Hey there! But if you’re anything like me, you looked at your Google Search Console one day and said (to yourself), “Wait… site crawled. It’s indexed. But why the heck don’t I rank?” Yeah, I’ve been there. I recently experienced this same challenge — and I want to share what I discovered (after a TON of trial and error and facepalming).
Crawled ✅ Indexed ✅ But Not Ranking? Let’s Talk.
So here’s the thing – I started a new niche site a couple of months back. I ensured each blog post was unique, and keyword optimized with low-competition long-tail phrases such as “how to start a fitness blog for beginners”, and “SEO checklist for small business owners”. My technical SEO was solid. The content was live. I even pinged Google and verified everything in the Search Console. Still… crickets.
Some terms didn’t even appear on page 10. Frustrating, right?
My Rookie Error: No Linking Inward. At All. 😬
Then it hit me. Unlike with my other sites, I’d neglected to interlink my blog posts among themselves or with any destination pages (such as service or landing pages). Why? Truth is … I got kind of lazy and just focused on publishing, not connecting.
And guess what? The absence of internal linking was a huge oversight.
Sure, search engines crawl and index pages. But ranking isn’t all about “existence.” It’s about context. Authority. Relevance. And without a proper internal linking structure, your site is just a series of single, isolated rooms in a massive hotel — no hallways, no elevators, no map.
Why Interlinking Matters More Than You Probably Think
Keep in mind: Google doesn’t mystically “know” your website. It needs clues. And, like little arrows pointing Google — and your readers — to what’s important, internal links are sweet.
It was only when I went back and interlinked my new blog posts to older pillar content {the beginner’s guide to blogging} like my “SEO for new bloggers” to my “Ultimate Guide to Blogging Tools” that I began to see some movement. Impressions increased. Clicks followed. Gradually, the rankings arrived.
This is just what I was looking for:
I wasn’t passing link equity from indexed pages to some other pages.
My posts were not connected.
I didn’t have any anchor context that could aid Google in understanding which pages were related.
I wasn’t getting users to navigate deeper into the site. This influences bounce rate and dwell time (yes, behavioral signals count.).
But — And There Is a But — Interlinking Is Not All That Matters
Alright, let’s be completely clear – fixing interlinking alone will not take you to #1. There are a jillion potential reasons your site might not rank (even if it is indexed):
🔍 And my take (which is also a point of contention for others):
No Backlinks = No Authority
Internal links are essentially giving yourself advice. Backlinks are also like receiving referrals. Without them, you’re not getting any of those “votes of confidence” from outside.
Poor Content Quality
Hard truth? Some of my earliest entries weren’t even “fine.” Once I ran them through SurferSEO, I knew that they were missing keyword depth, NLP terms, and structure. Even something like NeuronWriter, LowFruits, or Google Natural Language API are tools that can help you compare the highest-ranking content.
Wrong Keyword Intent
I’ve even optimized a post for “how to make money” — except, for people searching that were looking for easy solutions, not a 2,000-word guide to affiliate marketing.
New Domain, No Trust Yet
Even if you’ve got EEAT (Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness), new fields are slow. I didn’t have any reviews, social proof, or an About page listing credentials.
Not Enough Topical Authority
You can no longer just publish one or two posts around a topic. You want to go deep, not wide. Consider: topical clusters (1 pillar page and then 5–10 supporting articles all interlinking to one another). 12:40 How to 3x organic traffic with SEO SEO like certain tricks are great.
The Turning Point? I Got Strategic (Not Only Consistent)
Here’s what worked for me finally:
✅ Mapped topic clusters using tools such as Keyword Cupid
✅ Began religiously interlinking — 3–5 internal links per blog post
✅ Refreshed old posts with new links, stats and better headlines
✅ Earned backlinks to pillar pages through HARO, forums, Reddit
✅ Generated EEAT signals – about the author, website structure, social sites, FAQs
Those of you skipping down the briefings every morning in order to just publish — now hear this: Don’t Just Publish — Connect.
