The Reason You Aren't Ranking (It's Probably Not a Problem With Your Site)

Transcript

A (0:01)

This is Grumpy SEO Guy, episode 138. The reason website changes might not solve your SEO problems.

B (0:10)

You're listening to Grumpy SEO Guy, the SEO podcast that doesn't waste your time with nonsense that doesn't work. I'm the grumpy SEO Guy, and I'm sharing with you the strategies that have helped me successfully run my SEO agency for the last 14 years. In this podcast, I'll be sharing my knowledge and experience, discussing tips and strategies and. And trying to help you cut through the confusion that permeates this industry. If you listen to this podcast, you will know more about SEO than 99% of people on the planet. Ready? Let's get started.

A (0:40)

I'm the Grumpy SEO Guy. Let me tell you why I'm grumpy today. I'm grumpy today because there is a fundamental concept that a lot of people are missing. So we're going to do an entire episode on this. And we've talked about this before, but I think it's actually pretty important. So we're going to talk about it now. But before we do that, guess what? Back in the studio. Which means we have a better quality microphone. So hopefully this sounds a little bit better because I'm no longer recording the podcasts on my device anyways. Okay, so let's see before we get started with that. If you want to email me, you can email me@hellogrumpy seouguy.com if you want to support the show on Patreon, you can do so@patreon.com Grumpy SEO Guy if want to you. If you like the podcast and you subscribe, that would be amazing because it would really be helpful for us. And if you want to join the Grumpy SEO Guy subreddit, you can do subreddit.com r grumpyseoguy okay, here's what I want to talk about today.

B (1:35)

But before we do that, my lawyer tells me that I have to say this right now. A quick disclaimer before we get started. Everything I say here is based on my experience and opinion from 14 years in the industry. I don't officially know how Google or any other search engines work. Everything I say here is hypothetical. And based on my experience, this podcast does not constitute advice or services. What worked for me may or may not work for you. Okay, back to the show.

A (1:56)

