20 Common SEO Mistakes To Avoid
Do you know that SEO mistakes can cost your business in 2020?
There isn’t a need to go into the panic mode; awareness is the key to avoid making a mistake. Getting the audience to your site and enjoying conversions will not be sufficient. You will have to keep up with the changing search engine algorithms. First, you need to get your website up to the mark before you start employing off-page SEO strategies.
Here is a complete list of 20 common SEO mistakes to avoid in 2020 before starting off-page.
20 SEO Mistakes To Avoid
- Choose the right keywords
- The mistake of overstuffing keywords
- Not using long-tail keywords
- Duplicate content
- Being original matters
- Very thin or less content
- Meta descriptions and title tags are needed
- Failure to provide internal and external links
- Careful usage of internal links
- Optimize for mobile
- Include social sharing buttons
- Including robots.txt
- Forgetting to replace or delete old URLs
- Image has to be named appropriately
- Avoid skimping on your website
- Improve the website loading time
- Incorporate sitemaps
- Good Content creation
- Optimize for local searches
- Connect to Google Search Console and Google Analytics
1. Choose the right keywords
The strength of optimization lies in picking the right keywords for your content. The SEO strategist will keep in mind things like relevance, search volume, competition, competitors’ keywords, and so on while choosing keywords. You will have to keep in mind to whom it will matter the most
- Search engines
- Users
When you fail to connect with the meaning of keywords used in the queries, there is no point in optimizing the keywords. You will have to pick on the right keywords relevant to your business, and various tools will help you to understand the right set of keywords to choose from.
2. The mistake of overstuffing keywords
The common mistake committed while trying to boost your rankings is stuffing the content unnecessarily with keywords. The overuse of keywords would be the worst practice in search engine optimization. The search engines are clever enough to spot that and register you as spammy. Keywords don’t serve their purpose and never reach the intended audience when you use this tactic. The search engines are equipped with tools to know about content related to the topic. Unnatural usage of keywords can do no good.
3. Not using long-tail keywords
Many SEO specialists make the mistake of concentrating on generic or short-tail keywords. But all users do not search in the same way. When you include long-tail keywords in the content you can reach more users and increase the number of visitors to your site. Set up the correct blend of both short-tail and long-tail keywords in your content and rank higher.
4. Duplicate content
When the same content appears on more than one page on the website or on another domain it is called duplicate content. It confuses the search engines and it will lead to the content not showing up in search results at all. Use tools to find duplicate content and modify them to remove replication and boost up your ranking. One of the most commonly duplicated content is versions of the home page.
5. Being original matters
When you copy content from another place or site, it won’t do justice to your business as search engines have strict rules. It’s a spammy practice, best avoided. It is one of the most common SEO mistakes that content marketers make. When you put original meaningful texts out for the users, you have better chances of getting traffic to your site than a plagiarised content-based one. If you don’t want to slide down the rankings, then pull up your socks and put up some fresh content.
6. Very thin or less content
Google does not give preference to sites with very less or thin content. Try to answers all your ideal customer’s queries through your content. Address the problem your business is trying to solve and give all important and relevant information to help your customers find answers to their queries.
7. Meta descriptions and title tags are needed
Every little SEO detailing will matter in terms of your ranking and traffic generation. Search engine crawlers take notice of these elements. Search bots read into meta tags. Write your meta tags carefully keeping in mind the character limit and incorporate important keywords into them to help both users and search engines
8. Failure to provide internal and external links
Links are an important component of any SEO process. Choose carefully placed internal links to increase the time your visitor spends on the site. Help with navigation with internal links. Also, incorporate external links to relevant pages to increase the relevance of your site and help users find solutions to their queries.
9. Careful usage of internal links
Many of the SEO professionals fail to see that when using the links of top-performing pages, they overuse it. To gain traction and visibility, you shouldn’t be placing internal links on every piece of text. It makes the entire process unnatural. Ensure that the links mix contextually to the topic presented on that particular page.
10. Optimize for mobile
It is a fact that many of the searches done today are through mobiles. If you haven’t optimized the site to accommodate the compatibility of the device, you will end up losing the audience. The site will not enjoy the traction that other mobile-friendly websites do. You will have to update your site according to the new versions of the handheld devices. If there happens to be a variation in the loading time and experience, people wouldn’t want to interact with the site again.
12. Including robots.txt
A robots.txt tells the search engines which pages to crawl and which not to on your website. There are tools available to check if this file is available on the website and if it is not there then you need to submit one.
13. Forgetting to replace or delete old URLs
When you are revamping your website, sometimes, if you forget to redirect the traffic to the new URLs without making sure that the old URLs no longer exist it can cause problems. The web searcher will not be able to do its job, and you will lose traffic because of this folly. The team that is redesigning has to carefully make sure that the existing URLs are taken care of before changing one. It may be a common SEO mistake by freelancers done unknowingly, but it can hurt the business propositions.
14. The image has to be named appropriately
If you happen to have images or videos on the site, you will have to name them right; the alt tag will inform the viewers as to what they are about to see. It will be easier to search as it can be indexed well. Instead of using random numbers or different symbols or codes, naming the image right can help direct more traffic to the site. If you neglect this part, it can affect the ranking of your website.
15. Avoid skimping on your website
A cheap website may save you some money, but the loss you will see in the coming days is unimaginable. Getting a well-made website with good architecture will be a good investment for your business, and you will reap good returns if you put in the effort to get it done from the best in the business. It should be responsive to work on all devices and should be SEO optimized.
16. Improve the website loading time
One important thing to work on is improving the website loading time. A slow website will give users a bad experience and they can move to another site. Use tools to check the website loading time and keep it as less as possible, anything under 3 seconds is recommended.
17. Incorporate sitemaps
Sitemaps allow website owners to inform search engines about all the URLs present on a website and available for crawling. This helps search engine crawlers to crawl the site more efficiently and ensure that all your pages are indexed properly.
18. Good Content creation
Website owners usually try to save on money by employing average content writers to create content for them. SEO trends have been changing with time and now good and relevant content that helps the visitors has become an important factor in ranking a website. If your content is not good, visitors will exit your site and your bounce rate will increase which will signify to search engines that your site is not relevant for them which will push down rankings.
19. Optimize for local searches
Many businesses that have brick and motor establishments would do well optimizing for local searches. Include keywords like “bakery near me” or “bakery in Pune” to rank better on local search and drive traffic to your website and physical establishment.
20. Connect to Google Search Console and Google Analytics
If you want insights about how your site is performing and if there are any issues with your site, you need to connect with these important platforms. Make data-driven decisions related to your website and take timely action. This can go a long way in helping your site rank on search engines.
Conclusion
SEO isn’t a one-time task. A website, when developed, will be SEO enabled, but is not the end of the job. As long as the website exists, the SEO strategies have to be worked on, maintained, and upgraded to keep the website in a prime spot.
Every SEO mistake counts, and if you want to stay ahead of your competition, you need to find and fix them. It’s essential to do this as it will help change the course of your site.
Targeting both the rankings and traffic by acknowledging the mistakes and updating SEO strategies, will result in better results. We have discussed the 20 common mistakes of SEO that you need to fix before starting. Once these are optimized, you can create quality backlinks and start improving your ranking on SERPs.
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11. Include social sharing buttons
Your compelling presence on social media gives Google social signals about the popularity and relevance of a site. Don’t forget to include social sharing buttons on your website to help visitors to share your content and drive traffic from social media.