If your website is being indexed and crawled but not ranking just remain calm. Ask yourself:
Am I connecting up my writing logically?
Am I creating backlinks and thematic relevance?
Do I actually better serve search intent than everyone else?
And for crying out loud — don’t fall into the trap of simply blaming Google when you are certain you’re “shadowbanned.” It’s fixable 99% of the time. You could be one interlink away from the traffic big time. 😉
Lemme know — do you have this problem, too? What made your site finally rank? Share your story in the comments!
Need assistance in reviewing your blog’s interlinking or SEO structure? I have a list I can share — just ask! 📩
Why Is My Page Indexed But Not Ranking on Google? The Main Reasons for Not Ranking
All right, so here’s one thing that used to mess me up, when I was a young blog (and believe me: it drove me bananas): I was indexed by Google, but I was just not ranking at the top of the list. Sound familiar?
You type site:howtoyoublog.com/yourpage in Google and there it is.’ Your brilliant new blog post is added to the index. So that means Google indexed it, right? So WTF isn’t it ranking for the relevant keywords you painstakingly crafted?
Been There, Googled That
I actually recall typing into search:
“How is my blog indexed and does not appear on Google search?”
“My blog is indexed but not receiving any traffic.”
“How to solve indexed but not ranking issues?”
If you’ve looked up something like that, you are not alone. I’ve been there, and let’s go over exactly what I learned (after many late nights fueled by coffee and SEO rabbit holes).
Indexing ≠ Ranking
Let me put it bluntly for you: Being indexed is just fancy speak for Google knowing your page is there. But trying to rank — that’s a different story altogether. Think of indexing as getting an invite to a party. Your turn on stage to perform!!! Totally different energy.
If a page is indexed but not ranking, it generally means that Google doesn’t find the page to be relevant or valuable enough yet to those specific search queries that people are typing in.
Low/Thin Content Quality It’s what many webmasters call thin content.
Oh man, this one stung. I had a post called “Best books to read in 2024”, which barely made it onto page 7. Why? Because it was mostly a list. No deep dive; no personal analysis; not even personal experience.
Google has a soft spot for quality, reliable content that comes from real people. So I rewrote it. I included experiences from my personal reading, and fresh stats, and made it mega-skimmable. Boom! It started climbing.
✅ Tip: Use long-tail keywords, such as “best non-fiction books for entrepreneurs in 2024” (not just “best books 2024” — and ensure your content is actually helpful.
Poor Keyword Relevance
Another harsh lesson: Just using a keyword doesn’t mean using it well. I once optimized a post for “how to invest in crypto” but didn’t mention associated terms such as “beginner’s guide to crypto investing”, “is crypto safe for new investors” or “crypto investment tips for 2024”.
Google’s smarter now. It craves some semantic depth — so sprinkle in those related keyphrases, and yeah answer questions people are typing in.
Weak or No Backlinks
The fact of the matter: no backlinks = no trust in Google’s book. I had to work to have my indexed but silent pages met with recognition.
I began guest posting, got a few niche forums to link back, and emailed some related blogs. And you know what? That helped drag my ranking higher and higher.
💡 Pro Tip: Also include a few internal links from your high-performing blog posts. They send good signals!
Poor UX or Slow Site
Ever land on a site and bail because it was taking too long to load? Yeah, Google hates that too. One of my blog pages was getting indexed but stuck in the limbo of ranking until I optimized page speed, made the mobile layout better, and reduced annoying pop-ups.
Plus, easy-to-read section headings, clear, large font, and informative visuals also helped lower my bounce rate — and raise my place in the rankings.
No Topical Authority
I had a game-changing experience with this one. Google wants to learn that you’re not just throwing a link up there. Your health blog suddenly posts about tech, it might get indexed, sure — but it won’t rank well.
I discovered how to stay focused on a specific niche and develop topic clusters clustered around related subjects, and slowly but surely Google began to see my blog as an authority in that field.
