Improve your Google ranking in Japan – the levers that work and the order to use them

What Google looks at before you try to improve your ranking

There are hundreds of SEO tips out there, but they all feed three things Google evaluates. When you pick a tactic, ask which of the three it strengthens – it saves a lot of wasted effort.

• Match with search intent: does the page directly answer what the searcher wants to learn, compare or buy?
• Technical readability: can Google crawl and index the page, does it work well on a phone, do the title and headings make the topic clear?
• Trust and reputation: is it clear who runs the site, is it mentioned by other sites and reviews, is the information current and accurate?

For most small and mid-sized sites, the first two still hold the most room to grow. Before spending months on link building, check whether your existing pages fit the intent behind each search and are read correctly by Google.

Signs your site needs SEO work

If several of these apply, the reasons your rankings stay flat are probably on your own site – which is good news, because that is where changes pay off fastest.

• Search Console is not set up, or many pages show as not indexed
• Page titles are just your company name, like "ABC Co., Ltd. | Home"
• All services are described on one page, with no page for each thing people search for
• Several similar blog posts compete with each other for the same keyword
• Pages load slowly on mobile, text is small and buttons are hard to tap
• Articles and subpages barely link to the pages that lead to an inquiry

The more of these you tick, the more you gain from improving existing pages before writing new ones. If you used to rank well and dropped suddenly, the diagnosis is different – see what to check when your rankings drop.

The levers for better Google rankings, in priority order

With limited time and budget, order your work by how quickly it shows results and how little rework it causes. This is roughly the order UNANOBO follows:

• Indexing and technical basics: check coverage in Search Console and fix stray noindex tags, duplicate URLs, slow pages and mobile problems first
• One page per search term: give each target keyword a single page so your own pages stop competing
• Titles, headings and descriptions: put the search term and a concrete promise in each title, and let the h1 and h2s show the flow of the page
• Rewriting existing pages: start with pages that already get impressions but sit around positions 10–30, and fill in missing or outdated information
• Internal links: link naturally from related articles to your service and inquiry pages
• New pages: cover the remaining search terms with intent-specific pages, such as comparisons, pricing or use cases
• Outside signals: complete your Google Business Profile and get listed by real partners and industry groups

The first three belong to on-page SEO and tend to show changes relatively quickly. The fourth is covered step by step in our guide to SEO content rewriting.

How to find the pages worth improving yourself

Search Console tells you where to start. It is free, so set it up first if you have not already.

• Open the Performance report: set the range to the last three months and show impressions and average position
• Sort by page: note pages with many impressions and an average position between 10 and 30
• Check the queries: see which searches each page appears for, and spot terms you did not expect
• Compare with the top results: search the term yourself and list the questions and facts the leading pages cover that yours does not
• Fix one page at a time: title, opening paragraph, headings, then missing content – and write down the date of each change
• Review after four to eight weeks: check position and clicks, then move on to the next page

Changes typically take a few weeks to a few months to show in rankings. Rewriting titles every week makes it impossible to tell what worked, so log each change and give it time before judging.

What to avoid when chasing top positions

Shortcuts taken in a hurry often end up lowering your site's standing. These points also help you judge an SEO provider.

• Buying backlinks or collecting large numbers of links from thin, low-quality sites
• Stuffing the same keyword into the copy and image descriptions
• Mass-producing similar articles with AI that add little for the reader
• Building pages for high-volume terms that have little to do with what you sell
• Hiring anyone who guarantees a number one position

Google decides rankings, and no one can promise a specific position. A good provider explains clearly what they will do, in what order and why.

How UNANOBO improves rankings: priorities first, then a free demo

UNANOBO starts by reviewing your site and your Search Console data, then lists the improvements with the most potential in order. Based on that, we build a free demo: pages restructured around search intent, with reworked titles and headings. You see the improved pages on a real screen and decide whether to go ahead.

The process is simple: free demo, feedback, launch, growth. The founder handles every project personally, so you keep one contact from the first review to tracking rankings after launch. Everything runs by message, in Japanese or English, and your Search Console and GA4 accounts stay in your own name.