I am often asked the question, why is my website not ranking in the search engines?  There are numerous reasons why a particular web page, or infact website would not rank in the search engines.  I have collated these into this article and have provided links to other information, like how to create search engine friendly websites, that I recommend you familiarise yourself with, to better understand how to get your web pages into the search engines results pages.

Has the page been indexed by Google

The first thing I check, when asked to do a free SEO review, is that the web pages have in fact been indexed by Google and the other search engines.  It stands to reason that unless a web page has been indexed by a particular search engine, it won't be found in its results pages and it is pointless asking yourself, why is my website not ranking in the search engines?  If your web page has not been indexed, validate your html code.

Flash Splash Screens

You have probably read in one of my other SEO articles on SEO Joomla, that the use of Flash splash screens on your home page, from a search engine friendlyness point of view, is not a good idea.  The search engines were designed to read text, not images and definitely not flash.  The only search engine that has any ability when it comes to interpetting a flash file is Google and that ability is rudimentary at best.

Your home page is the most important page on your domain from a search engines perspective, it carries the most weight and should inform both the browser and the search engine, exactly what the site is about and what they could expect to find on the inner pages of the domain.  More often than not, when I analyse a website that has a Flash splash screen on its home page, I find that:

• There is no text for the search engines to index, just a fancy Flash animation.
• If there is any text, it is simply "Enter Here" or similar.
• The Title tag is "Flash Splash Screen" or similar

If this is the case, your website could only possibly rank for "Enter Here" or "Flash Splash Screen" and it would compete with hundreds of thousands of websites that have made the same mistake.

More Images Than Text

The old adage of a 'picture is worth a thousand words', does not apply to the search engines.  The search engines cannot view a picture and determine what the website is about, you need to tell them, in plain text.  If you have a website about widgets, you would do better in the search engines if your pages contained informative text about widgets and a few pictures, than if you had lots of pictures and just a little text.

Web 2.0 Website, No HTML Navigation & Traditional Content

Websites that are heavily dependant on Javascript or AJAX, usually use these technologies for there navigation system.  The search engines are not able to follow these links and as a result, you may find that your inner pages do not rank in the search engines.  If this is your problem, the solution to your question, why is my website not ranking in the search engines, is a simple one, ensure that you have traditional content and HTML links on all pages.

No incoming Links

Google and the other search engines rely on links from other, already indexed websites, to find your website.  Even if you submit your website to the search engines, if you have no incoming links from related websites, the search engines may choose not to rank your website pages, as it sees links from related websites as a thumbs up for your website.

In a nutshell, to answer the question, why is my website not ranking in the search engines, you need to ensure that your pages have been properly indexed by Google, you are not using a Flash splash screen, you include traditional text and HTML navigation on all pages and you need some incoming links from related websites.