Over-optimization or Keyword Stuffing
Guilty. I used to stuff my blog with keywords so as to burst out on that provided as “how to make passive income;” five times in one paragraph. It not only sounded odd, but Google treated it as spammy.
I re-wrote it with the natural flow, used some variations like “ways to make money passively” and added in real-life examples. Rankings improved.
And if you think leaving a couple of disks behind wouldn’t make you vulnerable, think again.
So yeah, your page can be indexed but not ranked — and that’s completely normal, especially in the early stages. But fix up the quality of your content, focus it on real user intent, build some backlinks, and work on trust signals for your site, and you’ll start to rise through those search results.
And, hey, if you’re ever in a rut, look at your old posts. That’s what I did. One “dead” post I optimized using what I just shared with you out of the blue (correct!.) and in less than 2 weeks? It moved from page 9 to page 2.
Keep tweaking, keep learning — and Google will reward the effort.
Need me to assist in optimizing a URL for a blog post that is indexed but not ranking? Throw the URL or topic in the comments — I’ve got you covered!
1. Indexing vs. Ranking: What is the Difference? Why
1. Indexing vs. Ranking: My ‘Aha’ Moment When I Finally Understood the Difference
So not too long time ago I’ve had this weird moment of frustration. You know – I’ve just published a solid, well-researched blog post. This one, you know – this one’s gonna rank. More than that – only when the post is already published, you can know exactly what your conversions are. But… nothing.
No traffic. No impressions.
Then I searched up my title exactly as it is in Google, and guess what – crickets. That’s when I fell down the rabbit hole of “Why is my website not showing up on Google?” and discovered the big-ass difference between indexing and ranking. Let me break it down for you. What is indexing? Imagine you just add a book to a giant library.
Indexing will make this book be added to the library card index. Google sends its web crawlers – googlebot – to crawl your site. If it finds your new page and stores it in its database – google’s index – then, lady or gentlemen, your content is indexed. Long-tail keywords people search for: How do I check if my page is indexed by Google?
Google indexing vs. Google crawling vs. Google ranking
How long does it take Google to index a page? I remember opening Google Search Console and checking the quarantine URL Inspection “ to see if my page is indexed. It wasn’t then. Rookie mistake – I forgot to submit the sitemap for the new blog section.
😅 But what about ranking? That’s a whole different game. So even after your page gets indexed, it doesn’t mean it will show up even near the top in the search results. That’s ranking. The ranking is a thing of Google’s algorithm deciding how well your page matches a user’s query.
It checks everything – your content quality, page experience, relativity, backlinks, on-page SEO, and hell – even user signals like bounce rate.
Basically, google asks itself – is this the best answer out there for the person searching? People also ask: Why is my page indexed but not ranking?
What is the most impactful ranking factor in Google?
How do I fast increase my page ranking on Google?
I’m serious, it started to make sense to me when I realized that indexing is to invitations as ranking is to a VIP list.
A Powerful Real-Life Example That Resonated With Me
I had a flat HTML blog post indexed in 24 hours. I was like, “Cool, I’m on my way to page one!” But the weeks went by and it wasn’t ranking for any keyword – not even long-tail ones such as “easy SEO tips for bloggers in 2024”. I plunged back into my post, added useful examples, fixed page speed, honed internal linking, and even embedded a YouTube explainer video.
Guess what? Within a week, it appeared in search results for terms such as:
- Why your blog is indexed but not ranking
- Google index vs rank difference
- SEO after publishing of blog post
Final Thoughts — EEAT Your Way to Better Rankings 🍽️
To rank well, your content requires EEAT:
✔️ Experience – Share personal experiences (like this one!)
✔️ Fires – Demonstrate you know your subject
✔️ Authority – increase mentions, backlinks , or social proof
✔️ Trustworthy – Zero dirty tactics. Be clean, helpful, and transparent
If you’re in the place I was, helpless, indexed but not ranking? Think about what you write down like a real human. Ask yourself: “Would I be willing to trust this page if I were searching for information on this topic?”
