1. Content Issues
The first area Splitt highlights is problems with the actual content on the page – perhaps the most fundamental factor for optimizing pages to rank. Some key content-related issues that could hurt rankings are:
- Thin, unhelpful content – Lacking depth, helpful information, or poorly answering the search intent.
- Over-optimization – Stuffing in keywords and awkward phrasing in an unnatural attempt to chase the algorithm.
- Low-value content – Generic, boilerplate content without unique value addition for users.
- Plagiarized or scraped content – Duplicate content issues hurt rankings.
- Targeting wrong keywords – Misunderstanding user search intent leads to targeting unrelated terms.
- Bad formatting – Walls of text, distracting ads, pop-ups, and other poor formatting that hurts readability.
To diagnose content issues, analyze your top-performing competitors and what value their content offers to searchers. Refine your content and keywords accordingly.
2. Technical Issues
Even if your content is solid, technical problems like site speed, infrastructure, and tagging errors can hamper rankings and user experience:
- Slow load times – Bulky images, lack of caching, and unoptimized code leads to slow load speeds.
- Mobile optimization problems – Improper responsiveness, sizing, and touch target sizes hurt mobile UX.
- Incorrect headers and tags – Missing H1 and title tags, improper headings structure, thin page titles.
- Indexing errors – Crawl budget limitations, restrictions via robots.txt, or page fetch errors prevent indexing.
- Site architecture issues – Deep nesting, overlapping content, and broken navigation negatively impact crawler ability and UX.
Diagnosing technical SEO requires in-depth analysis using tools like Google Search Console, PageSpeed Insights, ScreamingFrog, etc.
3. Authority Issues
Search engines also consider metrics related to reputation and authority to evaluate a page’s topical expertise:
- Domain Authority – The trust of a website based on its backlink profile, traffic, brand visibility, etc.
- Page Authority – The relative authority of each page on a site based on internal links and engagement metrics.
- Click-Through-Rates – The CTR of a page in results indicates its ability to satisfy searchers.
- Dwell Time – How long searchers stay on a page signals relevance. Bouncebacks hurt.
- Brand Signals – Mentions, links, verified profiles, and real-world reputation improve authority.
Focus on high-quality backlinks, brand-building efforts, and churning out authoritative content to boost metrics over time.
