Do you suffer from the problem “I’m concentrating on SEO, but I’m not seeing any results”?
SEO has a “failure pattern that many people tend to fall into”.
In this article, we will introduce 10 “common failure patterns and reasons” that companies working on SEO tend to fall into.
10 Reasons Why SEO fails
Here are 10 common reasons why SEO fails.
Now let’s go into the details one by one.
Reason 1: Misunderstanding that SEO results accumulate even if left unattended
“Content developed with SEO techniques is accumulated and becomes an asset of the site,”.
The reason for this is that if the content continues to be displayed at the top of the search results, a stable inflow can be expected.
However, just setting up a site and continuing to add content is not enough to ensure proper SEO. To achieve results with SEO, it is necessary to perform “analysis of the site” and “maintenance” regularly.
Therefore, we have summarized the elements that we especially want to check in the analysis and maintenance of the site below.
Site Analysis Points :
- Is the access situation declining?
- Is there any change in the inflow route?
- Are there any changes in search keywords?
- Is there any change in user behavior?
- Is your conversion status declining?
Site Maintenance Points :
- Periodic review of content within the site
- Check index status
- Improved crawlability
- Troubleshooting Search Console errors
- Setting the appropriate status code
- Dealing with duplicate content (canonical)
Due to changes in user needs, the rise of competition, algorithm updates of search engines such as Google, etc., if analysis and maintenance are neglected, the evaluation of the entire site may decline.
In order to succeed in SEO, please start by clearing up the misconception that “SEO results will accumulate even if left unattended.”
Reason 2: Unclear What To Do With The Inflow
Companies that fail at SEO often lose sight of their purpose: why are they doing SEO in the first place?
In a nutshell, the goal of SEO is to grow your business through search. In many cases, the goal is to get people to access your company’s site from the search results page, and then lead to CVs (conversions) such as “inquiries”, “download materials”, and “member registration”.
However, while working on SEO, there are many cases where “higher display” has become the goal.
In this case, “what kind of action you want users to take when visiting the site” is not considered, so even if PV (page views) increases, it is difficult to lead to CV.
SEO is not the goal of “getting high-rank display”. To realize the original purpose of “grow your business through search”, don’t forget to keep in mind that you want users who visit your page to take actions that lead to CVs.
Reason 3: You don’t understand how search engines rank
Search rankings are determined by search engines such as Google.
Therefore, if you do not understand the mechanism of “search engine”, you cannot take effective measures. Search engines rank content in three easy-to-understand steps:
[3 steps for search engines to rank]
- Crawling: Robots called crawlers collect all kinds of content on the Internet.
- Index: Organize the content collected by crawling into the database
- Ranking (ranking): Determines the display order of content according to search keywords
In the above “3. Ranking (ranking) is a process by which the search engine chooses the order in which the results are shown depending on the “search algorithm”.
Since Google’s search algorithm changes frequently, it is difficult to obtain high rankings unless you always grasp the latest information and take measures accordingly.
Reason 4: The Production System Is Not In Place
To achieve results in SEO, medium- to long-term efforts are essential.
For companies that do not have a production system in place, such as “there is no dedicated person in charge” or “sufficient resources have not been secured,” there is a high possibility that measures for SEO will not proceed smoothly.
SEO practices cover a wide range of fields, including keyword selection, content creation, and site analysis. Of course, human resources are also needed, so if the company does not have an in-house production system, it will be a half-finished effort.
If in-house resources are insufficient, it is also important to utilize specialized human resources externally.
Reason 5: Your Keyword Strategy Policy Is Wrong
In SEO, it is most important to match the goals of the site and the countermeasure keywords.
If you fail in the “keyword strategy” before creating content, you will not be able to achieve results in SEO. There are three main reasons why your keyword strategy is not working:
[Causes of unsuccessful keyword strategy]
- Choose keywords with high competition
- Choosing keywords with different search intent
- Choosing keywords that are unlikely to lead to revenue
Below, we’ll take a closer look at each of these causes.
Cause 1: You are choosing keywords with strong competition
If the target keyword competition is owned media of a large company or a major portal site, it will be very difficult to display at the top of the search results.
One of the reasons for this is the relationship with ” domain authority “. Domain power is the SEO advantage of a site domain, and can also be referred to as “site performance.”
If your company’s site has just started operating, it often has no track record and is not well known. Therefore, the domain authority is also considered to be low, so it is not good to compete with strong competitors. For this reason, it is a good idea to avoid competing with keywords with strong domain power on top sites until you have a track record.
Cause 2: Keywords with different search intents are selected
If you make a mistake in choosing the right words for the keywords you are targeting, it will be difficult to rank high, and even if you do get high rankings, you will be less likely to be clicked.
For example, let’s say you’re creating web marketing content and want to target the keyword ‘organic’. The web marketing term ‘organic’ refers to ‘natural traffic from search engines.