Pro Tip:
Monitor both indexing and ranking headway using tools such as Google Search Console, Screaming Frog, and Ahrefs. They’re a lifesaver.
So hit reply and tell me – have you ever experienced the pain of having your page indexed but never getting ranked? I’d love to know how you’ve cracked the code, or whether you’re still trying to figure it out. Believe me, we’ve all done it.
2. Reasons for Not Ranking:
Why Content Relevance Is the Real SEO Secret (and How I Learned It the Hard Way)
Not too long ago I posted a blog about my top 10 digital marketing tips. It was full of insights, yet it barely dented search rankings. Perplexed, I delved into this and discovered that content relevance is where I went wrong. My post wasn’t fulfilling the needs of what people were actually searching for — my post was too generic.
This lesson has taught me that search engines value content that’s obviously relevant to a user’s query.
DemystifyingSearch Intent: The Key to Semantic Search And Soovle vs. Ubersuggest And Quora…getPost anything.
I began searching for what my audiences needed the most. They weren’t looking for broad subjects but specific solutions, like “how to create a digital marketing plan for small businesses” or “budget SEO tools for startups.” These are called long-tail keywords — search terms that are more specific and indicate greater user intent.
Couple that with the fact that I started going after these I started seeing more engagement and higher search engine rankings. It dawned on me that matching the content to the user intent is important.
Adhering to Google’s E-A-T Best Practice Guidelines
Google gives great importance to the Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T) of content.
In order to meet those standards, I began using personal experiences and case studies to show that I had personal experience. This was a trust-building technique with my audience and also reflected Google’s policy: making my content trustworthy.
Practices for Improving Content Relevance
Here’s how I made my content more relevant:
Keyword Research: I leveraged Ubersuggest as well as Google’s Keyword Planner to gather the long tail keywords that aligned with my audience’s search intent.
Content Structuring: I structured my posts in a bulletproof, easily digestible with heads and subheads.
Answering Personal Questions: I answered personal questions within my posts in a short and sweet way.
Be Updated: I always make it sure that its content is updated with the newest information and trends.
When I started using these, I found an improvement in the overall performance of my content. It connected and rated better in search.
Takeaway: Force yourself to write content that answers your audience’s unique questions and needs. By matching search intent and staying true to Google’s E-E-A-T Signal, you can improve the relevancy of your content and the performance of your SEO.
🧠 Why Content Quality is the Real SEO Game-Changer
I recall when I started blogging that I was fixated on keywords. I’d sprinkle them everywhere — titles, intros, even where they didn’t really go. But try as I might, my posts did little to move the needle in search rankings. It wasn’t until I was able to focus on providing real value to my audience that things started to turn for me.
The search engines, particularly Google, rank content based on the true value it adds to readers. It’s not just about keyword stuffing; it’s about answering your audience’s questions and needs. These tactics are consistent with Google’s E-A-T consideration — Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness — in content.
🧩 The Traps of The Bad Content
In the beginning, I wrote articles such as “Top 10 Tips for Productivity” that had little depth or personal insight in them. They were bland, they were empty, and, surprise, surprise, they didn’t seem to appeal to readers. I eventually learned that such content does engage the audience and has actually the risk of being ignored by search engines.
Google is engineered to find and compensate content that truly shows expert knowledge and clearly answers the questions of its users. Poorly written, thin articles can damage the trust and visibility of your site.
✍️ Valuing Personal Experience and Expertise
One of the key turning points in my blogging came when I started writing about personal experiences. For example, instead of creating a typical article on time management, I explained how I eliminated procrastination when I was in college. This human touch made my content more warm and authentic.
First-hand experience and a deep level of knowledge are important for Google’s E-E-A-T framework. When you share information and stories that only you can provide, not only do you build trust but you also increase the credibility of your content in the eyes of search engines.