Most of the things you do for SEO have almost nothing to do with your website. Okay. This is like the biggest problem that beginners miss. So we've talked about this before. And one of the things that is very common for anyone to believe, especially anyone who is just starting, is that SEO is. Is something that you do to your website. Okay? Okay. Anyone who is just starting might think that SEO is a checklist. And you can. You can search online and you can find, you know, SEO checklists, and these things are not going to help you. We have an episode called something like, SEO is a competition, not a checklist. There is no checklist. So the reason I haven't ever provided a checklist, because people ask me this all the time. They're like, hey, can you send me a checklist? Great podcast. I listen to every episode. Can you send me a checklist for all the things I have to do? Like. Well, first of all, if you listen to every episode, you understand that SEO is not a checklist. And you can't even. You couldn't even, like, build one because it's not a checklist. Okay? There's not a list of things you can do to your website that will make you rank. Okay? Most SEO has nothing to do with what you do on your website, but has to do with what other websites do as they relate to your website. Okay? So one of the things we've talked about on this episode before is SEO is how your website relates to every other website on the Internet. Well, and if you want to be specific or. And it has more to do with how your website relates to every other website that is relevant for your keywords. Okay? And maybe you understand that relevancy is a ranking factor, right? So you need four things. You need to not have a penalty. You need content, but it doesn't have to be quality. It just has to be on your site. You need relevancy, and you need authority. Okay, so there's other episodes that mention that. We'll. We'll put those in the notes. But look. Or at least we'll put one of them in the notes. But anyways, look, relevancy means what is the topic of your website? So anyway, so what this ultimately means is authority and backlinks. Okay? You can. And this is the reason there's no such thing as a checklist. You can have a checklist. And I have performed all of the requirements correctly on my website. But that's my robot voice. But I am not ranking. That's because it's not a checklist. Okay, Assume if there was a checklist, you would naturally figure that everyone on the top page in the top 10 results would have done the checklist correctly. So then how Would the search engines know who ranks? If there's a checklist and everyone has done everything properly. Okay, there's a checklist and everyone has done everything right. Okay, everyone did everything correctly. Who gets to be number one? Because everybody did everything correctly, didn't they? And only one website gets to be number one. That doesn't make sense, does it? So it can't possibly be a checklist. There has to be some overpowering factor that outperforms all of the things that could be on a checklist. And by the way, that's authority. Okay, so it's possible that every website on page one has done everything on page correctly. Okay, so who gets to be number one? Well, the website with the most authority. Okay, who gets to be number one? The website with the highest amount of authority. Okay, even. Even if they've all done everything perfectly. Okay, what? What about what? Okay, let's assume there's a checklist and there's not. What if one website did everything perfectly and another website didn't quite do everything perfectly, but that website had higher authority. Which one would rank? That one would probably rank. Okay. It's rare but not implausible that a perfect on page configuration could possibly cause you to outrank a website that has more authority, but that has to do more with relevancy. We. Look, I feel like I'm going to confuse people if I keep going in this direction and somebody's going to be like, grumpy SEO guy, you just. You just said the opposite of what you're talking. No, no. In fact, we have an episode talking about this. It's called is this lower authority website outranking this higher authority website, where we give examples of websites and keywords, or at least one keyword for two different websites, and we show that a lower authority website is actually outranking a higher authority website. But then we get into things like if measurements of authority are accurate and other type of things. Look, here's the thing. Anybody talking about make these changes to your website and it will make you rank higher is probably giving you bad advice, okay? And probably don't know, because most people don't understand SEO. That's why you listen to grumpy SEO guy, because most SEO sources out there have no idea what they're talking about. So anyways, look, the majority of SEO has nothing to do with changes you make to your website, okay? Yes, you need content. Yes. You need good site structure. Okay? Yes. You need relevancy. Yes, you want to avoid cannibalization. Yes, you want to avoid penalties. All of those things are on site. Yes, you're totally right. But that's not the reason you rank when you have competitors. Okay? Those are the requirements to even be considered. Okay? It's not like I just build a website, I put really good content on it and I don't have cannibalization. And I'm going to be number one. No, you're not. You want to know why? Because your competition has more authority than you. The majority of SEO takes place in the form of backlinks and authority, but you have to make sure that the stuff on your website is correct. Also, because as we've talked about before, you can have concerns with your site, then they don't become apparent until you start building authority. Right. I even posted a link to a. I can't remember where it was some well known SEO website. I honestly don't remember. It might have been like search engine, journal.com. i can't remember. I should probably look it up. But it doesn't matter. The point was they were talking about a website that did a migration and then they couldn't recover their rank. And the reason is because they had all these problems that were brought to light when. Look, it doesn't matter. I've talked about it before, but you can have a website