We’ve been in digital marketing long enough to know that SEO:
- Isn’t dead, which is contrary to what every clickbait article says.
- Isn’t something you should take lightly or just “do.”
SEO is the foundation for everything digital, shaping how your website performs, how your audience finds you, and how you differentiate yourself from your competitors.
Many small businesses come to this realization too late, after months of wondering why their organic traffic isn’t growing. Maybe this is you:
- You’ve written dozens of blog posts based on gut feeling, but website traffic remains stagnant.
- Google Search Console shows a list of indexing errors you don’t know how to fix.
- You’ve repeatedly requested indexing on key pages, but they are still not indexed.
- Despite your efforts, organic traffic feels like a mystery.
If this sounds like you, here are common SEO blockers that you can confirm on your Google Search Console (GSC) or equivalent tool, and how to fix them:
1. Resolve Duplicate Sites and Improper Redirects
The most severe SEO issues arise from poorly configured redirects and duplicate sites. Your rankings will suffer when crawlers don’t know which domain or page to attribute SEO to. Additionally, a broken website is a red flag for search engines, and your website will be severely penalized.
The Fix:
- Enforce Domain Redirects: Use server settings to ensure everything redirects to the correct domain (https://abc@xyz.com).
- Update Configuration Files: Ensure consistent rules across your .htaccess, nginx.conf, or other server files.
- Apply 301 and 404 Redirects Correctly: For subdomains and web pages that have moved, set up permanent redirects to their correct URL or 404 redirects for deprecated pages. Note, don’t abuse 301 redirects if the content doesn’t exist at all (search engines don’t like that).
- Remove Redirect Loops: Avoid unnecessary redirects that confuse crawlers and hinder indexing. Some redirects are more obvious than others (infinite redirects that break your site), so be sure to monitor redirects. You can do so by using web crawlers like Moz and Semrush, or tracing network calls under the developer console of your web browser.
2. Reduce Duplicate Content
Search engines can penalize websites using the same content across multiple pages or subdomains through SEO dilution. While some duplication is normal, such as product listings or blog excerpts, major duplication can flag your domain as spam.
For example, if your primary site is example.com, but your subdomains (like www.example.com or app.example.com) also host similar content, search engines might attribute SEO to your subdomains instead of your domain.
The Fix:
- Force Redirects: Use server-level configurations to redirect subdomain traffic to your root/primary domain.
- Update Your Sitemap: Clearly define your primary domain to search engines through your sitemap.xml and use consistent URL structures.
- Update Robots.txt: On unwanted subdomains, use noindex or Disallow: / to tell crawlers to skip them.
- Canonical Tags: Implement them on every page to indicate which URL is the master copy/should receive SEO attribution.
3. Avoid Thin or Poor Content
Search engines want to serve users with helpful, relevant, engaging, and most importantly, unique content. If your website doesn’t meet these standards, you’ll struggle to rank. You’ll likely see “Crawled – currently not indexed” on GSC for valid URLs. This is a tougher SEO problem; sometimes the best answer is to edit your content or remove the article entirely.
The Fix:
- Avoid AI-Generated Content: In 2025 and beyond, do not use AI-generated content (ChapGPT/Perplexity) anymore. Search engines are updating their search algorithms to remove generic/non-unique content from GenAI abuse in prior years.
- Eliminate Orphan Pages: Remove irrelevant content or ensure any orphaned pages are internally linked from other articles. Make sure you don’t have published pages floating around that shouldn’t have been published.
- Review On-Page Copy: Revisit your headers, metadata, and body content. Make it informative, compelling, and keyword-rich. Do not keyword-stuff or lean heavily on generative AI spammy content because search engines are now good at detecting both.
- Check for Repetition: Avoid duplicating content ideas that already exist elsewhere on your site or at a competitor’s site. Search engines can easily pick up on this, so make sure to provide new value to an existing topic through data, approach, or thought.
4. Time Delays in Indexing May Prevent SEO Progress
Sometimes it’s not a mistake and is just a matter of time. Even after fixing issues, you’ll need to wait for search engines to catch up.
The Fix:
- Give It Time: It may take weeks or months for updates to reflect in search results pages.
- Use Search Console: Submit your latest sitemap.xml and request page URLs directly for indexing to speed things up.
5. Crawlers Get Stuck
One hidden issue is hitting a quota limit with crawlers. If your crawl requests spike unexpectedly or drop off despite regular content updates, something might be wrong. You can see this in your GSC or equivalent dashboard. Note, larger sites are more prone to this issue, so smaller sites probably can ignore this.
Fixes:
- Audit Redirect Rules: Redirect loops can trap crawlers. Use tools like Screaming Frog or server monitoring to identify and fix them.
- Review Schema Markup: Poorly implemented schemas can confuse search engines. Use structured data validators, such as Google Rich Results Test, and follow search engine best practices.
Final Thoughts
Getting your SEO strategy right starts with a strong web design framework and smart marketing. However, SEO isn’t just about keywords; it’s about performance, clarity, structure, and a user-first approach to your entire web presence. From duplicate content to crawl errors, every detail matters for your customers.
Let Uplancer, a top digital marketing agency in Columbus, help you turn your website into a high-performing asset. Whether you’re dealing with SEO headaches, want to improve your digital marketing, or need web design support, our team is ready to guide you to measurable results.
Contact Uplancer today to turn your SEO woes around and into organic success.