🔑 The Red King And His Sword Of Long-Tail Keywords
At first, I went after general keywords that were still in my niche, such as “productivity tips,” but there was a lot of competition that my blog couldn’t break through. That’s when I realized the power of long-tail keywords—negatively charged particles like “how to manage time effectively as a college student.” These keywords were targeted, which brought in a more responsive audience, and I started ranking well, which I clearly shouldn’t have been doing.
Long Tail Keywords are less competitive and more targeted from a user standpoint, these are golden to SEO! They aid in luring readers who want specific answers, making it more likely for you to engage and convert them.
📚 How to Structure Your Content For Readability and SEO
Insanely Nothing used to have long paragraphs with no subheadings and no solid prose structure, which made the articles unreadable. That was something readers had been pointing out, and readers were right, so I began moving with a more formalized structure. Now I break up everything in clear headers and a bunch of bullet points and short paragraphs so that it’s readable.
A well-organized article will not only enhance user experience but also help search engines figure out what your content is about and where it belongs in the bigger picture. The inclusion of related keywords seamlessly into headings and subheadings can also help improve the SEO.
🧠 Last But Not Least: The Power of Quality over Quantity
When I look back on my blog journey, the biggest lesson for me was quality over quantity. In other words, it’s better to publish 5 deep, value-added articles than 100 shallow articles. When you prioritize writing content that is educational, reliable, and meets your audience’s needs, you plant the seeds for future SEO achievements.
Keep in mind, that the intention of search engines is to provide users with the most useful and relevant information. Improving your rankings and creating a content-hungry audience who trust and rely upon your advice is possible when you focus on quality and follow best practices.
Keyword Optimization
I recall when I first hit “publish” on a blog post and telling myself I had just created something very insightful. The traffic wasn’t alleviating, days slipped to weeks. Crickets. It was disheartening. I started asking myself: why is my content invisible to search engines? That’s when I discovered the idea of keyword optimization– a blogging game-changer.
How to do Keyword Optimization
Keyword optimization is not simply using popular words throughout your content. It’s strategically placing the related keywords in your titles, meta descriptions, headers, and body text so that search engine crawlers can understand the topic of your page. This tactic simply increases the chances that when someone performs a search for something you have written about, your work will show up in the search results.
Leverage the Power of Long-Tail Keywords
Back when I first started blogging, I used to target “fitness” or “marketing.” It was a competitive market and my content was getting lost in the shuffle. Then I stumbled upon long-tail keywords — specific ones like “home workout routines for beginners” or “digital marketing strategies for small businesses.” Such keywords have low search volumes, yes, but also — low competition, and can bring a higher quality audience, which actually will convert better.
Writing the Keywords In the Text Naturally
But one of the mistakes I made in this was the keyword stuffing which I thought would help me to improve my SEO. What it did was that it rendered my content as if written by a robot and not worth reading. I learned the importance of the organic flow of keywords through a document. For example, rather than crowbar the phrase “best coffee shops” I’d write “If you’re in search of the best coffee shops in town, here are a few top picks”. This method is readable and lets search engines know is still returns a relevant result.
Tools and Techniques
I had begun using tools such as Google Keyword Planner and AnswerThePublic to facilitate the process. They gave me examples of what my ideal reader was looking for so that I could cater to their needs. Also, I started to look into most shared articles in my niche and see how they were using keywords.
Peer feedback is key to being adaptable.
SEO is not something you do once, it’s for life. I go back and revisit my old posts, updating them, fixing them up with new killer keywords, and making sure they are up to standard with today’s search trends. It makes them more visible to me and also gives some fresh value to my readers.
So I began to speak in words that computers understand: keyword optimization and long-tail keywording strategy to be specific, and suddenly I made my blog less of a dark spot on the edge of a community, and more of a resource that turns up in search results. It’s a path to always be learning, but the dividends—literally more views, engagement, and perceived authority—make it worth the time put in.
