Have you been having issues with Google? Maybe you’ve had your ads account terminated or you’re no longer showing up in search results? Many people encounter these and other problems with Google. However, not every problem is permanent.
Here are some of the most common issues people face along with possible solutions that may help you resolve your particular issue(s).
1. A suspended Google Ads account
Did your Google Ads account get suspended? It’s entirely possible that you’ve committed some kind of violation without realizing what happened. It’s a scary experience considering your revenue depends on your ads. However, there is hope.
It’s possible that you’ve done something innocently. For instance, maybe your product is similar to another product and your account was terminated for counterfeiting. It’s also possible that your account was suspended to protect you if Google senses someone has accessed your account without authorization.
The solution for your situation will depend on why your account was suspended. If you’re not sure what to do, PPC.co explains how to fix a suspended Google Ads account from multiple angles.
2. A “deceptive site ahead” warning in Google
If users click through your site in search results and get a warning from Google that your site isn’t safe, this can really kill your traffic. Some people will proceed anyway, but not usually.
If this is happening to your site, you’ve probably been hacked. For instance, Google may have run into some malware on one or more of your webpages and is warning users to prevent them from falling into a phishing scheme or other attack.
If you become aware of this error when clicking through to your site from Google, the first thing you need to do is scan and clean your site. Then, look inside your Google Search Console for more details. You’ll see all the various warnings that have been added to your web pages that appear to be compromised.
3. A blacklisted domain name
Unfortunately, owning a blacklisted domain name can be more trouble than it’s worth. If you purchased a previously owned domain name without knowing it’s been blacklisted by Google, you’ll have to do some work to get off that list.
There are many reasons a site gets blacklisted. For instance, someone may have used the domain name for illegal purposes or to publish spam. Or, it may have been hosting malware running a phishing scheme.
The good news is you can request a review of your site from Google as long as you’ve been verified in Google Search Console.
4. Not getting your web pages indexed
If your webpages aren’t showing up in Google, it means they aren’t getting indexed. This could be caused by a variety of things:
· Your robots.txt file is blocking search . If your robots.txt file instructs search engine spiders to ignore any part of your website, it’s not going to get indexed. If you’re using WordPress or another content management system, check your plugins and CMS settings to see if you’ve asked search engines to ignore your site. If so, change your settings to allow search engines to crawl your website.
If you’re not using a plugin or a CMS, check your robots.txt file and if you see the following code, this means search engines are blocked:
User-agent: *
Disallow: /
If you see this code, the forward slash means you are blocking search engines from indexing your entire website. Replace it with the following code:
User-agent: *
Disallow:
· Your website is new and hasn’t been crawled yet. New websites take time to be discovered by Google. You can wait, or you can ask Google to crawl your website manually.
· Google doesn’t consider your site mobile-friendly. It’s actually pretty hard to make Google ignore your site for this reason. Even sites that aren’t completely mobile user-friendly get indexed. If this is the cause, it means you’ll need a complete website revamp to get indexed in Google.
· Your content is considered duplicate content. When Google thinks content is copied and pasted from another site, it will generally exclude the imposter site from its index. This can also happen by accident, if you publish the same content on multiple websites.
· You’re stuck in a redirect loop. Google will de-index web pages that are stuck in a giant redirect loop. Use the site audit tool from SEMRush to see if any of your web pages have this issue.
Google is still king of the search engines
Although there are other search engines, Google remains the king of search. It’s important to maintain access to all of Google’s services, including PPC ads and business listings. You also need to ensure your website can be found in search results.
If you have any of the issues listed in this article, prioritize their resolution to retain your traffic and ultimately, your sales.
