Any ideas why google no longer likes me

[Ian J]

https://factoringsolutions.co.uk used to rank very well in Google but for the last few years it has slipped down the rankings and has now disappeared.

It ranks reasonably well for long tail keywords that hardly anyone searches for but for the all important keyword "factoring" it isn't in the top 22 pages yet the bottom end of that pile includes some rubbish sites.

The site has been online for 23 years so must earn brownie points for that and has hundreds of inbound links although most have been disavowed.

I did used to add copy on to the blog section of the site but gave up as it's didn't seem to make a difference.

Does anyone have any clues as to what the problem might be and thanks in advance of any useful pointers

 

[fisicx]

Your homepage title is:

"Factoring Finance & Funding Broker. Factoring Solutions"

That tells Google you are targeting "Factoring Finance". Your homepage content is all over the place very little of which is about "Factoring Finance". When I look at your list of services "Factoring Finance" isn't one of them.

Where are all the case studies? Where is your Google Profile (business listing) with lots of reviews?

Why is "About Us" the second most important link in your menu?

Google can only rank you based on what you say on your site and what people say about you.

Do people really search for the single word "Factoring"? Or do they search for "Need help managing cash flow" and "how can I get invoice financing"?

 

[Ozzy]

I'm not the best placed person to answer the Google question, but just to add my 2c worth I'd comment that I wouldn't search for "invoice discounting" if I was searching for your service. I would search for terms similar to "invoice finance". I wouldn't consider the term discounting, so if you are looking at restarting or working on your SEO and if I'm any example of target market I'd reconsider the terms used in your copy.

Google has done a whole load of tweaks of late, since about June last year. We've seen an impact on UKBF which we fixed with the new site update in December and now waiting to see the results. If you don't already I'd recommend creating an account on Google Search Console and look at the stats that gives you about your site and what Google thinks your site is relevant for.

 

[UKSBD]

I would hazzard a guess that Google thinks the intention of people searching for factoring want to know what factoring is (Google can be stupid at times)

Your homepage doesn't provide what Google think the searcher is searching for

 

[Kelly Drewett]

Lots of reasons that I can see Ian, on top of Fisicx's suggestions. Google looks for your site to be maintained well and accessible. I can see a few things the website would be penalised for:

• The blue links on a blue background (hard to see).
• Don't use underlines on words that you want to stand out - underlines suggest a link.
• The Facebook page link does not work.
• Use keywords on the call to action buttons rather than LEARN MORE.
• I think you are pushing the word 'factoring' too much and I would agree with Fisicx - is this a term people really search?

There are also other things you can do to encourage a good rank:

• Link to other pages throughout the text to help the users journey through the website.
• Use really good, original and related images.
• Content does help rank but it has to be really good, original and well written. It also helps if you share the content with your audience via Twitter, Facebook and your Google page.

You do have to keep working on it, not just rely on things that were once well ranked. Make sure you help your audience. Hope that helps!

 

[Ian J]

Many thanks for all your advice which I will digest and act upon

 

[Mintlo]

Hi @Ian J , a crucial reason is that your pages and your posts were last updated in January 2021. Google prefers to rank websites that are active and current. Websites that have been untouched for a while will look dormant and you will lose your ranking.

Minor text or formatting changes could be done on your key pages, simply so these updated pages can be picked up again by Google as newly updated content.

All the best!

 

[fisicx]

@Mintlo - are you sure about this? I’ve got sites I’ve not touched for years that still rank well.

 

[Mintlo]

@Mintlo - are you sure about this? I’ve got sites I’ve not touched for years that still rank well.

Hiya.... yes I am pretty sure. If a website is stagnant and has few visitors, Google will look to serve fresher content. No one wants out of date information.

If your website has good visitor traffic or exceptionally niche, then you most likely will stay relevant. And I guess it also depends on the search keyword.

 

[fisicx]

Hiya.... yes I am pretty sure. If a website is stagnant and has few visitors, Google will look to serve fresher content. No one wants out of date information.

That's different.

Google likes golden content - valid pages that have been around for years. For example, a page on how to grow potatoes is unlikely need updating and because the information is still good Google will reward this.

 

[Nicola78]

For rank on Google you should do a proper SEO plan, In short and basic check below four things.

1. Your website is too new, If you have new domain then wait for couple of weaks.

2. You’re blocking search engines from indexing your pages. check it.

3. You’re blocking search engines from crawling your pages, check it.

4. You don’t have enough high-quality backlinks, Try to increase high quality and do follow backlinks.

 

[fisicx]

For rank on Google you should do a proper SEO plan, In short and basic check below four things.

1. Your website is too new, If you have new domain then wait for couple of weaks.

2. You’re blocking search engines from indexing your pages. check it.

3. You’re blocking search engines from crawling your pages, check it.

4. You don’t have enough high-quality backlinks, Try to increase high quality and do follow backlinks.

You need to update your SEO knowledge @Nicola78. You are badly out of date.

 

[Ian J]

For rank on Google you should do a proper SEO plan, In short and basic check below four things.

1. Your website is too new, If you have new domain then wait for couple of weaks.

The site has been online for 23 years. How long do you suggest I wait?

2. You’re blocking search engines from indexing your pages. check it.

3. You’re blocking search engines from crawling your pages, check it.

No I'm not

 

[Ozzy]

The site has been online for 23 years. How long do you suggest I wait?

At least another couple of decades and it'll be fine ?

 

[Fagin2021]

Hi Ian
Straight off I’ll introduce the caveat that I make no claim to be an SEO expert. On the other hand, I have one site that’s over 20 years old and has experienced exactly the same gradual drop in rankings as yours’s, so I’ll tell you why I think that is...

1. It’s not so much that Google doesn’t like it – it’s that Google likes others more. Competitor sites – especially brands, have upped their game, or even gone online when they didn’t previously have a presence. Like you, I saw a continuous drop in rankings for competitive keywords/phrases that everyone wants to rank for, but maintained or even increased rankings (Page 1), for longer tail keywords.

2. Since the first Penguin update (2012), Google has got increasingly good at de-valuing or ignoring links it perceives as low-quality. It may be that a lot of your links that originally helped your rankings no longer do so. Nowadays, disavowing links isn’t really necessary unless there’s something seriously wrong with them (that contravene Google guidelines, like paid links) but having low-quality links won’t help or hinder – they’ll just be ignored.

One way I’ve managed to stem the drop is to provide many useful information pages that rank well for long-tail keywords, then use internal links to point people to the ‘money’ pages.

You have a choice. There’s lots of good advice on here about how a site can rank well but is it worth following ? If you’re competing against dominant brands is there any point in spending time and money to get from position 50 to position 35 in the SERPS ? You might be better off putting the same resources into paid advertising.

Just my tuppence worth.