As an SEO pro, I have seen many common SEO mistakes. This blog post will discuss 15 of the most common SEO mistakes, so you can avoid them and increase your rankings!
These mistakes are not difficult to fix, but they can impact your Digital Marketing efforts and website’s success.
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15 Common SEO Mistakes That Are Costing You Traffics and Leads
Not Doing Keyword Research
Not doing keyword research is one of the biggest SEO mistakes Content Marketers can commit. Not using the right keywords for your website can lead to wasted time, effort, and low rankings.
Keyword Research is a vital step in Search Engine Optimization, and YOU SHOULD NEVER SKIP IT.
Without proper keyword research, you will be unable to target your target audience’s keywords, meaning you are writing articles about things no one is searching for, keeping your blogs away from search traffic.
Learn How To Do Keyword Research for SEO here.
Not Checking Keyword Difficulty
People want to rank for the most popular keywords, a common SEO blunder. But, if you target too difficult keywords, you will not be able to rank well.
So, focus instead on targeting long-tail keywords. These keywords are easier to rank for and better for new websites.
Learn How to Check Keyword Difficulty: A Comprehensive Guide.
Not Matching Search Intent 
Some people may have done their keyword research as well with difficulty. They attempted to optimize their article for the term with the highest search volume but neglected to do a thorough study of the keyword search intent.
Not matching search intent is the third common SEO mistake and is a big mistake.
It is smarter to pick the most relevant keyword even if its search volume is low.
To rank for a certain keyword, you must ensure that it is relevant to your target audience‘s search intent; otherwise, you will not get the traffic or conversions you want.
Find out How to Optimize for Keyword Search Intent here.
The next most common SEO mistake is regarding your content quality.
Writing the Wrong Content-Type
Creating content that is not considering your target audience is another common SEO mistake.
Search engines like Google want to give users the most relevant information possible when searching. The issue arises when you want to rank for a certain term but fail to focus the text on your target topic. So, if your content does not satisfy user intent, it will have difficulty ranking.
Some Causes of Writing the Wrong Type of Content
- Cramming multiple subjects in a single post
- Keyword Stuffing that Results in Low-quality Content
- Optimizing Articles for various Keywords Simultaneously
The objective of any content writing campaign should be to produce material that genuinely responds to your target audience’s inquiries and demands, with the appropriate keyword search intent. Learn How to Understand and Optimize for Keyword Search Intent.
Publishing Little or No Content
Having little or no content is not just one of the most common SEO mistakes but also the worst.
“Content is king” is a phrase you’ve likely repeatedly heard if you’ve spent time researching effective SEO strategies – But, unfortunately, that’s because it’s true.
Pages with little or no content make it difficult for search engines to understand what the page is about and have no place to target important keywords – this is a common mistake in SEO that happens most often on product/service pages. It doesn’t matter if a member of your target audience would understand what the page is about if they never see it.
SEO Tips: Adding content that uses natural language improves your site’s chances of being seen. There is no exact word count that every page must have to rank well in the search results. Instead, your site needs content depending on the page’s topic, the type of content you’re writing, and what your audience expects.
Why Content Is Important
Well-built content can improve your SEO and give you the foundation for other forms of digital marketing. For example, content can improve inbound traffic, help grow your backlinks, lead to better social media shares, and more!
Do not publish thin, low-value, copied, and scraped material – these are all major SEO blunders to avoid! These can lead to a thin content penalty from Google.
Keyword stuffing is when someone tries to manipulate their rankings by targeting just one or a small handful of high-traffic keywords all over the site, even when they are not the most relevant. This tactic used to work. But, Google has changed its algorithm to make it much more difficult to be deemed relevant for competitive and high traffic terms.
Overusing your target words looks spammy and creates a poor user experience. So instead of focusing your energy on cramming as many high-traffic words into your content as possible, write unique, naturally written content that is useful to your target audience. Of course, you should continue to target relevant keywords, but don’t be excessive.
Publishing Duplicate Content
Publishing unoriginal and duplicate content is counterproductive.
It’s easier than ever to get your content from other places or use software that “spins” it into a new form. But investing in creating original and meaningful content is far better. Creating unique, meaningful content is the only way to guarantee that your website does not get downgraded and pushed to the bottom of search results.
SEO Tips:
- Create compelling headlines appropriate to your content’s topic and refrain from using misleading headlines.
- Tell stories that people can connect to and relate to and use reliable sources.
- Link accounts with “channels,” which let visitors post comments and share their thoughts.
- Be innovative and creative. Add videos and pictures to improve the reader’s experience.
Failing to Create Quality Links
The quality of external links in a piece of content is more important than quantity. That is why it’s better to ensure you link to relevant, well-established sites with a good reputation – not just anyone. It’s also a good idea to link back to sites linked to you in the past, as this will bring future visitors.
Using ineffectual anchor text is another common link-building mistake.
Do not use links as red herrings – it wastes important SEO opportunities.
