More than 90 percent of web pages get no organic search traffic from Google, according to an Ahrefs study.
The study, which evaluated more than one billion pages in Ahrefs’ Content Explorer index, revealed that the majority of published pages never rank in Google or get any search traffic.
However, according to HubSpot, 69 percent of marketers actively invest in search engine optimization (SEO).
Organic search is non-paid search results from a search engine, based on which pages are most relevant to a user’s search query, experts say.
If content marketers are investing in keyword research and SEO, this means they are investing in organic search, experts say. But there’s a common disconnect between investment and results.
According to Ahrefs, there are four common SEO issues that prevent pages from ranking well in Google:
- Lack of backlinks
- Not targeting the right topics
- Page doesn’t match search intent
- Page isn’t indexed
The study shows that 66.31 percent of pages don’t have a single backlink, but the more backlinks a page has, the more organic traffic it gets from Google.
As a result, many SEO experts say the No. 1 way to start ranking in Google and get more traffic is to use high-quality backlinks on all pages.
When a page does have quality backlinks on pages but still isn’t ranking, experts move on to the next step: topic quality.
Content marketing experts suggest businesses evaluate their pages for ones that are performing well online, and to consider re-optimizing the ones that aren’t.
This can be accomplished by performing keyword research to determine more relevant topics of interest, experts say.
If backlinks and keywords are strong, experts say it may be that the page isn’t matching what a consumer was searching for.
In this case, the keyword may be spot on, but the information on the page isn’t providing what the audience needs.
Finally, content experts say pages cannot rank if they aren’t indexed properly.
According to content marketing statistics, organic search is essential because it drives free traffic to a website.
A Brightedge report found that 68 percent of online experiences begin with a search engine, and according to Google, 71 percent of B2B researchers begin their research with a generic search instead of a branded search.
To leverage the full potential of organic search, some experts suggest working with a content marketing agency to build a robust strategy and learn how to properly compete for keywords.
However, many SEO experts suggest
