SEO can make or break your online presence. But you already know that. What you probably don’t know is that SEO, if done wrong, can actually backfire and do more harm than good to your rankings in the SERPs. Bad SEO encompasses a number of different things including blackhat seo, outdated seo practices, and over-optimizing certain areas of your website. In today’s post, we will discuss 10 SEO mistakes you need to avoid in 2019.
Exclusively Focusing on On-page SEO :
If you’re one of those people who only focus on on-page optimization, this one’s for you! While the importance of on-page optimization is undeniable, it doesn’t mean that it is the only area to focus on. Your approach towards SEO should be ‘holistic’, which means you can’t afford to neglect even the tiniest bit of optimization whether it’s technical SEO, off-page, or local.
Make sure to create a balanced SEO strategy that pays equal importance to all areas of SEO.
Keyword Stuffing (One of the Worst SEO Mistakes):
At some point, we have all seen a content piece that is stuffed with keywords up to the brim, right? You might consider it wise to mention your keywords in every other sentence but this is actually one of the biggest SEO mistakes you could make!
Search engines categorize content according to their quality and going overboard with using keywords can bring down the quality by a great degree. In fact, such content is considered by search engines as spammy. You wouldn’t want that, right?
Deviating Content:
Speaking of content for SEO, let’s pinpoint another major SEO mistake and that is:
Creating content that does not focus on the target keywords.
Let’s say you search for a certain topic on the internet. When you type in your search query, the search engine is going to try its best to present you with pages that best answer your question.
This should exactly be your train of thought while creating content for your website. If you deviate from the topic and it is not about your target keywords, your content will have pretty much zero chances of ranking.
Overlooking Mobile-friendliness:
If you think that Search Engine Optimization is all about keywords and backlinks, then you’re utterly mistaken. Today, an enormous number of users browse the web via their handheld devices.
So you need to make sure that your online business is mobile friendly and fast. This is one of the most important factors. A smooth experience for mobile can make your SEO much effective and boost your rankings manifold!
Also, site speed is overlooked sometimes and a slow-loading site can have drastic effects on your rankings.
Neglecting Page Titles and Meta Descriptions:
Great website content also calls for great titles and meta descriptions. Neglecting this will result in nothing but poorly optimized pages. Just like a billboard ad plays a key role in a traditional marketing campaign, pretty much the same role is played by the meta data in SERPs.
With a little brainstorming and research, it is super easy to come up with a compelling title and write an intriguing, keyword-rich meta description. Although this is very basic SEO, it has a great impact on the amount of traffic you can drive to your website from the SERPs.
Not Keeping up with SEO trends:
Are you aware of the latest SEO trends in the market? Do you keep yourself on track with the new SEO practices? If your answer is in negation, then you’re at a serious disadvantage.
Keeping yourself posted on the latest happenings in the SEO industry is key to staying ahead of your competition. SEO is a continuously developing industry and it is not going to be ruled out anytime soon! This leads us to the biggest SEO mistake most small businesses make: to keep on practicing the same, outdated SEO techniques.
Always keep yourself aware of what is going on the SEO industry. This will ensure that all your optimization efforts are headed in the right direction.
Same Old Content:
Can you read a piece of writing over and over again and not get bored of it? Absolutely not!
Same can be said for the website content. You need to keep on refreshing the content that goes on your website in order to rank, and to keep those rankings. Search engines seem to rank websites higher that regularly update their content and publish new one.
You want to make your readers reach for your website to quench their thirst for knowing it all. I mean who wouldn’t want that?
Taking SEO as a “One-time Thing”:
Do you think your website is good enough and you should stop with the optimization?
If your answer is yes, we’d have to apologetically disagree.
SEO is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. It is an evolving process and is supposed to be practiced continuously. While your competitors are out there employing the latest SEO techniques, what is making you stop?
No website can ever reach the optimum point. Optimization for search engines (and users) is a never-ending process, at least till your website exists! Period.
Not Being Aware of Customers’ Needs:
This is actually the foundational principle that the whole SEO paradigm is based upon. Satisfying your clients by answering their queries and offering them the products and services they need is all a website is supposed to be about. Being aware of your customers’ questions is vital SEO intel and fortunately, it’s not hard to find these questions!
Just enter any of your target keywords in Google and in the search results, look for the “people who ask” or “related searches” sections. These sections have tons of questions that people frequently ask with respect to the keywords you entered.
“Answer the public” is also a great tool for this type of research. Answering these question either in your existing content or by creating new content can bring about dramatic spikes in your traffic and sales.
Not Knowing the RIGHT Keywords:
Last but not the least, this is also one of the most common SEO mistakes and one that should be avoided at all costs. You should always ensure that any content you create targets the best possible keywords.
And how do you determine the best possible keywords?
Well, if you’re a small local business with limited budget and resources, targeting a keyword that gets 26,000 searches a month and that big brands in your industry are already after; then you’re way off track. You should make sure that you have a realistic chance of actually ranking for the keywords you’re targeting.
If you have limited resources, it’s always best to target long-tail keywords and target lots of them. Such keywords are almost always the “low hanging fruit” and can bring in tons of targeted traffic to your website.
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