Common SEO Mistakes to Avoid

Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the most critical techniques in digital marketing. It helps brands reach a wider audience by providing valuable content that ranks high in search engines.

While there are a variety of tactics you should do to increase your visibility, there are also crucial SEO mistakes you also need to avoid. Many brands over-optimize their site trying to apply SEO tactics and end up hurting their credibility and lowering their rankings.

Here are some of the top mistakes you need to avoid to maintain your website health in the ever-changing work of SEO.

 

Ignoring Your Social Media Presence

While SEO and social media seem only distantly related, they are actually both critical to your rankings. A lacking social media presence is a sure-fire way to suppress your website’s visibility.

Social media activity boosts your brand visibility in search engines. Ensure that you have business profiles on all the critical channels, such as Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.

 

Neglecting Your Site Speed

Web searchers are notoriously picky when it comes to site speed. In fact, website conversions drop 2.11% on average with each extra second of load time. Google knows this and will penalize websites with slow loading times. Even if you think your SEO is flawless, you’ll be surprised how much slow loading times will hurt your rankings and visibility.

To see how your website stacks up, use Google PageSpeed Insight to get information regarding your page speed. You can use this tool to analyze your mobile versions as well. Plus, this service offers valuable tips for speeding up your website.

 

Posting Duplicate Content

Duplicate content is a serious way to hurt your rankings. Avoid duplicating content from any site, whether it is a competitor’s or your own.

Duplicate content penalties apply to more than your blogs and copywriting. Meta descriptions, H1 tags, and URL issues will all be flagged and potentially hurt you. Also, be sure that you did not accidentally duplicate your own pages.

Ultimately, each page on your site should be mostly unique in order to rank and increase user interest.

 

Overlooking Website Design

Few things will make a customer bounce more than a poorly designed page, especially your landing page. A high bounce rate will impact your Google ranking, leading to even lower traffic in the long run. A quality web design immediately establishes your credibility and encourages visitors to stick around – hopefully converting them into customers. In fact, 50% of consumers in one survey stated that a company’s website design is critical to their impression of the overall brand.

So invest in quality design to ensure that you make the impression you want and maintain your SEO rankings.

 

Emphasizing Keyword Embedding Over Subject Matter

Search algorithms are more sophisticated than ever, and keywords matter less than quality content. Blog strategies dependent on keyword strategy are outdated and pointless. Aim to create high-quality content about specific topics that your audience will find valuable instead. Keywords will flow naturally in your blog and give you a better chance of higher rankings.

 

SEO is not an absolute science, and ranking factors may change or become more or less important. The tactics of just a couple of years ago are already outdated and may be hurting your rankings. By avoiding these common mistakes, you’ll be on the path to achieving top rankings.

 

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Article Written by: Alex Brown