Most websites do not lose rankings to some mysterious algorithm — they lose them to a handful of avoidable mistakes. Fix these ten and you will usually see traffic and leads improve within a few months.

1. Slow-loading pages

Speed is a ranking factor and a conversion factor. Compress images, use caching and pass Core Web Vitals.

2. Not mobile-friendly

Google indexes mobile-first. If your site is awkward on a phone, you are losing rankings and customers.

3. Thin or duplicate content

Pages with little unique value rarely rank. Write genuinely useful, original content for each page.

4. Missing title tags and meta descriptions

These tell search engines — and searchers — what your page is about. Make each one unique and compelling.

5. Ignoring search intent

Ranking for the wrong keywords brings traffic that never converts. Map content to real buyer intent.

6. No internal linking

Internal links spread authority and help users (and crawlers) find your best pages.

7. Weak or spammy backlinks

Quality beats quantity. A few authoritative links outperform hundreds of low-quality ones — and spam can get you penalised.

8. Neglecting local SEO

If you serve a location, claim your Google Business Profile and build local citations to win “near me” searches.

9. No structured data

Schema markup helps you earn rich results and helps AI engines understand and cite you.

10. Not measuring anything

Without tracking rankings, traffic and conversions, you are guessing. Use analytics and Search Console.

Fix them faster

Our SEO services start with a full audit that catches every one of these. Get a free SEO audit to see where you stand.