Why isn't my website ranking high in Google? | Live and Teach Guitar

Having a website that performs well in search results is one of the most effective ways of consistently bringing in new students. People seek out guitar teachers using search engines, so if you're able to rank high in Google, more potential students will see you.

Ranking high in the search engines is easier said than done. Everybody wants to be in the top position because it's so valuable.

If your website isn't ranking on the first page, here are some steps to follow to figure out why:

1. Read through our relevant guides to build an understanding of SEO

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It's a big topic, but for simplicity, you can think of it as a fancy way of saying "creating content on your site that helps your site rank high for specific search terms".

To get better results out of your website, it helps to build your understanding of SEO. Read through the following guides and resources to learn what it takes to rank high in the search engines and why that's an important goal to aim for:

There are other relevant guides in the Business Guides section, but the above guides give you the most relevant information.

2. Check your website's ranking for important keywords

Knowing your website's starting position will help you know in the future whether any actions you take are working or not.

Search in Google for "guitar lessons in [your town name]" and find your website in the results. If your website appears on the first page, count how many positions from the top it appears.

If your website isn't on the first page, continue through the pages until you find your site. Each page contains 10 listings, so if you find your site on the top of the third page, it means your website ranks 31st.

Here are some other keywords to write down your ranking for:

Guitar teacher in [your town name]
[Music style] guitar lessons in [your town name]
[your name] guitar lessons
[your name] [your town name]

Potential students are highly likely to search for the above phrases when looking for a teacher, so targeting these phrases are important. Write down your ranking for each phrase so you can keep track of them over time.

3. Check your Search Console for potential issues

If you manage your website yourself, it's important to use Google's Search Console. The Search Console is Google's way of keeping in touch with you and letting you know how your website is performing and if there are any issues.

If you don't already have Search Console set up for your site, follow this guide to set it up.

Once you have your Search Console set up, it might take a day or two for the data to start coming through. Once you start getting information in the Console, check the errors section. Deal with any issues you see there or contact us if you're unsure what those errors mean.

If your website isn't ranking in the top 100 for any of the main searches above, that's a sign that something might be wrong with your site. Google may be holding your website back from ranking high due to potential issues with your site.

4. Compare your website against your competitors on the first page

What does your website need to do to be able to rank at the top of the first page? While there's no definitive answer to this question, we can get a good idea of what is necessary by checking out what websites are ranking high in the first page.

If you can create a better website than the pages currently ranking high, over time you can expect your website to surpass those sites. It's not guaranteed, but if your site is better than the current top results, Google will want to push your website higher.

Here are some things to think about when looking through your competitor websites:

How often do they mention important keywords such as nearby town names?
How many pages do they have across the site? How much content is on each page?
For each page you look at, can you find a comparable page on your website? (eg: if they have a 'lessons information page', do you have one too and how does it compare?)
Do they make use of relevant photos or is the entire page text?
Is the website easy to navigate and is it easy to find relevant information from a potential student's point of view?

Try to look for the website's strengths and weaknesses. Improve your website to surpass their weakest areas and take any good points you see and apply it to your site. If you didn't have any errors in your Search Console and your website isn't ranking high in the results, it's a sign that Google doesn't think your website's content is good enough to rank high.

It might feel like hard work to change this, but a well-performing website can bring you a consistent flow of new students.

5. Work on your 'offpage SEO'

Everything covered above deals with what is called 'onpage SEO'. The idea is to create content on your website with a high chance of ranking high in the search engines. But Google also looks at other factors outside of your website to decide on your ranking.

For example, links pointing to your website are a key part of Google's algorithm. This means Google will look at how many links are pointing to your site as well as where those links are from. A few good quality links can be all that it takes to bump your website's rankings up.

There are some simple ways to build links to your site.

Social media - any social media account you have should as a minimum have a link to your website in the profile. But don't aim for the minimum. The best results come from going beyond the minimum. Write useful articles, mini-lessons, tips, and more on your website then share that content on social media. Give potential students a good reason to check your website out. Our guide on the Mere Exposure Effect explains how to do this in a way that doesn't come across as spammy. Have a read through the BMK series of Business Guides for more advice on using social media.

Online directories - when looking at the first page of search results, you may have noticed that teacher directories often appear towards the top. Google ranks these sites high because those sites match up to the intent of the person making the search. If you list on those directories and also include a link to your website (when the directory allows you to), it adds credibility to your website. Adding a link to your website also gets the potential student away from the directory and on to your site. That means they are less likely to check out your competitors and stay on your site! Read through BMK-04 for more information on listing on directories.

Linking to your website isn't only important for SEO reasons. Your website shouldn't exist in isolation. If nothing directs people towards your website, then nobody will find out about it and you won't gain any new students. By promoting your website on social media, teacher directories, and offline sources, you give potential students more reasons to visit your site and find out more about your lessons.

In other words - if you promote your website, your website will work harder at promoting you.

Here are some more resources to help you get more out of your website:

Website Workshop - this workshop is designed to help you understand how to structure your website and build your website to a decent position
Marketing Audit - if you're unsure what you should be working on, we can look through your website and let you know what areas are worth focusing on

Remember, as a member you can contact us at any time for a helping hand along the way.