that has concerns, but it doesn't rank because it doesn't have enough authority and search engines don't really pay any attention to it. Okay? And you might think, oh, my website is good, blah, blah, blah, and then you start building authority and then you get a penalty. Why? Because the search engines didn't even look at your website until you got enough authority for them to pay attention to it. And then they notice that you have a penalty or whatever. So the point that I'm trying to make here is that most SEO will not take place on your site. There are very few, if any, changes you can make to your website that will cause you to rank higher. Now look, fixing cannibalization. Yes, that's. That's. If you have cannibalization issues, that's a problem that you could fix on your website that would make you rank higher. Of course it is. Or. Right. If you have, for example, an on page penalty and you correct that, that could potentially make you rank higher. Possibly using correct titles can make you rank higher because titles create relevancy. But like, ultimately, if you've done everything correct correctly. Sorry, if you've done everything correctly, the reason you're not ranking is you don't have enough authority to relative to your competition okay, let me give this example. And I just gave this example in the last episode, but we're going to do it again because it's good episode. Okay? SEO is like a race. Let's say you're in second place. So compare search engine results to where you are in a race. Okay? So let's say you're in position number two. Okay? Just because we're going to use like simple numbers. There's number two, you're in position two. You're the second place guy or woman, whatever, your second place in the race. And there's a person in front of you. Okay? Let's say that person is beating you by 30 seconds. Okay? So they're. I don't know how long the race is, but They've got a 30 second lead on you. Okay, let's say that you train so they beat you by 30 seconds. Then let's say that you, you train really hard because you're like, I'm gonna beat that person next year or whatever the next, you know, competition is. And then let's say you take 10 seconds off your time. Great. So you have improved your performance by 10 seconds. That's. That's amazing. You did a wonderful job. But that person is still 30 seconds. But that person is still faster than you. Now they're only 20 seconds faster than you. But just because you improve doesn't mean you're going to beat them. Does that make sense? That's how websites are. Just because you build authority doesn't mean you're going to outrank the website in front of you. Because they might have a lot more authority than you do. Okay? It doesn't mean backlinks don't work. It means you didn't build enough authority. And we even talk about this in the previous episode. One of the reasons backlinks don't work is because you haven't built enough authority. Okay? If you increase your performance in the race and you run 10 seconds faster, that doesn't mean you're going to win unless you lost by less than 10 seconds the last time. Okay? So I'm not sure how to say it. Anyways, most SEO is most SEO once. Once you have the fundamentals done. Once you have a website and you have different pages for your different topics, right? Because you understand that you want to have different pages for different topics, for different keywords that you're trying to rank for. Right? And you have relevancy, which is the most basic thing of SEO to get. Literally just write content about your topic and you get relevancy super easy. If you literally even mentioning a word on your site can give you relevancy, okay? Super easy. Everybody should have relevancy for their keywords. Once you have those things, you need authority. And you need more authority than your competition. That is how you win, okay? And if that, that's how you get to the top of page one. It's not about writing better content or increasing your site loading spe or dwell time. That's another thing that people talk about. You need to increase your dwell time. No, we have an episode that explains why dwell time isn't a ranking factor. So just know, okay? What's, what's another thing. People talk about site loading speed, which might be a ranking factor, but not in the way that people are talking about it. Like, if your website loads in like three seconds and you reduce it to two seconds, that's not going to increase your rank any, okay? Just know. It's about having the four things. Guys, we mentioned this so often. Don't have a penalty. Have content, have relevancy, have authority. And authority is the ongoing thing, okay? Once you have those other things, it becomes about building more authority than your competition, okay? It's not a checklist. There's no secret alteration you can make to your website to rank higher. I know the secret things to type in my content so that I will rank. It doesn't work like that. Anybody telling you that it works like that. Whatever, whatever. Guys, I'm telling you it doesn't work that way. Because here's the other thing. If it worked that way, everybody would figure it out and everybody would do it. Okay? If there, and I feel like we've already talked about this. If, if there was a, A, A, A private technique that nobody knew about, right? And then they would realize, hey, wait a minute. All these websites on page one are all doing the same thing. I'm going to copy that. And then everybody would be doing exactly the same thing. And everybody would have this like, unknown technique that, that is no longer like unknown because everybody knows about it now. And everyone would be doing the same exact thing. Not everybody can be at the top of page one, okay? It's not like, it's not like when you're, when you're in a class, right? Like when you're in, when you're in. When you're in a class and the teacher gives you an assignment and it's possible. Well, depending on your teacher, it's possible that you can get an A, but also the next student can get an A. And someone else can get an A because you all did things correctly. That's not how SEO works. There's only one top website that's the one that is free of penalties, has content, has relevancy, and has more authority than the rest. That's how you get to the top of the search engines.