Anchor text indicates to search bots and readers what the link is about and how it may assist them. So, avoid utilizing the phrase “click here” as an anchor text, and make sure you use a variety of anchor texts. Using the same term excessively might be considered spammy.
SEO Tips:
- Don’t spend money on a link-building program that doesn’t use quality and best practices.
- Monitor and check for broken links and fix them.
- Create E-A-T content – high-quality content naturally pulls in links.
- Use technologies and tools to assist you in keeping an eye on things and construct.
Not Building Backlinks
Another common mistake is not building enough backlinks.
Backlinks are an important part of SEO, and you must ensure that you are building them. There are several ways to build backlinks, so use various methods. The Link Foundation Technique is A Powerful Foundational Link Building Tactic 2022.
Using Link Schemes and Breaking Google’s Term of Service
Another common mistake is breaking Google’s Terms of Service when building links. This common SEO mistake is because people want to use shortcuts when building links. But, this can lead to your website being penalized by Google.
Google’s algorithm updates have caused a lot of havoc in online marketing. One of the most recent updates, Penguin, was designed to penalize websites that engage in link schemes.
In a nutshell, link schemes are any tactics used to increase the number of links pointing to your website artificially.
Link Schemes can include:
- Buying link
- Submitting your website to Spammy or Low-Quality Directories
So, make sure that you are following the rules when building links.
Missing Internal Link Opportunities
Another common mistake is missing internal link opportunities. Internal links are important for SEO and must ensure you use them. There are several ways to add internal links to your website.
Failing to Use Title Tags, Meta Descriptions, and Schema Without Context
Never forget about meta descriptions and title tags regarding SEO. These optimizing criteria are considered by search engines while crawling your site, so if you implement them correctly, they may boost the performance of your content.
Many marketers neglect to tell search engines what their site is about and label their content with schema. Unfortunately, it means you’ll rank lower in typical searches and be less relevant in voice search queries.
Metadata is what appears on search engine result pages ( SERPs ) when a website comes up for certain queries.
Metadata includes the following:
- Page Title
- Meta description
The page title is still an important ranking factor for Google, so ensure it’s optimized correctly for every page.
SEO Tips:
- Add your keyword to the title and ensure it is not too long. A long title will get cut off, and you don’t want potential visitors to see just half of your page title in the search results.
The meta description is not a ranking factor, but it does play an important part in your Click Through Rate (CTR). CTR gives insight into how likely potential visitors are to click on your site in the SERPs.
Optimizing your meta descriptions with a clear and attractive message on what people can find on your site makes it easier for them to see if the information they’re looking for is on that page. The more likely people are to think your site will provide an answer to their search query, the more traffic a page will gain.
SEO Tips:
- For every brief but descriptive page, refrain from writing vague title tags. Instead, create unique title tags.
- Ensure that your keyword corresponds to the intent and avoid putting it in places where it may appear irrelevant.
Not Including Image Tags
Another technical detail that content marketers overlook is including picture tags. The alt text of the pictures you use in your content is crucial since they represent another indicator of how you target articles.
Search bots can’t see the images, but they can read the alt tags and use them to index your pages in a certain way.
Not Letting Google Crawl Content
Another common mistake is not letting Google crawl your content.
This common SEO mistake is because people want to control what Google crawls. But, it would help if you let Google crawl your content so it can be indexed. Not Letting Google Index Content
The eighth common mistake is not letting Google index your content.
This common SEO mistake is because people think they can control what Google indexes. But, it would help if you let Google index your content so it can be ranked.
Not Optimizing Site Speed
Another common mistake is not optimizing your site’s load speed.
This common SEO mistake is because people want to save money on hosting. But, you need to ensure that your site is fast so that people do not leave before it loads.
An extremely slow site will not be able to rank well.
The faster your site speed is, the more Google will favor it, especially now, with the page experience ranking factor slowly rolling out. So it’s important to work on your site speed to keep your pages in the search results.
Google PageSpeed Insights is a very useful tool to check your site speed: This tool gives you an overview of what aspects you can improve on to boost the speed of a particular page.
A quick win and a recommendation we frequently give is to optimize your images.
Many websites have relatively large images, which take a lot of time to load, making your website slower than it needs to be. Resize and Compress your images to speed up the loading time.
If you have a WordPress site, you can do this easily by installing a plugin that does that for you.
In case of a WordPress install, Check all your Active Plugins and see if you are using them. Perhaps some of them can be replaced by another plugin that combines those functions?
The best advice we can give you on this topic is that less is more. The fewer activated plugins, the faster your WordPress installment can be loaded.
Not Having Regular Website SEO Audit
The last but not the least common SEO mistake is treating SEO as a one-time thing. This common SEO mistake is common because people think they can do it once, and it is all.
But, SEO is an ongoing process, and you must ensure that you are continually working on it. Otherwise, your website will not be able to maintain its ranking. Learn How To Do an SEO Audit by checking out this Website SEO Audit Comprehensive Guide.
These are just fifteen common SEO mistakes you need to know and avoid. To increase your website’s ranking, you must avoid these mistakes. Otherwise, you will not be able to achieve the success you want.
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