Wrong Google ranking: how to correct the page in SERP
It is a mismatch that can leave us puzzled: we have followed every rule and optimized every tag, yet the page we have carefully curated does not rank on Google. Even worse, another, less strategic and useful page on our site shows up in the results. What does the wrong page ranking on Google depend on, and what can we do to correct this problem and direct the search engine to our preferred page? Here are how keys to change the pitch and resolve the causes of this apparent ranking error, which actually gives us an opportunity to analyze our site and further refine our SEO strategy.
The wrong page ranking on Google
Wrong page ranking on Google occurs when the search engine, for a variety of reasons, decides to show in its results a page of our site that is not the one we had thought was the most suitable to answer a specific user search.
In practice, instead of seeing at the top of the search results the page we have optimized to bring up, we find another page on our site, perhaps less detailed or less relevant. This can happen due to several factors, such as confusing signals sent to Google or a misunderstanding by the search engine of what content is most relevant for a given query. We, therefore, are faced with the need to take action to help Google better “understand” which page we want displayed for certain searches.
This is a frustrating but common problem that occurs when Google does not recognize the page that we have envisioned as the best destination for traffic and user searches. With the display of the page “wrong” we expose ourselves to some strategic risks: the page positioned could be old, not optimized, could lead to fewer conversions or have high bounce frequencies.
Even if for us the content and the page we have built represents the “best answer” to a query, as we know in the SEO field the logic cannot always be applied and only the algorithms determine the ranking.
Fortunately, there are several steps and SEO techniques that can attempt to correct this problem and make Google understand what content we want to place.
Why does Google make the wrong page rank?
Before we dive into the correction and optimization operations, however, we should try to detect the issue and understand why Google chose a different page than the one we had thought of (and for which we worked).
We must try to diagnose the problem, remembering that the mission of the search engine is to provide users with the best pages for their requests: therefore, the algorithms have determined that the page we prefer does not possess sufficient quality and does not guarantee the maximum level of user satisfaction, so as not to deserve a high positioning.
Said another way: Google has decided that the page it actually placed in SERPs is the most useful and suitable one to answer its users’ queries.
The causes of misplacement
Among the most frequent scenarios we can come across are the best positioning on Google of an old and outdated version of the homepage, the best ranking of a promotional page with an offer now obsolete instead of the one with the new proposal, SERP presence of service pages (such as those related to privacy and cookies), up to the cannibalization of keywords. In this case, the error arises upstream, because we have published content on identical topics (or deemed very similar) and therefore Google is in difficulty in evaluating the page to be placed.
If we believe that we have an already published page that is rich in content, optimized in every aspect and built after a keyword research targeted, but nevertheless was not taken into account by Google as the best response to the query user, we need to continue the analysis so to find the catch.
That is to say, trying to understand if the page that is more effective and specific for us for the topic than the wrong one is actually such also for the user (and for Google), study the data of public interaction to understand if it is engaging and attractive, if it is easy to read; and then, from a technical point of view, verify that there are no errors such as a block in robots.txt, presence of duplicate content, content actually optimized for specific keyword, with rich texts and not thin ones.
Incorrect keyword ranking on Google: the most serious reasons
Delving deeper into the analysis, however, we can reduce the situation two major problems: keyword cannibalization or failure to understand search intent.
Specifically, mismatch in search intent occurs when we have created different content that, although related, serves different purposes. For example, we might have a detailed article about a product we sell and, separately, a specific page dedicated to selling that product. Both pages are valid and necessary, but they serve different needs: one provides information, the other serves to convert the visit into a sale. If Google does not clearly distinguish between these intents, it might place the information page when the user is actually ready to buy, or vice versa.
The first task to be undertaken to correct the positioning of a wrong page is to evaluate the search intent that underlies the main keyword that we have identified (and that we have tried to intercept): today more than ever, Google tries to classify content that best responds to the user’s intent and that therefore satisfies the reason why that person did the search, and not understanding it means substantially wasting time and resources.
Therefore, by extremizing, if the search intent of that keyword is strictly transactional we do nto have many opportunities to position ourselves well with a page that offers informative content and vice versa.
Turning to a practical example, if the main keyword is migliori notebook 2024 (best notebook 2024) and we intend to rank our product page or category page, we probably have no chance.
This is in fact what Google currently shows for that query:
The SERP has a priority intent of commercial search, and in fact is dominated by pages from third-party aggregator sites and review sites that present a comparison of the best notebooks, listed in a numbered or ordered manner. Scrolling quickly we see that on the first page there is no manufacturer or retail site.
