I've been blogging for years, and I've watched countless writers pour hours into content that never reaches page one of Google. It's frustrating. You spend time researching, writing, editing—and then crickets. Your blog post sits there, invisible, while generic content from huge sites ranks above you.
Here's the thing: it's usually not your writing that's the problem. It's almost always technical.
The Platform Trap
Most people blog on platforms that are actively fighting against them. Medium. Substack. WordPress.com. These platforms have their merits, but they weren't designed to help your content rank—they were designed to help their platform rank.
When you publish on Medium, Google sees a Medium URL. When you publish on Substack, Google sees a Substack URL. Google's algorithm prioritizes domain authority. A single post on medium.com will almost always outrank the same post on your personal blog, even if yours is better.
I learned this the hard way. I had a solid blog post that got exactly zero organic traffic for months. A year later, someone reposted it on a bigger platform, and it got thousands of views. The content was identical. The difference? The domain.
The Speed Problem
Google now treats page speed as a ranking factor. This isn't hypothetical—it affects your position in search results.
Most traditional blogging platforms are fast enough for casual use, but they're not optimized for search. They load JavaScript bundles you don't need. They include tracking code. They add extra HTTP requests just to serve ads.
Meanwhile, static sites—pages generated once and served as plain HTML—are blazingly fast. A static site can load in milliseconds. A WordPress blog might take 2-3 seconds. Google notices.
I measured this myself. When I switched from a dynamic blog to a static site, my page load time dropped from 1.8 seconds to 0.4 seconds. My search visibility improved almost immediately.
The URL Structure Problem
This one is subtle but crucial.
WordPress gives you URLs like /blog/post-title/. That's fine. But if you're on a platform that doesn't give you control, you get stuck with /posts/12345/post-title or worse, URLs that change if you rename your post. Google hates URL changes. Every time your URL structure shifts, you lose the accumulated SEO value from backlinks and search history.
With a static blog, your URL structure is permanent and simple. /blog-not-ranking-google/ doesn't change. Google rewards that consistency.
The Content Problem (Yes, It's Real)
Okay, sometimes it is about your writing. But probably not in the way you think.
Most bloggers optimize for themselves, not for Google. You write what you want to say, not what people are searching for.
Check this: How many blog posts have you read that start with a 200-word introduction before answering the actual question? Or posts that bury the answer in paragraph three? Or posts that don't have a single scannable heading?
Google's algorithm has gotten smarter about this. It can tell if a page actually answers the user's question or just tangentially relates to the keyword. If someone lands on your post and immediately bounces back to search results, Google notices. That's a signal that your content didn't match the search intent.
The fix: Before you write, search for your target keyword. Look at the top three results. What are they covering? How are they structured? What angle are they missing? Then write a post that's better.
The Topical Authority Problem
A one-off blog post about "how to use Google Analytics" won't rank if you don't have other posts about analytics. Google wants to see that you're credible on a topic.
If you write one post about web design, one about cooking, and one about fitness, Google won't trust you on any of them. But if you write twenty posts about web design, Google learns that you're an expert.
This is why consistency matters. Blogging sporadically isn't just bad for your audience—it's bad for SEO.
The Backlink Problem
Here's the truth: links are still the strongest ranking factor Google uses. A post with zero backlinks will struggle to rank, no matter how good it is.
But you can't manufacture links. You can only earn them by writing something people want to link to. This takes time. Months. Sometimes years.
People rarely link to fluffy, generic content. They link to:
- Original research or data
- Comprehensive guides that solve a problem completely
- Unique perspectives or frameworks
- Tools or resources they use regularly
Writing something linkable takes more effort than most bloggers invest. But it's the difference between invisible and successful.
The Timeline Reality
This is important: Google doesn't rank your blog post in week one.
New content on a new domain can take 3-6 months to start ranking. On an established domain, 2-4 weeks. This isn't a bug—it's Google being cautious about spam.
I know bloggers who gave up on their posts after two weeks because they weren't ranking. They didn't realize they needed to wait months.
What You Actually Control
You can't control how fast Google crawls your site, or how much domain authority you have, or how many people decide to link to you. But you can control:
Technical SEO: Site speed, mobile friendliness, clean URL structure, proper heading hierarchy, meta descriptions, internal linking. These are the baseline. Get them right, and you're not fighting against your platform.
Content Quality: Are you actually answering the question? Is your post better than the current top result? Does it have original information? Is it scannable? Did you research your target keyword first?
Consistency: Publishing regularly in a specific niche builds authority over time.
Patience: Most good blogs take a year to gain traction. That's normal.
The Static Site Advantage
Here's why I built Jottings the way I did.
A static site handles technical SEO automatically. Your posts are fast. Your URLs are permanent. Your site is secure by default. You don't have to think about server load or security patches. You can focus entirely on writing good content.
That's it. That's the competitive advantage. You get 80% of the technical SEO benefits without having to optimize anything. The platform gets out of your way.
The other 20%—writing content people want to read and link to—that's still on you. And honestly, it always will be. No platform can fix that for you.
What To Do Next
If your blog isn't ranking:
Wait longer. Check back in six months. New content takes time.
Analyze your top posts. Which ones get traffic? What do they have in common? Double down on that angle.
Improve your technical SEO. Use Google Search Console to check for errors. Improve page speed. Fix broken links. Check your mobile experience.
Write better content. Search your target keyword. Read the top three results. Find the gap. Write something that fills it.
Build consistency. Commit to a schedule. One post a week. One post a month. Whatever you can sustain.
Google doesn't owe anyone a ranking. You have to earn it by being faster, better, or more valuable than the alternatives. It's slower than spamming social media, but it works.
Your blog can rank. Most blogs just give up before that happens.
If you're tired of blogging platforms that work against you, try Jottings. It's a static blog that prioritizes SEO from day one—no optimization work required. Fast, simple, and designed for writers who want their work to be found.