Backlinks: The Secret Sauce Behind SEO Success
When I first started out blogging, I was obsessed with creating epic content. I carefully fine-tuned each on-page element, from title tags to meta descriptions. However, try as I might, my articles remained firmly ensconced in the bowels of Google. It wasn’t until I learned the importance of backlinks, however, that things began to change.
Realizing the True Power of Backlinks
Backlinks are effectively votes of confidence from other sites. That’s because when a quality website links to your site, it’s one of the cues search engines rely on to judge the quality and relevance of your page. This backlink can help your page rank on the results of the search engine. (Medium)
However, not all backlinks are created equal. Quality trumps quantity. Few backlinks from high-quality relevant sites can be stronger than tons of low-quality trash backlinks. In reality, research has even demonstrated that sites that are getting 40 or 50 high-quality backlinks can begin to see impactful results through organic search. (Stan Ventures)
My Backlinking Journey to Quality Ratios
Thinking about my own, I remember how often that frustration would set in when I would attempt to curate my content and not gain any visibility in return. I figured that if I wanted to rank, I would have to go out and drip-feed some backlinks. But how?
First, I found the top blogs in my niche and sent a well-thought-out, personal message to them, asking if I could guest post. This approach got me some high-value backlinks, and I established some contacts in the blogosphere at the same time.
Another strategy I used was the Skyscraper Technique. I’d find top content within my niche, create an even better version of it, and then approach the websites linking to the original content with an offer to link to what I made instead. This tactic worked great to get good backlinks.
Answering Common Back Linking Questions
“How many backlinks do I need to rank on Google?” It’s a common question that we all want an answer to. The answer isn’t cut & dry, because that depends on a number of elements, including How competitive is your niche, and how strong are your backlinks? But if you’re targeting moderately competitive keywords, shoot for 40-50 top-notch backlinks to get on the 1st page.
And, one of the most common is about, how to do backlinking? Other tactics, such as guest posting, building linkable assets (such as infographics or ultimate guides), and using broken link building can work very well. The trick is to share value and make sure your backlinks are from relevant, authoritative sites.
Final Thoughts
Quality backlinks are a marathon, not a sprint. It takes time, perseverance, determination, and a mindset of wanting to add value for your audience, and the online world at large. Knowing how crucial backlinks are, it is safe to say that there are several strategies you can implement to improve the visibility, authority, and representation of your site in search engine results.
And don’t forget the importance of not just any backlinks, but instead having the right ones.
🚨 Technical SEO Pitfalls That Tank Rankings (and How I Fixed Them)
Let me tell you a story. A few months ago I realized that organic traffic on my website has been falling. Even though I had good content, my content was falling in the search engine rankings. I did some research and it was technical problems that were killing my SEO. Here is what I discovered and how I addressed them.
Slow Load Time: The Quiet but Deadly Killer of Traffic
I popped my website into Google’s PageSpeed Insights and cringed. My mobile speed score was a pathetic 42. Want to throw a pinball across the room? Many users were before the page even loaded.
What I did:
I even compressed the images using TinyPNG if you want to see the quality difference.
CSS minification & JS minification to reduce the file size by removing whitespace and characters.
Added a lazyload system for images, working only when they are at the viewport.
Turned on browser caching so when people come back they don’t have to reload everything.
After making these modifications I increased my mobile speed score to 85 and my bounce rates fell dramatically.
📱 Mobile Unfriendliness: Losing Visitors on the Move
I had come to the realization that my site was not mobile-friendly. Text was too little, buttons were too congested and images didn’t display as intended. And since over 95% of users were using mobile to browse the web, this was a huge problem.
What I did:
I made it responsive, so it’s now friendly for all devices.
Appeared font, increased font sizes, and spaced-out buttons for more intuitive touch navigation.
Improved images to fit on smaller screens.
These changes increased user engagement and decreased mobile bounce rates.
🔗 Broken Links: The Sneaky SEO Drain
By utilising a site audit tool I found hundreds of broken links. Some were internal pages I’d migrated; others were external references that were no longer relevant. A broken link not only irritates a user but also wastes the crawl budget and reduces link equity.
