Top Keyword Ranking Problems

Affecting Rank in Google

The following is a result of tallying the last 10 website evaluations performed by Lori's Web Design and making note of the main problems affecting keyword ranking in Google. The most recent evaluations are listed first. The sites affected are identified by the initials of their business name.

As you can see by the chart below, those sites with multiple check marks are severely hampered from keyword ranking in Google. I have not included problems that only have a minor effect like code validation, inadequate use of CSS and code bloat. If you will notice there are very few 302 redirects now, which used to be a major ranking problem in Google.

Most of the very serious keyword ranking problems are caused by people designing their own websites with CMS (content management systems) which cause massive code bloat and thus longer download times (a new ranking feature in Google), or hiring a designer with no knowledge of SEO (search engine optimization) -- this usually describes graphic designers or programmers who usually know very little about SEO.

Notice that practically all of the sites listed below have the following problems in common:

• Split domain (causes duplicated content issues)
• Index vs Root problem (causes duplicate content issues)
• Shared hosting with thousands of other sites (can cause a penalty)
• Not utilizing Htaccess (needed to remove or redirect pages)
• Lack of Backlinks (you need backlinks to gain PR and keyword ranking.