I’ve submitted my sitemap to GSC, checked indexing, and built branded backlinks—but Google still ignores my homepage. It’s bad because people looking for me are funneled into other platforms where I lose control of the user journey.
Has anyone else experienced this? Is this Google punishing small/new sites, or do I need to approach brand SEO differently? At this point it feels like Google wants me to buy ads just to show up for my own name.
You could try SEO strategies, and they help but you will not likely win.
Just spend the money on ads. That's what your competitors are doing.
It's better to think about your goals. what are you trying to convert when the traffic arrives at your website? Joining a mailing list, adding to cart, buying a product? Contacting sales? How many of those leads do you need a month?
then work backward in the funnel and see how much google traffic you need to make that happen.
And remember google is a shrinking segment -- other social media channels will likely have a bigger impact.
websites aren't driving a lot of action these days.