankings may be stagnant…
…the rest of the sites around you may be anything but.
If you haven’t revisited your major keywords recently, now is the time to do so. The search landscape changes every day – especially in competitive industries – so it’s worth seeing who the big movers and shakers are in your corner of the search market.
What you’re looking for are new names you haven’t seen before. Perhaps a new competitor has popped up ahead of you? Or maybe there’s a new leader at the top of the first page? Either way, they’re ranking well for a reason.
If you see a new name, take a look and work out why they’re performing well.
In doing so you’ll find new opportunities you can use to boost your site.
When you do this, you should…
- Look for new competitors ranking in search for your target keywords.
- Examine these sites and see what they’re doing that you aren’t, such as:
- Optimisations?
- Content?
- Internal Links?
- Use opportunities they’re using to boost your site’s rankings with our guide (below).
Outranking Your Competitors Is Easy…
…with our Guide To Outranking Your Competitors In Google Search! It includes steps for finding, identifying, and repurposing your competitor’s opportunities so you can climb Google’s search rankings. Oh, and it’s free!
- 2Re-optimise your site’s key areas...
Is your site optimised for search?
Before you answer with an enthusiastic “Yes!”, take a look at this:
The screenshot above shows the top three search results for “buy bread nz”.
As you can see, these sites make good use of “bread” in Titles and Meta Descriptions.
However, if we scroll down just a little further we’ll see that…
…the sites in 4th, 6th, and 7th aren’t optimised well for these terms at all.
But wait, there’s more! If we take a closer look at one of the site’s pages…
…we’ll see that the site’s page for bread still has a generic title.
All three of these sites have put in the work to make it to Google’s first page – and they’d all likely say they have well-optimised sites – but as we can see they’re all just a few small optimisations away from moving their way into the top three!
So, here’s a better question for you:
Is your site actually optimised for search?
When you do this, you should…
- Review your competitors and the keywords they use.
- Take a look at where – and how – they use them in Titles, Metas, and Headings.
- Revisit your on-site optimisations and update if needed using our guide (below).
(So many businesses suffer from this issue. Case in point? We were ready to work through multiple search terms to find an example like the one we’ve used above. It’s so prevalent we…didn’t need to. This is the first one we tried!)
Optimising Your Site Is Simple…
Don’t make the same mistake of assuming your site is optimised. Give yourself a competitive advantage by quickly and easily optimising your site for search with our SEO Optimisation Guide For New Zealand Businesses. It’s free!
- 3...and de-optimise your content
Confused?
It’s ok, we’ll explain in a second!
For now, take a look at these three screenshots:
These show how many times ‘house insurance’ is used on pages ranking for this term.
Two sit within Google’s Top 5, while the other is way back on Page 5…
…do you know which is which? Surprisingly, it’s the page using this term 32 times that’s struggling to rank. It’s true! But why? Isn’t adding keywords to your site the thing you’re meant to do?
It just so happens you can have too much of a good thing. Sure, Google expects to find some natural references to your major keywords, but overdoing it and unnaturally stuffing your site full of keywords is a surefire red flag.
When it comes to using keywords, it’s all about finding a balance.
When you do this, you should…
- Search for your keywords and take a look at the highest-ranking sites.
- Hit ‘CTRL+F’, enter your terms, and see how many times they’re used on the page.
- Go back to your site, do the same, and adjust how much you use them if necessary!
Don’t Forget To Mix Things Up…
Instead of cutting keywords completely, replace some with relevant or related ones instead! Including variations on your major terms will ensure you stay relevant. Just make sure your site doesn’t end up reading like a thesaurus!
- 4Land deep links with special business directories
Online directories are a great way to build your site’s overall authority.
But what if you’re trying to get a specific page – or pages – moving up the rankings?
Most business directories only allow you a single link to your Home Page, but there are some that let you add additional links which are ideal for providing targeted support to specific pages that have stalled on their journey to the top.
Here’s what you need to to:
- Find a business directory that allows for additional links (check out our list below).
- We’re using Infonews in this example, so sign up and create a new account:
- Once you’ve set created an account, click on ‘Edit Profile’ in the top right:
- Add in your business information as you would with any business directory:
- Add a business description to the text box below:
- Finally, take this opportunity to add a few additional links to important pages you want to support with a ‘Find out more information’, ‘Some of our products include’, or ‘Click through to learn more’:
- Finish filling out the rest of the information, and then click ‘Submit’!
When you do this, you should…
- Browse through our list of online directories (below).
- Find a handful of niche directories that allow for additional links.
- Create a new profile – or update an existing one – and include a few targeted links.
Find Business Directories In Seconds
Finding business directories takes time, let alone finding ones that allow for additional links! Make the process quick and easy with our Complete List Of All Free – And Paid – New Zealand Business Directories. It’s free!
Jumpstart your stagnant search rankings
With some targeted support using our techniques you can start climbing the search rankings again! If you want more ways to support your site check out our guides or request a strategy session and learn how Found can help you jumpstart your stagnant search rankings and maximise your traffic, leads, and sales in the process.
