Why do my competitors rank higher than me in Google?

Many customers get frustrated when they see that their competitors are ranking higher than them in Google. I hear questions along the lines of, “I wouldn’t mind but they’re not the best company to specialise in Wedding Flowers in Worcestershire” or “We do much more Wills & Probate work than them but we rank lower, why is that?”.

There are a number of factors that can influence your position in Google. If you want to improve your Google Ranking or spend less money with Google Adwords but still get as many leads, improving the following factors could help improve your Google position:

How to use Keywords:

1. Keywords – have you thought about all the relevant keywords for your business and the products and services you offer?
2. Have you added your keywords to your website?
3. Do your keywords appear in your meta data? Or in other words have your web design company included your keywords in the coding of each page? They should appear in your page title, page description and keywords area .
4. Do you use the same keywords for every page on your website? It should be relevant to the content of each individual page.
5. Do your keywords appear in the content and text on the page?
6. Have you labelled your images with “Alternative – Alt Text?”.

Do your competitors use Google Adwords?

1. Have they got a Google Adwords account and you don’t?
2. Have they got a Google Adwords Account but they still rank higher than you?
3. Have you set your Google Adwords up correctly?
4. Have you thought of all the relevant keywords?
5. Have you thought of all the negative keywords?
6. Have you grouped common/similar keywords under ad groups?
7. Have you written compelling Ad Text, that sets you apart from your competitiors?
8. Have you tried to cheat? Don’t Google WILL penalise you by dropping your ranking.
9. Does your Ad take your prospect to the appropriate buying/landing page?

Improve Your Website:

1. Is your competitors website better than yours?
2. Does it look more professional?
3. Is it easier to use?
4. Does it contain more, useful and helpful information?
5. Are there clear “Calls to action” so the searcher knows exactly what to do when they get there?
6. Do they use Social Media and you don’t?

Do You Use Social Media?

1. Do your competitors use Social Media and you don’t?
2. What message does this send to your prospects?
3. Why don’t you use Social Media, what’s stopping you?
4. Don’t have time to dedicate to Social Media, ask a professional to set it up for you.
5. How many more people can you attract using social media than not?
6. I’m not sure if my customers use Social Media – do you want to take that risk?
7. Confused by how it works? It works so does it matter?

These are just a few of the factors that could influence where you sit among your competitors in the Google search engine. Why not work through the list and see if that have a positive affect?

Don’t have the time or expertise to do this yourself? Do you have a marketing team that may need a bit of training to ensure they are doing this for you on a regular basis?

If you are interested in talking about any of these subjects and improving the Google ranking for your business, please call 01905 23902 to arrange an appointment.