SEO has gained tremendous popularity over the last decade. To ensure high rankings and traffic, the website owners must keep up with the latest updates.
Google algorithms like Panda and Penguin are used to find poor-quality content. The new machine learning technology like RankBrain is used to strengthen the main algorithm’s accuracy.
Despite the changing SEO technologies and updates, Digital marketing & SEO experts make some serious mistakes that can adversely affect your website ranking.
So, it is essentials to find out the pitfalls and increase your website ranking in the search engines.
This article examines the Top 10 SEO mistakes and their solutions. Learn from these mistakes and don’t fall into the trap of incorrect SEO.
1. Selecting the Wrong Keywords
Mistake
Optimization is all about the keywords for which you want to rank your website. But, are you choosing the correct keywords?
One of the biggest mistakes in choosing the keywords is neglecting the long-tail keywords.
It is crucial to understand what words your potential customers are using to search for your product and services.
Solution
Perform the keyword research carefully before starting the optimization. The tools like SEMRush and Google AdWords Keyword Planner can help you to find the right keywords for your website.
2. Poor link quality
Mistake
One of the common SEO mistakes made by marketers is to overemphasize link quantity than link quality. After the Google Penguin update, suspicious linking practices result in penalties for your website.
Solution
Generate high-quality links from authoritative websites that will enhance your website ranking. Also, link back to the websites that have linked to you, it will bring high traffic to your website in the future.
3. Not investing in the Mobile-friendly experience of your website
Mistake
If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, then your ratings on search engines can be jeopardized. Slow load time due to image rendering or long-scrolling content can increase the bounce rate of your website.
Solution
You can use tools like Pingdom and GT Metrix to check the speed problems on your website. Also, your website should offer a mobile experience in the form of Progressive Web Apps, Accelerated Mobile Pages, and responsive design to provide the same experience as desktop devices.
4. Duplicate Content
Mistake
This typical SEO mistake is related to the quality of your content. While duplicate content was a common practice earlier, today search engines penalize the websites that generate duplicate content. Search engines consider copied and plagiarized content as a spammy practice.
Solution
Produce high-quality and 100% original content for your website. Focus on building authoritative content which is accurate and is highly informative for the users. It will boost your website ranking in the search engine results.
5. Not using analytics on your website
Mistake
Forgetting about analyzing your website with the Google Analytics tool is a serious SEO mistake. Your website may be driving high traffic, but you are converting any leads into sales.
Solution
Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools are the main tools to analyze the performance of your website. Use these tools to track your keyword phrases and then compare. Find out which keywords are producing the best results and focus those keywords in your content.
6. Forgetting Broken links
Mistake
Not checking your website for broken links is one of the most damaging SEO mistakes. Incorrect re-directs, deleted or moved content and change in the URL structure are some of the causes of broken links.
Solution
You can use Screamingfrog Broken Link Checker to check the broken links of your website. You can also use this tool to check the links that may harm your website. Find out the broken links and redirect them into your Content Management System (CMS).
Mistake
A very common SEO mistake is that companies often use their name as the page title in all their website pages. Another mistake is making the page title more than 65 characters and the meta description of more than 160 characters.
Solution
A page title and meta description are very vital for any business. Emphasize generating a unique title and meta description for your website. A unique meta description and title increase the Click Through Rate (CTR) of your website.
8. Slow page load
Mistake
Page loading speed greatly affects your website ranking and user experience. If your website doesn’t load in 3 seconds, then a majority of clicks will bounce back from your website. Images, Videos, CSS, and Javascript are some of the factors that affect the page loading speed.
Solution
Optimize all on-page elements for optimum page speed. You can also use Google’s Page Load Speed Tool to make sure your website is operating with efficiency. A fast website drives more traffic, generates more sales, and high revenue.
9. Not using anchor text for internal linking
Mistake
It is a common SEO mistake to use words like Click here or bookmark this. It is true that call to actions increases clicks on your page, but using generic words, instead of anchor texts hurts the websites to which they are linking.
Solution
Anchor texts can help search engines to identify the keywords for which you want to rank your website. Also, don’t use the same anchor text for all hyperlinks on your website. Instead, use different anchor texts to rank your website for a group of different keywords.
10. You are not active on Social media
Mistake
Social media platforms are the most effective platforms to promote your website. If you are not active in any of the social media platforms, you are committing a big SEO mistake.
Solution
Social signals are a great source of traffic and increase brand awareness of your website. Use effective social media marketing strategies to promote your content on various social media channels.
You don’t need to spend a lot of time socializing. Just find out the platform which is best suited for your audience and build your brand’s authority by sharing useful content.
There are a number of SEO mistakes that even experienced SEO Experts make. This list may not be 100% complete, but, these Top 10 SEO mistakes are very crucial that you can’t avoid.
Learn from the other’s mistakes and benefit your website with the best SEO practices.
