Generating organic traffic through SEO is a standard business strategy. Some businesses even resort to a professional SEO agency to do it. However, many factors need to work for a brand to win at SEO and generate enough traffic to grow the business. If the common practices aren't working, then a company needs to reevaluate its strategy.

Keyword Competition

Companies need to check where they appear on the search engine results for their primary keywords regularly. Slipping off the first page means a significant drop in clicks, regardless of what professional SEO agencies say. It can also show that the company has gained more competition for those keywords. In major cities like Mumbai, SEO competition can get incredibly fierce due to the number of companies in the Indian business hub.

Keyword Density

Another possibility for why a company may not win at SEO is keyword density, especially in recent content. Too few keyword mentions means the algorithm won't show the content. Conversely, a company's content can exceed the best practice keyword density. Keyword stuffing like that does negatively affect the search algorithm ratings. Instead, companies should aim for 0.5 percent to 3 percent density. Those are the magic numbers to win at SEO.

Sites Never Win at SEO with Outdated Practices

The internet is rife with old advice on how to do SEO. Sometimes, even professional SEO agencies still use these practices. Unfortunately, the search algorithms flag outdated practices. Things like keyword stuffing, indiscriminate backlinking, and excessive optimization all drop a site's rankings. Auditing brand content at least once a year for search algorithm changes is a great way to head off these problems.

Poor On-Site SEO

As the years have gone by, search algorithms have gotten more sophisticated. Instead of relying solely on keywords, companies now must worry about user behavior and authority too. For example, if many users only view one page, the bounce rate goes up. The search algorithm then concludes the page is clickbait and dings the site ranking. 

The big SEO trend in 2020 is relevance. If site content cannot stand on its own and draw users deeper, then it will not rank for long. This change means that companies, particularly SEO agencies, must write for the user as well as the algorithm. The requirement content is user friendly is more prominent now than ever. 

The Mobile Revolution

Another significant factor in winning at SEO is mobile-friendliness. Mobile phones surpassed computers in 2016 for most users accessing the web. Therefore, mobile compatible sites became more relevant, and the search algorithms were adjusted accordingly.

Mobile sites require more flexibility than desktop sites do. Many mobiles require layout modifications for the website to look good. Then there's load times, both text and images. The whole site needs to be able to function on a minimal amount of data transmission. Altering a site for mobile is not a matter of merely shrinking it. However, most website platforms build in these features, so companies simply need to tweak the options to win at SEO on this front.