SEO is continually changing today. Google alone has changed its algorithm several times over the years. This means that businesses may find themselves employing old, outdated tricks that are clumsy and counterproductive. This is why you must keep up with things. At the same time, there are some common mistakes that you should recognize so you can correct them and avoid them in the future.
Garnering More High-Level Understanding
You need a solid website architecture, high-quality content that’s well optimized, and an authoritative website that’s garnered a lot of high-quality backlinks over time. It’s important to educate yourself and focus on all three of these things.
Keyword Stuffing
One of the worst mistakes you can make when conducting SEO is what’s known as keyword stuffing – adding keywords to your page without using them in a context. While this worked in the 1990s, it no longer works today. Now you must research the proper keywords and when to use them.
Treating Your SEO Campaign as an “Add-on”
When you use resources for one-off “tricks” you’ll cause problems with your website’s foundation. Ultimately this is bound to have a negative impact on how your website performs overall. This is why it’s so important for your business to create a holistic approach when it comes to SEO. Make sure that such an approach is rooted in your website project’s best practices. Doing so will ultimately save you time, help your website to perform better, and help you create a strong foundation that you can continue building on in the future.
Optimizing for Traffic, not Conversions
This is one of the best ways to drive some free traffic to your website. However, you must remember that not all free traffic is good. You want to make sure that it converts into leads or sales. The only way to do this is to install conversion tracking software so you can see which of the keyword phrases you’re using are doing well. You’ll also know which ones you need to change.
Failing to Conduct Research Prior to Writing Content
Make sure you aren’t optimizing your content for the wrong keywords. This is why research is so important – like it is with any other marketing activity you conduct. To do this you’ll want to speak with your customers and see what keywords and phrases they’re using to find your business. Once you’ve made a list of these keywords, make sure you also make a list of local and national terms. This is something SEMrush and Google Keyword Planner can help you with.
Creating Duplicated or Spammy Content
It’s easy to make a SEO mess, especially when it comes to duplicate, thin, or spammy content. While it’s important to write content, you don’t want to write poor, irrelevant content. You also don’t want to duplicate content from another website, even if that other website belongs to you. By cleaning up these messes and merging pages together you can restore your rankings – maybe even rank higher.
Not Properly Citing Works Referenced
One of the most commonly made SEO mistakes many businesses make and then find themselves being penalized for is making improper citations. Every search engine uses citation signals to rank how relevant you are to your market. If you don’t have your name, address, and phone number (NAP) exactly the same on all pages, you will be penalized.
Over the years ISEOU has conducted in depth SEO for many highly satisfied customers without making any of these major mistakes. If you want to work with a company who understands the importance of your campaigns and can conduct them correctly, get in touch with us today.