Why Your Website Isn’t Ranking (and How to Fix It)

You’ve invested time, money, and effort into building your website… yet when you search for your business on Google, you’re nowhere to be found.

Sound familiar?

If you’re a local business owner in Virginia—maybe a contractor in Richmond, a dentist in Norfolk, or a boutique shop in Virginia Beach—you’re not alone. Many businesses struggle with low visibility, especially when trying to compete in busy local markets.

The good news? Ranking problems are fixable.

In this guide, we’ll walk through the most common reasons your website isn’t ranking in Virginia, how to diagnose the root cause, and what to do to finally show up where customers can find you.

The 5 Most Common Reasons Your Site Doesn’t Rank

There are dozens of SEO ranking factors, but most issues fall into a handful of common categories. If you’ve been wondering “why my site isn’t on Google,” at least one of the following is likely the culprit.

1. You’re Targeting the Wrong Keywords

Many Virginia businesses fail to rank simply because they’re optimizing for keywords nobody searches—or keywords they can’t realistically compete for yet.

Example:

A home remodeling company in Richmond might try ranking for broad terms like “kitchen remodeling”, competing against national brands, large franchises, and industry giants.

Instead, focusing on more specific terms like:

• kitchen remodeling Richmond VA
• Richmond home renovation contractors
• affordable bathroom remodel Richmond

…would instantly give them a better chance of ranking.

Why This Happens

• You chose keywords based on what you think, not what customers search.
• You’re targeting words with search volume that’s too low—or competition that’s too high.
• Your site isn’t optimized for local intent, which is crucial for ranking in Virginia.

How to Fix It

• Use keyword tools like Google Keyword Planner or Ahrefs.
• Target keywords with clear local intent (e.g., “website audit Virginia”).
• Build content around what customers are already searching for.
• Create pages for specific cities or regions (Richmond, Roanoke, Fairfax, etc.).

If your keywords don’t match customer behavior, your visibility drops—no matter how good your site looks.

2. Your Website Loads Too Slowly

Google is obsessed with speed—and so are your visitors.

A slow website is one of the biggest contributors to SEO ranking problems, especially for mobile searches. If your site takes more than 3 seconds to load, most users hit the back button.

Virginia Example

A Virginia Beach seafood restaurant noticed their online reservations dipped. After checking their site, they found their homepage took 7 seconds to load because of oversized photos.

After compressing images and cleaning up plugins, the load time dropped to 1.8 seconds—and their rankings and reservations rebounded.

Common Causes of Slow Sites

• Uncompressed images
• Cheap or overloaded hosting
• Too many website plugins
• Large scripts from page builders
• Outdated themes or code

How to Fix It

• Compress all images (use tools like TinyPNG).
• Switch to faster hosting (especially important for local Virginia traffic).
• Reduce unnecessary plugins.
• Use a lightweight theme.
• Implement caching for better performance.

A faster site = better rankings, better user experience, and more conversions.

3. You Lack Quality Backlinks

Backlinks are still one of Google’s top ranking signals.

If Google sees reputable websites linking to yours, it treats your site as trustworthy. If you lack quality backlinks, your pages may struggle to rank—especially if you’re in competitive industries like law, real estate, or home services.

Virginia Example

A Fairfax-based IT services company created a helpful cybersecurity guide. Several Virginia tech blogs linked to it—and within weeks, their rankings for “IT support Fairfax VA” improved dramatically.

Common Link Problems

• No backlinks at all
• Low-quality or spammy backlinks
• No local citations (very important for Virginia businesses)
• Lack of industry-related links
• Website hasn’t earned links in months or years

How to Fix It

• Partner with Virginia business associations or chambers of commerce.
• Publish useful resources, case studies, or local statistics.
• Get listed in local directories (VA.org, local city listings).
• Pitch content to bloggers and industry sites.
• Create local guides, “best of Virginia” lists, or resource pages.

Earning just a few strong, local backlinks can dramatically boost your authority in your region.

4. Your Content Doesn’t Match Search Intent

Having content isn’t enough—your content must match what searchers actually want.

If someone searches “fix low rankings”, they expect a clear, step-by-step solution. If your page instead sells a product or only includes vague info, Google lowers your ranking.

Types of Search Intent

1. Informational (e.g., “why is my site not ranking?”)
2. Commercial (e.g., “best SEO services in Virginia”)
3. Transactional (e.g., “book SEO consultation”)
4. Local (e.g., “SEO agency Richmond VA”)

If your content doesn’t align with that intent, Google won’t show your page—even if it’s well-written.

Virginia Example

A Roanoke-based gym published a blog titled “Best gyms near me in Virginia.”
But the article talked only about the gym itself—no comparisons, no rankings, no alternatives. It didn’t match the intent of someone searching for an actual list.

Once they rewrote the article to include multiple local gym comparisons, rankings improved within weeks.

How to Fix It

• Study the top 5 ranking pages for your target keyword.
• Match the structure, format, and intent of those pages.
• Add more depth, examples, and local insights.
• Make pages skimmable and helpful.

