5 Reasons Why Google (and Users) Don’t Like Your Website

Picture this: you've built an amazing SaaS product. Your features are solid, your pricing is competitive, and your team is fired up. But somehow, your website feels like it's stuck in digital quicksand. Google isn't ranking you well, users are bouncing faster than a rubber ball, and you're left wondering what went wrong.

After analyzing dozens of SaaS websites (which led me to create CHEEECK, a tool for monitoring website health), I've noticed some patterns that might make you cringe. The good news? These issues are totally fixable once you know what to look for.

Speed Issues Are Conversion Killers

We live in an instant gratification world where waiting three seconds for a webpage feels like an eternity. When I was digging into website performance issues, I discovered that many SaaS sites are surprisingly sluggish. They're loading hero videos that could power a small cinema, using uncompressed images that weigh more than my laptop, and running so many tracking scripts that the page practically wheezes under the load.

Google's algorithms have zero patience for slow sites, and neither do your potential customers. A delay of just one second can reduce conversions by 7%. That's not just a statistic – it's revenue walking out the door while your page is still trying to load that fancy animation.

The worst part? Many founders don't even realize their site is slow because they're testing it on their high-speed office connection with the site already cached in their browser. Meanwhile, someone on mobile data in a coffee shop is watching your loading spinner like it's the world's most boring screensaver.

Mobile Experience Problems Run Deeper Than You Think

Here's a reality check: over half of your visitors are probably browsing on their phones right now. Yet I've seen SaaS websites that look like they were designed exclusively for desktop computers from 2015. Buttons are tiny, text is microscopic, and navigation feels untested.

Google has been prioritizing mobile-first indexing for years, which means they're primarily looking at the mobile version of your site to determine rankings. If your mobile experience is clunky, you're not just frustrating users – you're actively sabotaging your search visibility.

When mobile users have to work hard to understand how to use your product, they'll find a competitor who respects their thumbs.

Technical SEO Gaps That Search Engines Can't Ignore

Technical SEO is the foundation that everything else sits on. I've encountered sites with missing meta descriptions, broken internal links, and URL structures that look like someone smashed their keyboard in frustration.

Search engines are sophisticated, but they still need clear signals about what your pages are about and how they connect to each other. When your site architecture doesn't look good, Google's crawlers get confused, and confused crawlers don't rank pages well.

The issue often stems from rapid growth and constant iteration. Teams add new features, create landing pages, and restructure sections without considering the SEO implications. Before you know it, you've got duplicate content issues, orphaned pages, and a sitemap that hasn't been updated since your last major redesign.

When Copy Focuses on Features Instead of Outcomes

Many SaaS sites fall into the trap of feature-focused copy that completely ignores the human beings who might actually buy the product.

Instead of explaining how your software will make someone's workday better, sites often dive straight into technical specifications and industry buzzwords. "Leverage synergistic methodologies to optimize cross-platform functionality" might sound impressive in a boardroom, but it means absolutely nothing to someone trying to solve a real problem.

Users don't buy features – they buy outcomes. They want to know how your product will save them time, reduce stress, or help them look like a hero to their boss. When your messaging focuses on what your product does instead of what it accomplishes, you're making visitors work too hard to understand the value proposition.

Silent Failures That Go Undetected

Websites are living, breathing entities that can break in countless invisible ways. A plugin update pushes your contact form offline. A CDN hiccup makes your images disappear. A third-party integration stops working, leaving visitors staring at error messages while you're blissfully unaware.

The scary truth is that these issues often go undetected for days or weeks. You're losing potential customers, damaging your search rankings, and eroding trust with every broken interaction. Meanwhile, your team assumes everything is fine because the site worked perfectly when they checked it last Tuesday.

Many founders only discover problems when a frustrated user reaches out, or worse, when they notice a mysterious drop in conversions. By then, the damage is already done. You've lost not just immediate sales, but also the long-term SEO benefits that come from consistent, reliable website performance.

The Path Forward

The good news is that awareness is the first step toward improvement. These issues might seem overwhelming, but they're all solvable with the right approach and tools. Regular monitoring, user-focused design, and a commitment to ongoing optimization can transform your website from a digital liability into your most powerful marketing asset.

Your website should work as hard as you do to grow your business. When it's fast, user-friendly, and reliably functional, both Google and your customers will reward you with the attention your product deserves.