Therefore, from a strategic point of view you need to completely shift your attention from this keyword or take note of the situation and reorder the content and page of our site to align us with what Google intends to show – because this is what people want to read when they do that research.
The second serious problem is keyword cannibalization, which occurs when there are multiple pages or articles on our site that might be relevant to the same Google search. If, for example, we have multiple pieces of content that cover the same topic and are optimized for similar keywords, Google may not know which page to value more. As a result, pages compete with each other, and this internal conflict can lead to less optimal ranking of both in SERPs. Instead of dominating a particular query with one strong page, we end up with multiple pages eroding each other’s visibility, compromising their ability to reach higher positions in search results.
In either case, SEOZoom’s tools can help us identify the critical pages on our site where it would be appropriate to take action to fix the problem and help Google rank the right page.
These are just some of the aspects to evaluate when we discover that Google has positioned the wrong page on our site, and after we have identified (or at least guessed) the causes of the problem and confusion we can move on to corrective action.
What to do when Google places the wrong page on the site
When we stumble into this situation, our goal is to try to improve one-page ranking signals for a specific keyword by fielding a number of predominantly onpage SEO optimizations, as also suggested by this article by Adam Heitzman on Search Engine Journal, and also taking advantage of the new tools contained in SEOZoom.
After making sure that the content actually corresponds to the intent identified by the search engine, we must study the content of the page we hope to place, to understand if it is really relevant and optimized.
The American author suggests to try to answer some questions that define a basic idea of the onpage optimization of a content, such as:
- Is my main keyword in the page title?
- Do I refer to the main keyword in the description?
- Net of the myth of the word count, the length of the content is in line with that of the top 10 or the top 20 sites classified?
- Do competing sites use shared semantic keywords that I have to embed on my page?
- Does my page answer questions that a user might have to know more about this topic?
No less useful is to try to consolidate the page we want to improve by building an effective network of internal links from pages with high authority that are relevant to the topic, in which to add a link to the destination URL using possibly also an aggressive anchor text.
A weight to the authority of the page is also represented by external links: if the page incorrectly positioned by Google receives backlinks from other sites, we can contact them to ask them to point to the page that we want to see in SERP, which could then acquire new value in the eyes of algorithms.
As mentioned, then, the data on user behavior offer us valid insights to understand the actual level of satisfaction of the page: among the parameters to be observed on Analytics there are the bounce rate, the percentage of clicks and, where applicable, the conversion rate. If what we call the relevant page still gets traffic, but people land and leave quickly, it means that the content does not interest users, that they do not find what they expected or that they cannot positively navigate.
Redirect 301, the final resource to correct the ranking of two pages
If the roads just described do not lead to the expected results within a reasonable period of time – remember that the SEO needs time to work! – There is still a way we can go: set up a redirect 301, physically eliminating the wrong page to bring Google to the right resource that we want to place.
This redirection will signal to Google the permanent move of the old page to a new location, and allows (usually) to transfer any equity of the old page to the new page, thus offering it a boost in terms of ranking.
Techniques to make the wrong page lose rankings
After trying to improve the conditions of the page we are trying to bring up some Serps we must then focus on the downgrade of the page that is currently classified for that search term.
This is something that goes against virtually all SEO teachings, but, Heitzman also explains, “it’s what needs to happen to ensure that the relevant page is able to position itself”.
An immediate method to achieve the goal is to change the content of the page not relevant, removing all traces of the keyword and its terms, continuing with a remodeling of internal links, so that they point away from this page and towards the correct page, and then repeating the same operation to the external links, contacting the sites that host backlinks to this page to request a redirection to the correct resource.
What is SEO deoptimization
What has just been described is called deoptimization, a process that at first glance may seem counterintuitive, especially in a field where the goal is often to optimize and improve a website’s visibility on search engines. However, deoptimization plays a crucial role in certain circumstances, such as precisely when an irrelevant page on our site is ranked for an important query instead of the page we have optimized for that specific search.
In practice, SEO de-optimization involves analyzing and modifying elements of a web page that may have been over-optimized or are sending incorrect signals to Google. Its goal is not to harm a site’s ranking, but rather to clarify and improve the signals we send to search engines to make sure that the right pages are valued for the right queries.
To explain even further, the goal of de-optimization is to remove a specific page on our site from the SERPs in order to be able to rank instead the page that is most likely to attract qualified traffic and conversions.
