A grade optimised posts not showing in SERPs

[JCN-SBWD]

Hi all,

I've been using Moz to research, optimise and grade a broad range of copy and blog posts over the years. After the optimisation process I've always seen a relatively quick improvement of pages/posts in SERPs.

I am currently working on a new website launched earlier in the year on a subdomain. There's a sitemap, fresh content added every month and the site has an verified Google Analytics and Search Console account. The content is quite niche with low traffic data for related terms, however, I am finding that after three or four weeks the optimised posts aren't displaying in the top 50 results in Google.

These are the posts:

https://sykeshome.europe.sykes.com/cut-the-cost-of-customer-support-use-a-work-at-home-model/ - optimised for "Cut the cost of customer support" (and also  "Cut the cost of customer support: use a work-at-home model")

https://sykeshome.europe.sykes.com/quality-and-compliance-in-a-work-at-home-environment/ - optimised for "Quality and compliance" (and also "Quality and compliance in a work-at-home environment")

As a new website launched on a subdomain there aren't currently any inbound links, but I wanted to know if I am simply being impatient in expecting the above posts to rank higher (if only slightly), or if there could be a reason optimised content with a Moz A grade isn't showing in the first 50 results.

Any advice or pointers would be much appreciated.

Jonathan

[WebQuest]

Hi JC,

I can see that the pages are indexed and showing up when running a "site:" search . So you're good on that front. The fact that its not ranking high enough is probably due to a number of factors.  I would suggest running a query for what you think each page should show up for, and seeing what's actually ranking in the first page. Check the content of the ranking pages, the main website, and run a high-level backlink analysis to give you an idea of what you're up against.

Once you identify the gaps, you'll get a good idea of what needs to be done to rank higher.

[effectdigital]

I heartily agree with this answer

[JCN-SBWD]

Thanks for the feedback, it is much appreciated. When I search for the optimised term "Quality and compliance in a work-at-home environment" the first results are actually completely irrelevant - they are basically job sites advertising quality and compliance jobs, and they don't have anything to do with dealing with quality and compliance when working from home (which is what the post is about).

Isn't it odd that a search for the optimised term "Quality and compliance in a work-at-home environment" doesn't even bring up the post in the first 200 results? I've never had that before - I've had optimised pages appearing on page 1, 2, 3 or 4 of SERPs dependent upon competition, but I've never optimised posts and not had them show at all (even for an exact match search).

Obviously, in the first 200 results there are a lot of low domain authority sites, so I'm still baffled as to why the optimised pages aren't showing at.

At the moment this isn't about ranking higher, it's about being ranked at all. Any ideas?

[WebQuest]

Well with the recent updates from Google, we're seeing a shift from exact-match search results to satisfying searcher intent.  So based on the query "Quality and compliance in a work-at-home environment" and the search results page, it seems Google is trying to satisfy the intent behind the search by providing different types of results - when I checked the top resulting pages, I can see that they are very different in what they offer and the information they hold.

In the case of the pages you shared, there are probably more factors that need to be considered besides optimizing the page to match the exact query. These include the internal & external links to these pages and the content/topics of the pages that are linking to these pages.

[JCN-SBWD]

Many thanks for that advice, it is very helpful.

To clarify, do I need to build inbound links from the websites that are already linking to the top results in Google for the exact match search, or, do I need to build inbound links from more related websites that help support the nature of my content (which also help Google to understand that the copy is about work-at-home solutions for businesses, and not work-at-home job opportunities)?

[WebQuest]

The links don't necessarily have to be from the same websites that are linking to the top results. They'll need to be from relevant websites or relevant pages & articles to your website.

[JCN-SBWD]

That's great, thanks for clarifying and for all your advice, it is much appreciated.

[JCN-SBWD]

Quick update: this did just turn out to be a case of me being impatient with a new website. A few days after my last post (above) all the optimised pages started showing high in SERPs. The info on supporting inbound links is very helpful however.

[WebQuest]

Great! Happy to hear that all worked out!