What I did:
Found broken links with tools such as Screaming Frog and Ahrefs.
Reviewed & updated or replaced expired links: Itasha has done this so you have video links that are dead and nothing to look at Other links can be updated to make sure that the guide is updated with live/active content.
Set up 301 redirects for any moved pages for SEO.
Repairing these links resulted in a more optimal crawl, and link equity was regained.
🛠️ Last Words: Technical SEO is Important
Solving these technical problems turned my website around. Load times for pages were reduced, mobile usability was upgraded and broken links were repaved. And my search rankings recovered and organic traffic went up.
If you’re suffering from something similar, then you should probably do a technical SEO audit. Resources such as Google’s PageSpeed Insights, Mobile-Friendly Test, and site crawlers can be used to find and address issues.
Good content is a key component, but without a technical foundation, your SEO may become an uphill battle.
The Age of Your Website: Why It Matters More Than You Think
I wanna go back to before I started my first blog. I’d spent my blood sweat and tears writing high-quality content and promoting it, optimizing the images, but I guess it wasn’t enough I had always treated the very best quality content for users on my pages while there was barely a blog post image picture on page one. But weeks went by, and my site was nowhere near the first page of Google’s search results. Sound familiar?
I quickly learned that Google’s algorithms tend to favor older websites that have built a history of delivering good content and building backlinks. This occurrence, known as the Google Sandbox, implies that even high-quality new websites may not rank very well at first.
Building Authority Takes Time
I recall constantly refreshing my analytics, baffled by why my painstakingly polished posts went clunk. Only once I shifted my focus to becoming an authority did the needle move. Here’s what helped:
Regular content creation: By periodically producing value-driven content, Google knew that was both an active and valuable site to users.
Earning Backlinks: I connected with other bloggers and industry-related sites, guest posted and spread my expertise, allowing me to gain quality backlinks.
User engagement: Promoting comments and debates on my posts engaged users more and was another good sign for search engines.
It worked a little bit over time. My site’s authority started to increase, and so did its rankings.
Adopting Google’s E-E-A-T Guidelines
Google’s E-E-A-T framework — Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness — was my new religion. I discovered that communicating my own experiences was lending some credibility to my content. For example, they found my story of learning SEO to be more engaging than generic advice.
I also made sure to:
Credentials page: I created an “about me” post about my career in digital marketing.
Provide Citations: Reference-based arguments and studies gave my posts credibility.
Keep it Fresh: Hitting the refresh button made sure my content was kept up-to-date and credible.
These measures not only increased my site’s E-A-T but they made my content more user-friendly and trusted, which led to a higher engagement with my users.
Good Things Come To Those Who Wait And Work For It
It is crucial to keep in mind that SEO is not a short-term process. On average, research has shown that it will take you 3 to 6 months for your new website to attract enough attention and visitors to get your site on the front page of Google, provided your website is good and optimized properly.
So, if you’re a newbie, don’t despair if things start off slowly. Concentrate on adding value to your content, building authority, and following whitehat SEO guidelines. After a while, you’ll be rewarded for your efforts as your site will begin to rise in the rankings.
They’re always a new website, remember; just like all these established ones were. With patience and persistence, you’ll get there too.
Note: The perspective contained in this article draws on the author’s personal experience of SEO, and common SEO practices. For more comprehensive advice, you can refer it to some SEO professionals or you can read some articles on trusted digital marketing sites.
Competition:
I remember very well my first attempt to rank for a very competitive keyword. I’d spent hours on a blog post attempting to perfect it, I optimized everything perfectly on-page and even managed to earn a few quality backlinks to my article. But weeks passed and my content was hidden away on page three of Google. It was dismaying, to say the least.
That is when I discovered the long-tail keywords. Rather than going after large terms such as “digital marketing,” I started optimizing my content for long-tail words like “digital marketing strategies for small businesses in 2025.” These longer keywords also had less competition and brought in more qualified visitors. All of a sudden, my content was moving the needle and I was getting higher engagement and more conversions.