If your content is thin or irrelevant, ranking becomes nearly impossible.

5. Technical SEO Issues

Even the best content and backlinks won’t help if Google can’t properly crawl or index your website.

Technical SEO issues often include:

✔ Missing or incorrect sitemap

✔ Broken links

✔ Duplicate content

✔ Poor mobile responsiveness

✔ Incorrect robots.txt configuration

✔ Missing metadata

✔ Failed Core Web Vitals

These issues silently kill rankings because Google simply can’t access or trust your pages.

Virginia Example

A Charlottesville wedding photographer wasn’t ranking—even for branded searches.
A quick review revealed her robots.txt blocked Google from crawling key pages.

After fixing it, her pages indexed instantly and traffic skyrocketed.

How to Fix It

• Use Google Search Console to check for crawl issues.
• Ensure your sitemap is submitted and up to date.
• Fix broken pages and redirects.
• Optimize for mobile-first indexing.
• Clean up metadata and duplicate pages.
• Run a complete technical SEO audit (more on this below).

If you overlook technical SEO, ranking becomes a game of chance.

How to Diagnose Ranking Problems

Before you fix your ranking issues, you need to understand what’s wrong.
Think of this as a health check for your website.

Here’s how to run your initial diagnosis:

1. Check If Your Site Is Indexed

Search:
site:yourwebsite.com

If nothing shows up, Google hasn’t indexed your site—and you need to submit your sitemap.

2. Review Google Search Console

Look for:

• Indexing errors
• URL coverage issues
• Mobile usability problems
• Core Web Vitals performance
• Manual penalties (rare but critical)

This is your most important SEO diagnostic tool.

3. Run a Performance Test

Use tools like:

• Google PageSpeed Insights
• GTmetrix
• WebPageTest

Look for slow load times, large images, and script delays.

4. Analyze Your Backlink Profile

Using Ahrefs, Moz, or Semrush, check for:

• Number of referring domains
• Backlink quality
• Spammy links
• Lost backlinks

Local Virginia SEO relies heavily on local links—so check where your competitors are linked.

5. Evaluate Content Quality

Ask:

• Does your content match search intent?
• Do you offer unique value?
• Is the content structured well?
• Are keywords used naturally?

Search for your target keyword on Google and compare your page to the top-ranking competitors.

6. Inspect Technical SEO

Use tools like Screaming Frog or Sitebulb to find:

• 404 errors
• Redirect chains
• Missing metadata
• Duplicate pages
• Thin content
• Schema markup issues

Small technical mistakes can lead to major ranking drops.

The Fix: A Step-by-Step SEO Audit

Once you’ve diagnosed the issues, it’s time to fix them using a structured, professional SEO audit.

Here’s a simplified version of what agencies deliver during a website audit in Virginia:

Step 1: Keyword + Competitor Analysis

• Identify profitable local keywords.
• Analyze what ranking competitors are doing.
• Build a keyword map for every page.

This ensures you’re targeting what customers actually search.

Step 2: On-Page SEO Optimization

Every page should be optimized for:

• Title tags
• Meta descriptions
• Headers
• URL structure
• Internal linking
• Keyword placement
• Local modifiers (“Richmond VA”, “Norfolk”)

Step 3: Speed + Performance Enhancements

• Compress images
• Minify CSS & JS
• Improve hosting
• Add caching
• Optimize mobile layout

A faster site means higher rankings and lower bounce rates.

Step 4: Content Refresh + Expansion

• Update outdated articles
• Add local case studies
• Create city-specific pages
• Improve thin or low-quality pages
• Add FAQ sections based on search queries

Virginia users love local insights—Google does too.

Step 5: Build Local Backlinks

• Submit to VA directories
• Join Virginia business groups
• Partner with local bloggers and influencers
• Get press mentions
• Create shareable resources
• Build local citations for Google Business Profile

Local links help you dominate local Virginia search.

Step 6: Technical SEO Fixes

• Clean up your sitemap
• Repair broken links
• Improve site structure
• Enable schema markup
• Fix indexing issues
• Strengthen Core Web Vitals

This ensures Google can access, crawl, and trust your site.

Step 7: Track & Monitor Progress

Use:

• Google Analytics 4
• Google Search Console
• Rank tracking tools

Look for improvements in:

• Keyword positions
• Impressions
• Click-through rates
• Organic traffic
• Local map rankings

SEO isn’t a one-shot fix—it’s an ongoing optimization process.

Conclusion

If your website is not ranking in Virginia, the cause is usually one (or several) of the issues above: incorrect keywords, slow speed, poor backlinks, weak content, or technical SEO problems.

The good news? All of these are fixable with the right audit and strategy.

Local Virginia businesses—from Richmond contractors to Norfolk restaurants, Roanoke fitness trainers, and Fairfax IT companies—can dramatically improve their rankings by understanding why their site isn’t showing on Google and following a structured approach to fix it.

Need help diagnosing ranking issues? Book a free SEO consultation →