Why Your Content Isn't Ranking (and How to Fix It)

In the old days of retail, you’d set up shop on a busy street and design an eye-catching window display to draw people in. Today, your website and blog are that window display. You’ve put in the work to create a library of great content, but just like a shop owner waiting for customers, you can’t just sit back and hope people find you. The real growth begins when you start proactively engaging—not just with customers, but with the algorithms that decide who sees your work.

Your content establishes your expertise, but you can’t rely on search engines alone to notice it. You have to write for humans while also building a relationship with the algorithm. The same goes for your email list or social media; simply broadcasting your own content isn't enough. It can feel one-sided and, frankly, you’ll eventually run out of things to say. To truly get traction, you need to build connections.

Building Trust with Search Engines

Your collection of articles and posts is a huge asset, but to get noticed by the biggest digital influencer out there—Google—you need to deepen your relationship with its algorithm. Great content is just one piece of the puzzle; some experts say it’s one of over 200 ranking factors. You're not the only one hoping to strike gold. You need to know how to get your pages ranked high in the search results, and simply writing for people isn't going to cut it.

Think about it from the search engine's perspective. If you were Google, how would you rank two pages with similar content? You'd look at the quality, of course. But you’d also look at who is connected to that website. Pages that have lots of other sites linking to them are showing a level of trust. That’s a signal of authority, and we call those incoming links .

Building your content library around a core topic establishes your expertise. Getting other websites to link to that content builds trustworthiness. These backlinks send a powerful message to algorithms that you are a trusted entity, which is the foundation of what we call “domain authority.” This has become even more critical now, as it helps search engines separate authoritative human content from automated AI-generated articles.

Google's business is built on providing the best answers. If they fail, people go elsewhere. Backlinks are one of the clearest ways for them to see which content is trustworthy. The data is clear: an incredible 95 percent of all web pages have zero backlinks. By starting to build them, you’re immediately jumping into the top 5 percent.

The Power of a Good Backlink

Backlinks give your content credibility in the eyes of the search engine crawlers constantly scanning the web. It's a lot like writing a research paper in college. When I write a blog post, I often do some research and link back to my sources to validate my points. It’s standard practice.

This means that once your content starts climbing to the first page of Google, especially the top spot, you'll naturally start getting more backlinks. Your article becomes the go-to source for that topic. This is why the number one result in Google has, on average, almost four times more backlinks than the other positions on the first page. It's also important to link out to other useful resources in your own content. It shows you're part of a larger conversation and helps search engines see your content as more relevant.

How to Start Building Backlinks

Getting started with backlinks begins with a bit of competitive research. A good SEO tool can give you the insights you need to build a smart strategy for your .

Look at Your Competitors

Start by running a domain analysis on your site and a direct competitor’s site. Most SEO tools have a feature that lets you see all the domains linking to any website. You can download this information into a spreadsheet and compare who is linking to your competitor but not to you.

I recommend doing this for the entire website, not just specific pages. You’ll quickly find a list of opportunities. The goal is to identify high-authority websites that are linking to your competitors. If they linked to them, there might be a reason for them to link to you, too.

When I did this for my own website, I found a competitor who was getting more organic traffic despite having a similar domain authority. Digging in, I found they were consistently getting backlinks from three sources: guest appearances on podcasts, guest blog posts, and various links from articles written by the same freelance authors across different sites. This is a common practice in a ; agencies often have a network of writers who can place links for their clients. At its core, it all comes down to relationships.

Proven Methods for Getting Backlinks

Building backlinks will happen more naturally as you build relationships with other creators and brands. Here are some of the most common and effective ways to do it, which are essential for anyone :

1. : This free service connects journalists with sources. You sign up for daily emails with queries from reporters looking for expert quotes. If they use your contribution, they’ll often link back to your site.
2. : A simple starting point is to get your business listed in relevant online directories for your industry or location. These listings, often called citations, are an easy way to build a base of relevant backlinks.
3. : If you find websites that list your competitors on a resource page, reach out and make a case for why your product or service would be a valuable addition. A key part of is knowing how to pitch your value.
4. : This is a classic method. Offer to write a valuable article for another website in your niche. You’ll tap into their audience and get a link back to your site, usually in your author bio. If you want to , this is also a fantastic way to build your portfolio.
5. : Find a popular but outdated article your competitor is getting links from. Create a piece of content that is significantly better—more thorough, updated, and better designed. Then, reach out to the sites linking to the old piece and suggest they link to your superior resource instead.
6. : Appearing as a guest on a podcast is a great way to share your expertise and get a backlink in the show notes. Podcast hosts are always looking for interesting guests.
7. : Once your brand grows, people may mention you without linking. Use search tools to find these mentions, then reach out and politely ask the webmaster to add a link back to your site.

Quality Over Quantity

It’s tempting to think more is better, but backlinking is about relevancy, not just numbers. A hundred links from random, unrelated websites won't help you and might even confuse the algorithm. If you're building a focused on tech, a backlink from a fashion blog won’t send a strong signal about your authority.

Your goal is to show the algorithm you have authority in a specific area. Just as you focus your content on specific keywords, you should focus on getting backlinks from sites that are thematically aligned with yours. This is how you can effectively grow your and establish a strong online presence.

When I look for collaborators, I use SEO tools to see if their ranking keywords overlap with mine. A strong overlap signals high relevancy and a great potential partnership. Every successful knows the importance of strategic partnerships.

The Results Speak for Themselves

This isn't just theory. One of my clients, a B2B merchandise provider, put these methods into practice. Over six months, they secured 86 new backlinks. Their website's domain authority score jumped from a 3 to nearly a 50 (out of 100). That kind of authority boost helps all of their content rank higher, driving more traffic from potential customers.

Hitting “publish” is just the beginning. The next step in any or is building the relationships that generate backlinks. It’s a long-term investment, but those connections pay dividends by proving your value to search engines and, ultimately, to the people you want to reach. This strategy is foundational whether you're from scratch or scaling an existing .