Top 10 SEO Mistakes That You Must Avoid

The SEO landscape is drastically changing and becoming more competitive than ever before posing a serious challenge for online companies to get to the top page rankings in the search results. With Google using hundreds of ranking factors while ranking websites, it’s become even more crucial for marketers to avoid mistakes in SEO to boost their site traffic and engage their visitors.

Most marketers do some basic keyword research and find a few phrases that can bring massive traffic to their website. In the short term, this may help in boosting your website ranks to page two or three but doesn’t get anywhere beyond that to the first page. SEO is a long-term strategy that takes practice to master and you might need to may few adjustments and experiment before you can get some great results.

Why Does Your Business Require SEO In the First Place?

• The main purpose of SEO is to build a solid foundation for your website while providing smooth navigation and positive user experience.
• The market leader, Google almost owns 75% of the overall search engine market which makes it a valuable resource for organic search for customers while looking out for key information on the web.
• In addition, SEO tactics also play a crucial role in influencing the buying cycle as most customers rely on new deals and information about breakthrough products while making their purchase decision. A website with high quality SEO also provides new opportunities to connect with customers.
• SEO is not all about search engines but following good SEO practices can help in improving usability of website. Most users trust search engines that have presence in the top positions for the keywords they are searching.
• SEO also works as a solid social promotional tool for your website as users who find your website through Google or Yahoo are much likely to promote it across social media channels such as Facebook or Twitter.

Here we’ve discussed some of the common SEO mistakes that might be affecting your website traffic:

Lack of Website Security

Many websites before Google’s announcement was not taking security seriously but Since this announcement, SSL is in limelight and top in to-do list of website owners. SSL enables green padlock and HTTPS against domain name and brings confidence to visitors and customers. It depends upon the website requirement that which type of SSL certificate will suit it. Most web host prefer cheap SSL certificate that is pocket friendly and easily available with smooth configure process.

Not Using the Right Keywords

Choosing the right keywords is essential for your SEO strategy to work and ensure lasting success in your advertising campaign. Especially, using generic keywords for your products or services or global keywords may get you lot of traffic but not the right customers.

Using specific keyword phrases might be more useful in attracting quality leads and get higher website rankings for your business. For example, keyword-content writing services for working professionals could yield better results than using content writing services.

You could also consider a keyword research tool to learn about the different queries people use to type in the search box. By including these keywords, it’s possible to make your content more relevant to the needs of your users.

Forgetting Unique Title Tags and Meta Descriptions

Companies often use their website name or brand name as title for every page of their website which is a big mistake. The title of the page is the most crucial element as it gives information to the search engine and users to read and understand what the page is all about most marketers have all the pages under the same title and have lengthy titles which can minimize the chances of ranking high on Google search engine.

It’s important for every page to have unique and descriptive titles that may be easily found by your users.

Meta descriptions are equally important, and they need to be unique and convincing as far as possible to increase your click through rates. The descriptions need to be between 150-160 characters without keyword stuffing and captivating to your users.

Not Using Image Tags

Your website may have eye catching images to blend with your content and engage your users. Unfortunately, all these images may remain invisible to the search bots i.e. Google unless you have specific image tags. It’s necessary to ensure that every image on your website can be searched and indexed by search spiders with inclusion of ALT tags on each image. Provide an image description with relevant descriptions to include keywords wherever necessary.

Not Conducting Regular SEO Audits

Most websites do not do regular audits which can help to prevent crawling errors. There are different SEO audits that may be conducted regularly but the most vital among them is the Google Console data. It’s worth fixing the errors in the search console as there could be issues in indexing your content which can have a huge impact on your search rankings.

Not Using Analytics for Tracking Conversions

SEO is not all about driving high volume of traffic but boosting conversion rates. Sometimes, low traffic phrases may be able to give higher conversions as they are more specific and result in high page rankings. The best way to track your conversions is by using analytics to enable conversion tracking for specific keyword phrases. Compare different keyword phrases to find out which may be able to give the best results.

Not Using Different Anchor Text

It’s important to optimize your anchor text by not using the same anchor text for every page as it may not look genuine to the search engines. It’s better to try different variations of the phrase using it in company’s name or sometimes in an URL to make it them look natural to both your visitors and search engines.

Having Poor- And Low-Quality Content

Most companies either hire low quality content writers who churn out large volume of work or use article spinners which create several articles which seem unique to the search engines. This should be avoided at all costs as it may prove costly to your business, if customers realize they are not getting best value from your content. It’s best to hire good quality writers by paying them more to boost your website conversions.

Not Focusing on Local SEO

If your business is focused on serving local customers, it means having a local SEO can do wonders for your business. Most customers seek Google for getting address, opening hours, phone number or any business enterprise before planning a visit. Obviously, you do not want to lose out an opportunity of serving your customers who wish to make purchases from your local store.

Not Making Use Of 301 Redirects

A broken link such as 404 HTTP code may prove to be a bad experience for your online visitors. In such cases, a temporary redirect such as 301 may be the best solution to re-connect with your existing customers. This is usually the standard response used by most websites when they are in the process of re-branding the company.

Not Matching Content with The Search Intent

The content that you use on your website must make sense and not be irrelevant to your users. Search intent is one of the most crucial factors while considering SEO for your website. Usually, there are 4 types of intent-informational, navigational, commercial and transactional. Think about from your customer’s perspective and what they may be exactly looking for using the list of keywords.

Conclusion

We have discussed some of the most common mistakes in SEO but there are several other issues that are often overlooked including poor site structure, sites which are not optimized for mobile users, content duplication issues which may pose additional problems in SEO. If you want to achieve great results consider hiring a professional agency like an SEO agency from Newcastle that help you reaching your goals quicker.

SEO is a fast-changing industry and it’s important to stay updated and relevant with the changing trends. It also requires constant monitoring and tracking the progress of your website and choosing the best SEO tactics to stay ahead of the competition.