As a bona fide business, you’re probably aware of a pressing need to safeguard your spot in your target customer’s consciousness. Perhaps you’ve already taken steps to do so, such as beefing up your company website or creating more social media handles for your customers to use when reaching out to you. Despite such efforts, however, you may still find it difficult to achieve the level of online visibility that your business needs.

The truth is, it’s no longer enough to have a web page and be on social media—you also need to be discoverable in the vast ocean called the internet. To do that, you need to be aware of the things that might be hindering you from boosting your digital footprint.

In that vein, here are some of the biggest mistakes that businesses often make when it comes to the issue of their online visibility. Avoid being pretty much undetectable online and boost your business visibility by addressing the issues listed below:

Your Website Is Not Optimized Enough

The content of your business website plays a huge role in your overall searchability. If your site does not contain data that makes it “friendly” to search engines, you could rank lower on search engine results pages (SERPs) and decrease your chances of being discovered by prospective customers.

This is where good search engine optimization (SEO) comes in. In a nutshell, SEO is an intricate marketing strategy that requires a set of skills to do properly. Many factors go into good SEO, from informative on-page content to metadata identifiers that target the right keywords. It’s largely for this reason that many businesses pour their focus into professional assistance from SEO services Philippines-based experts. For a reasonable price, these experts can also help with similarly effective digital marketing techniques, including search engine marketing (SEM) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.

All in all, SEO is not something to be overlooked if you want to stay on the front page of SERPs whenever people search for the goods or services you offer. Consider partnering with an SEO provider and optimizing your business website so that it can appear on the top SERPs.

Your Website Is Inefficiently Designed

Website design is largely tied to SEO, and for good reason. Websites that load too slowly or are difficult to navigate tend to dissuade visitors in search of valuable and high-quality information. This, in turn, alerts search engines that the site in question is not worth their time.

To fix this, you’ll need to make some changes to how your website looks and feels. That means making your website user-friendly enough that visitors can navigate it without much effort. In addition, you should consider making your website more mobile-friendly so that users can explore it with ease when using devices like smartphones and tablets. These fixes will allow you to improve the overall user experience and be more visible to both laptop and mobile customers seeking what you can offer.

Your Site Doesn’t Seem Credible

When planning your online and digital strategy, it’s important not to underestimate your target audience’s capacity for critical thinking. Most online users nowadays want to be able to discern legitimate websites from scam hubs, so you need to prove that your business falls under the former.

One way to boost credibility is by having authoritative websites link back to your website and content, which can also be achieved through SEO techniques. Another is by making sure your business appears on online maps. If you have a physical store, it’s highly recommended to be on GPS-based services such as Google Maps to ensure your discoverability and assure customers that you are a legitimate business.

If you don’t have one yet, you may also want to consider creating a listing on Google My Business. This could help you rank higher and boost your chances of getting found by customers seeking products and services in your local area. And of course, you need to make sure that your listing is updated regularly to further ensure your trustworthiness to your customers. Of course, you can use a professional Google Business profile management service to get the best results possible.

You Don’t Have a Lot of Positive Reviews

The persuasive power of user recommendations is something that some business owners still tend to overlook. The internet is a massive grapevine, and you need a proven track record if you want to gain traction.

Good reviews from legitimate sources can signal to search engines that you’re a credible business. Knowing that, you need to reassess the kind of feedback your enterprise has been getting. You may want to analyze your performance on review sites like Yelp, as well as other interaction-heavy avenues like social media. If you don’t bother to improve your offerings or ask your customers to leave reviews, your online visibility could suffer in the long run.

You Don’t Have a Strategy for Social Media

Social media has evolved into a powerful tool that businesses use to cultivate their online presence. When done right, marketing through social media can help your business better connect with customers, foster engagement, and spread the word about your company to various internet circles. In contrast, if you have a measly social media presence with little-to-no engagement, you could drive your business closer to oblivion.

Overall, being successful on social media takes a lot of planning and consistency. As such, it’s important to you have a comprehensive social media strategy and follow through with it as much as you can. Make sure to post regularly and always interact with users in order to get on the radar of your intended market.

Takeaway: Getting Rid of the Common Culprits

Ultimately, the true reason you’re lacking in visibility is often multifaceted. Most of the time, businesses rank low or remain undiscoverable online because of a combination of the items mentioned above.

The key takeaway here is that you should be proactive rather than reactive about your online visibility—meaning that you can’t just passively let your business remain near-nonexistent online while your competitors hog the spotlight. If you want to best your competition, use the insights provided on this list as a guide for taking the next steps towards changing your business’s online performance.