My biggest takeaway from this was the application of E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) to my content. By incorporating personal stories, showcasing expertise via thorough analysis and quoting authoritative sources, and establishing trust through honest and precise reporting, my content became more valuable for both readers and search engines.
In this case, if you’re finding it hard to rank for such high competition terms, then perhaps it’s time to leave that ‘unbearable’ competition behind and try my suggestion to focus on long-tail keywords while designing your content around E-A-T! It’s not just about kissing with the algorithm but also about providing real value to your audience.
🛠️ Fixing Indexing and Ranking Issues: My SEO Journey & Lessons Learned
1. 🕵️♂️ Diagnosing Indexing Issues with Google Search Console
The first time I encountered indexing issues it was still clearly etched in my mind – it was so confusing. Even after I submitted my sitemap, certain pages wouldn’t show up in search. Upon delving into Google Search Console, it appeared that some pages had been blocked by robots. txt, and others were indexed.
Pro Tip: Keep tabs on your site indexing in Google Search Console often. Watch out for mistakes such as “Crawled – currently not indexed” and utilize the URL Inspection Tool to request re-indexing after fixing them.
2. ✍️ Elevating Content Quality for Better Rankings
In my early days of blogging, I was obsessed with keyword stuffing to increase my rankings. Finally, though, I realized that quality over quantity is what it’s all about. By making content that really addressed what my audience wanted to know or needed I soon found my engagement and traffic to increase dramatically.
Pro Tip: Apply the E-E-A-T principles of Google—show Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness in your content. Bring fresh subject matter, reference authoritative sources, and make sure that your writing has some substance.
3. 🔍 Strategic Keyword Optimization
At the start, I had been going after general (widespread), high-competition keyword phrases and of course was not obtaining ranked. When I started paying more attention to long-tail keywords, such as “how to fix indexing issues in Google Search Console,” I noticed a huge difference. It was these specific terms that attracted not just any audience, but at a targeted one that also helped me grow the site.
Pro Tip: Utilize Google Suggest and Ahrefs to find long-tail keywords that are related to your niche. Integrate them organically into your titles, meta descriptions, headers, and copy to match the intent people searching may have.
4. 🔗 Building High-Quality Backlinks
I have to admit, to begin with, I never realized the power of backlinks! I published a mega guide on a more obscure subject and then contacted niche blogs and asked if I could write a guest post. This tactic gave me not just an awesome backlink but also helped me gain authority in my industry.
Pro Tip: Develop “skyscraper” content — awesome resources that people will naturally want to link to. Guest post, work with influencers, and use forums to create a strong backlink profile.
5. ⚙️ Addressing Technical SEO Challenges
Ignore the technical I used to never know anything technical, but I’d think the content would be fine. But slow page speeds and broken lines were killing my rankings. I also improved the mobile responsiveness, optimized the images, and fixed broken links to improve the user experience, which helped to increase SEO performance.
Pro Tip: Perform technical audits often with tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights and Screaming Frog. Make sure your site is mobile-friendly, loading fast, and having a clean, crawlable structure.
6. ⏳ Patience and Consistency: The SEO Virtues
I was (and still am) guilty of wanting instant success when it comes to SEO. I have discovered that it just takes time for anything to work in regard to paying off debt. By consistently creating good content, tweaking already existing posts, and keeping up with what was working for my on-page SEO, I climbed further up the search ranks.
Pro Tip: SEO is a marathon, not a sprint. Stick to your plans, check your results, and keep in mind, that you may need to tweak your plan when search engine algorithms change.
Conclusion: Solving indexing and ranking issues is not straightforward, but it requires some technical expertise, great content development, strategic use of keywords, and patience. I want to show my experience and learning, and what I have so far consumed, to lead you on your SEO path. And keep in mind, each difficulty is a learning experience.