Grumpy SEO Guy – Episode 138

Host: Grumpy SEO Guy
Date: January 28, 2026

Episode Overview

In this episode, the Grumpy SEO Guy tackles one of the most common misconceptions in SEO: the belief that making website changes alone is the key to higher search rankings. Drawing from 14 years of agency experience, he debunks the idea that SEO is simply a checklist of on-site fixes. Instead, he emphasizes the central role of authority—earned largely through backlinks and a site's relationship to the broader web ecosystem. The episode is direct, practical, and at times blunt, aimed at dispelling myths perpetuated by less experienced SEO commentators.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. SEO Is Not a Checklist

Timestamp: 01:56 – 06:12
Many beginners assume SEO is a process of ticking boxes on a checklist—improving site speed, adding keywords, optimizing titles, etc.
The host stresses, “There is no checklist. So the reason I haven’t ever provided a checklist… SEO is not a checklist. And you couldn't even, like, build one because it’s not a checklist.” (02:16)
If SEO were a checklist, all well-optimized sites would be tied for the #1 spot, which is impossible.

2. The Competitive Nature of SEO

Timestamp: 06:13 – 08:47
SEO is fundamentally competition, not compliance.
The search engines rank sites relative to each other, especially those relevant for the same keywords.
The critical differentiator is authority.
“Most SEO has nothing to do with what you do on your website, but has to do with what other websites do as they relate to your website.” (02:59)

3. What Actually Matters: Four Pillars of SEO

Timestamp: 04:24 – 05:30
To compete, you need:
1. No penalties
2. Content (“doesn’t have to be quality, just has to be on your site”)
3. Relevancy
4. Authority
“Authority is the ongoing thing.” (12:10)
Authority outweighs nearly all other factors at the top of page one.

4. Authority and Backlinks Trump On-Site Changes

Timestamp: 07:16 – 13:12
Backlinks and overall authority are decisive once basic on-site requirements are met.
“There are very few, if any, changes you can make to your website that will cause you to rank higher.” (10:09)
Meaningful rank movement against strong competitors almost always requires increased authority.

5. Website Changes Have Limits

Timestamp: 09:05 – 11:13
While fixing penalties, cannibalization, and improving titles can have some impact, they only address issues at the margins.
True breakthroughs demand greater site authority, not just optimization.

6. SEO as a Race: The Authority Gap Analogy

Timestamp: 11:53 – 13:12
“SEO is like a race… Just because you improve doesn’t mean you’re going to beat them.” (11:57)
Improving your site may reduce the gap, but you must overcome competitors’ existing authority, not just your own shortcomings.

7. No Secret Tricks or One-Size-Fits-All Solutions

Timestamp: 12:11 – 13:45
The show mocks the persistent myth of a secret “A” grade SEO technique.
“If there was a private technique… everyone would be doing exactly the same thing… Not everybody can be at the top of page one.” (12:50)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On the Checklist Myth

“If there was a checklist, and everyone has done everything properly… who gets to be number one? Because everybody did everything correctly, didn't they? And only one website gets to be number one. That doesn't make sense, does it?”
— Grumpy SEO Guy, (03:20)

On the Core of SEO Competition

“The majority of SEO has nothing to do with changes you make to your website… Those are the requirements to even be considered. It's not like I just build a website, I put really good content on it and I don't have cannibalization, And I’m going to be number one. No, you're not. You want to know why? Because your competition has more authority than you.”
— Grumpy SEO Guy, (08:42)

On “Just Work Harder” Fallacy

“Just because you improve doesn’t mean you’re going to beat them. Does that make sense? That's how websites are.”
— Grumpy SEO Guy, (12:00)

On the Simplicity of Relevancy

“Literally just write content about your topic and you get relevancy. Super easy… Everybody should have relevancy for their keywords.”
— Grumpy SEO Guy, (12:47)

On Secret SEO Tricks

“If there was a, A, A, A private technique that nobody knew about… then they would realize, hey, wait a minute. All these websites on page one are all doing the same thing. I’m going to copy that… Not everybody can be at the top of page one.”
— Grumpy SEO Guy, (13:12)

Key Takeaways for Listeners

Stop searching for SEO checklists. SEO success stems from authority relative to competitors, not ticking boxes or endlessly tweaking your site.
Do the fundamentals (content, relevancy, penalty-free), then build authority.
Backlinks and relationships are the main drivers of high-ranking sites.
Website changes only move the needle when addressing actual site issues (penalties, cannibalization), not as a primary strategy.
There is no secret hack or hidden technique to leapfrog all competitors—if there was, everyone would use it, and it would cease to be effective.

Suggested Episodes for Further Listening

SEO is a Competition, Not a Checklist
Is This Lower Authority Website Outranking This Higher Authority Website?
Why Dwell Time Isn’t a Ranking Factor

For questions or topic suggestions, contact Grumpy SEO Guy on Reddit (r/grumpyseoguy) or by email at hellogrumpyseoguy.com.

This episode is essential listening for anyone stuck on the SEO hamster wheel of endless website tweaks—reminding us that the real game is authority, not to-do lists.

The Reason You Aren't Ranking (It's Probably Not a Problem With Your Site) - Episode 138

Summary

Grumpy SEO Guy – Episode 138