What we must remember and keep in mind is that clicks and impressions are meaningless if they come from the wrong audience or if they do not generate conversions. And so, the ultimate goal of de-optimization is to remove the page that is directing the wrong kind of traffic to our site, replacing it with a more suitable one or simply opting for its complete removal.
How to know when to do an SEO deoptimization
Let’s take another example of instances when it may be appropriate to proceed with this technique, taking a cue from Zoe Ashbridge’s article on Search Engine Land.
A search for “scarpe da corsa rosse” (red running shoes) returns pages of e-commerce categories and image packs: the SERP suggests that the user is trying to buy red running shoes or viewing images of them. It is a “product-driven” SERP.
If our goal is to rank for red running shoes, then our page should, at a minimum, be able to match the intent in the SERP by providing users who land with the ability to purchase red running shoes and view product-related images.
Based on SERP analysis, there is not much chance that an article titled “the best red running shoes” will rank for the search term “red running shoes” because Google does not prioritize informational articles or guides in the SERP. But even if this article did rank, the user clicking on that result would not be satisfied with it, because it had a different intent.
Ranking the wrong page in the SERP is not unusual, the expert tells us, who lists some signs to recognize when we run into this situation:
- Pages that gain traffic but not conversions.
- User queries that don’t make sense for the business offering.
- Pages that are created to achieve a specific goal but do not meet expectations.
- Articles that rank for conversion keywords instead of specific pages to generate revenue (product pages, product category or landing pages).
In general, then, de-optimization should be our answer to cases where we have a page that attracts traffic, but fails to convert, and therefore gains “wrong” traffic, of users interested in something other than what we provide, essentially due to the mismatch between what the user was looking for and the page they were directed to by Google.
Techniques to perform SEO de-optimization
Ashbridge’s article also echoes considerations by Martin Splitt, Gary Illyes and Lizzi Sassman of Google, who explained how to de-optimize a page on our site in favor of a more suitable one.
To be precise, it is appropriate to take action when we have a positioned page that does not generate conversions and, at the same time, another page on the site that would be perfect to rank for the target keyword. It is, therefore, a matter of reversing two pages on our site from Google’s SERP for the desired keyword.
At this point, a necessary premise: we run the risk of completely losing our ranking and the traffic that comes with it. But the goal of SEO is not just to gain traffic, but to gain qualified traffic that supports business goals. If we only lose clicks and impressions-and not conversions-we are not actually giving up “anything” in terms of business.
The search engine deoptimization process consists of these steps.
- Choose the desired ranking page
Before we do anything, we need to decide which page will rank for the desired keyword and why. We then do an analysis of the SERPs and look at the ranking order chosen by Google to decide the type of intent and, therefore, the type of page on our site that might fit among those already ranking.
If the SERPs are full of articles, we should probably write an article that meets the user’s intent. If the SERPs prioritize e-commerce pages, then we must have a product to sell.
- Assigning keywords to pages
To have the best chance of ranking any page, our page must be the most useful on the web.
When we write a topic, we must cover it fully and comprehensively, intercepting all user queries, main keywords and closely related keywords. As we know, with SEOZoom’s SEO Analysis we can have this overview in a very few seconds, using the data to refine our content in all its sections and paragraphs, also taking advantage of the work already done by competitors who have ranked well on the topic.
The keyword for which we wish to position the desired page should be used naturally throughout the article. Let’s go back to the basics of SEO and also check that it is used in the title tag and URL, if it makes sense to do so.
- Evaluate content placement against the desired content
Now is the time to compare the page we wish to rank with the pages currently ranking. What elements do competitors include, while our page does not? Let’s do a content gap analysis and optimize the page to make it truly useful and competitive in every respect. For example, if the top10 pages use high-quality images, we should use them too; if they include videos, we add a video too, etc.
The goal is to do everything the competitors do, but without forgetting the users and customers. What does that mean? That we have to make the page really useful, using all tactics to meet needs (expressed or latent) such as feedback analysis, frequently asked questions, etc.
- Remove keywords from the deoptimized page
One of the reasons for incorrect page ranking may be the use of keywords in the wrong way, precisely.
We then analyze the page to be deoptimized and check whether we are using the keyword in the title tag or URL, editing accordingly to voluntarily “lose” ranking signals to the other page.
Of course, we cannot and should not remove all keywords, especially if they are contextually useful. What is needed is to remove keywords at key points and work on your internal linking for those that must remain.