However, in general, it is a word that has penetrated the sense of “organic cultivation”. If you search for “organic”, the top pages are lined up with the meaning of “organic farming”
To attract people interested in web marketing, which is the original purpose, you should aim for keywords such as “organic search” and “organic marketing” instead of “organic”
In this way, if you choose a keyword with a different search intent, it will be mixed with the content of the keyword that has a different meaning on the search results.
When selecting keywords, it is important to select “words that match the search intent” that the target user will enter.
Cause 3: You are choosing keywords that are not likely to lead to revenue
Even if you take measures with keywords that are difficult to lead to profits, it will only increase production costs and will not be profitable for your company.
Therefore, when selecting keywords, please also have the perspective of “Is it likely to lead to revenue?” The best thing to do is to aim for high rankings with long-tail keywords.
A long-tail keyword is a combination of multiple words, such as “SEO recommended books”. In many cases, the number of searches is small, so there is little competition and it is easy to get high rankings.
Although the number of accesses to long-tail keywords is low since the concerns and issues of searchers are clear, it is easy to create articles that match the search intent, and the conversion rate tends to be high.
In addition, if you can get high rankings for many long-tail keywords, you can increase the number of visits to the entire site.
Reason 6: Creating “SEO content” without the user’s search intent
Users have some kind of intention and search by entering keywords into search engines.
For example, when searching for “SEO recommended books”, the search intention may be “I want to know what kind of books I should read to study SEO”.
Search engines such as Google preferentially display content that contains “information that users want to know” to respond to such “search intent”.
Conversely, content that does not contain the information users need will be rated lower and ranked lower by search engines.
Therefore, to aim for a high-ranking display, it is important to accurately grasp ” what kind of search intentions users have and what kind of information they want “. To discover this search intent, the following efforts are effective.
[How to find out the user’s search intent]
- Ask colleagues, friends, etc.
- Check Twitter, Yahoo! Chiebukuro, etc.
- Also, refer to suggested keywords and related keywords
- Also, refer to the content of articles that have already won the top rank
Reason 7: You keep creating content
To aim for the top display of the search, you should not leave the content that you created once.
It is important to keep an attitude of analyzing and improving while constantly checking the current situation. First of all, if the ranking of the created content does not go up no matter how long it takes, analyze the cause.
Compare your company’s content with those of your competitors who are ranking high in the search results, and implement improvement measures by rewriting, such as adding the missing information.
Also, when rewriting, include new information that was not available at the time of production.
As time goes by, the ranking will fluctuate greatly due to the “emergence of competition” and “algorithm change”. Even if you can get a high rank once, if you leave the content as it is created, the ranking may drop.
To maintain a high ranking, always keep track of your site’s ranking, and do not forget to maintain it as necessary.
This is an article that I made. In addition to relying on SEO, it is also important to use means of transmission such as SNS to get various people to read.
Reason 8: Conversion Points Are Not Optimized
Even if the content can be displayed at the top, if the “conversion point” is not optimized, it will be difficult to connect to the profit of the company.
A conversion point is a series of leads that lead to the final goal (conversion).
For example, if you are aiming to get people to apply for your company’s service from the articles you have created, the following conversion points can be considered.
[Example of conversion points]
- inquiry button
- Document download form
- webinar registration form
- E-mail magazine registration form
It is necessary to set up a conversion point like the above and get the user to take action. For that reason, it is important not only to install it but also to select and install an appropriate conversion point according to the user’s interests.
In addition, instead of just tracking the final goal figures such as “number of applications for services”, it is also possible to analyze data for each point such as “number of sessions in the first place”, “number of banner clicks” and “form pass rate”. It is important.
By looking at each point, “where the problem is” becomes clear, and it becomes possible to take appropriate improvement measures.
Reason 9: We only work on SEO
SEO alone may not yield the desired results.
Therefore, the recommended countermeasure is ” SEO x SNS “.
In some cases, focusing on SNS has an indirect positive impact on SEO. For example, if you introduce your company’s content on SNS, it may be shared and spread by many users.
If it spreads by sharing, comments from third parties, and introductions on other sites, the number of inflows and backlinks to the site may increase. Increasing attention and credibility also have a positive impact on SEO.
In addition, if the name recognition of your company improves, the number of “ designated searches ” that can be searched by company name will increase, which is an advantage in terms of SEO.
Based on the above, when creating content with SEO, we recommend that you be aware of ” content that is useful for users and spread on SNS ” and actively post completed articles on SNS.
Above all, users do not only search, so it is important from a marketing strategy to prepare various touch points.
Reason 10: I’m not patient enough
In SEO, it often takes about 3 months from the time content is created until it ranks higher.
Therefore, if you feel that “I’m making an article but it’s not showing up at all” and give up halfway, you won’t get results. Patience is key when it comes to SEO.
Also, it may take six months to a year or more to start feeling the effects of SEO on the entire site. It’s a long and tough SEO road, but let’s do our best not to be halfway.