- Strengthening internal linking
Internal linking is in fact one of the most powerful tools to help rank content. Using tools like Screaming Frog or the Google Search Console we need to check all internal links pointing to the wrongly ranked page and internal links pointing to the page we want to rank.
Ideally, we should:
- Have links pointing to the desired page using as anchor text one of the keywords for which we wish it to be ranked, taking care of course to be natural in this regard.
- Link the currently ranked page to the desired page using the anchor keyword in exact match, if we can get it to do so naturally.
- Replace links to the current page with links to the desired page, as long as it is still contextually relevant.
- Create new links to the page we wish to rank, including building our content architecture through pages that deal with related in-depth topics (such as those suggested by SEOZoom’s “Secondary Topics”).
- Submitting pages to Google Search Console
Once this is completed, we send the modified pages into GSC and wait for Google to do its work. It may be necessary to wait a couple of weeks or more before the changes take effect.
The other steps to make the desired page rank
If we have completed all the previous steps, but the desired page still does not rank, here are the additional steps we can perform.
- Check the backlink profile
In a competitive space, we may need to strengthen the backlink profile of our site. We start with an analysis of competitor backlinks, aiming to close the gap by winning highly relevant backlinks from reputable sites in our niche.
Where natural, we can get direct links to the page we wish to rank; if that does not work or if it skews the profile too much toward “manipulation,” we can point to supporting pages within the content cluster.
- Check engagement metrics
Engagement metrics (e.g., conversions, scroll, time on page, etc.) can help us determine whether the page is really useful to our users.
If the page we are positioned with hosts long-form content and users scroll only up to 25 percent of the page before abandoning it, it is probably not compelling enough to win and maintain engagement. We may then need to rewrite the content, always evaluating (also) what competitors are doing.
- Optimize technical performance
Not just page speed: today, technical site performance is increasingly important to stand out. In highly competitive spaces, ensuring a good user experience-for example, positively passing all Core Web Vitals – could make the difference between our site and a competitor’s.
- Setting up 301 redirects
If analysis of our site convinces us that it is time to remove the page that is misplaced, we need to remember to add a 301 redirect to the site’s home page (always a good choice) or to similar content.
In some cases, such as in the case of keyword cannibalization, this way we can downgrade one page to help another one rank.
To be fully diligent, after doing the 301s we need to crawl the links pointing to the old page and change them so that they point directly to the “new” page we want to rank, so as not to dilute the juice and not to waste too much of Googlebot’s time.
How to analyze the wrong ranking issue with SEOZoom
A concrete support in this activity of identifying a possible conflict between pages and better positioning than the wrong one, as well as in the correction of problems emerged, offers the renewed SEOZoom 2.0 suite.
At the moment, in fact, our tool is the only one in the world to use an engine able to perform a complete SEO analysis in real time, which is not limited to trivializing the tags of a web page, but examines all the web pages of competitor sites in real time, identifies the Search Intent of the users, evaluates Intent Match scores for the study page and for those of the competitors and provides a series of practical tips to optimize the work.
In particular, Seozoom does not only offer static information on the type of search intent identified for the keyword target – that is whether it is commercial, informational, navigational or transactional – but also shows the search intent “understood” by Google, immediately indicating the topics and keywords for which you can place a content, providing reliable insights always updated per second, tracing maniacally the intentions of search users in all sections of the Suite.
This allows us to improve more easily the content that is not positioned well, perhaps also using another innovative tool to enrich the information: for each keyword, in fact, Now are available the frequently asked questions of users that appear on Google, ideal for those who try to expand the topic of the text remaining in focus with what the search engine is ranking.
Very useful are also the features that allow you to discover the presence of a possible cannibalization between two or more pages of our site, as well as those that study the optimization of snippets by competitors better positioned to offer guidance on the format liked by Google, and even more the new function for monitoring the keyword of a project: now we can also change the URL identified by Seozoom automatically (based on the assessments of Google’s algorithms) and then actually understand what is missing from that page to compete for the keyword it was originally builded for.
SEO can correct Google
With these interventions we should be able to correct the ranking of “wrong” pages – that is, displaying in SERP in prominent positions of unwanted pages for a target keyword – and solve a problem that can have a negative influence on the user experience.
It usually takes simple steps to give the right signals to Google and move traffic to the desired page, with the end result of offering a better experience to the user, because the visits actually reach the right destination, to the benefit of engagement metrics.
