Business owners often overlook the importance of search engine optimization when developing a business strategy.
In today’s digital age, it is necessary to consider SEO because 59% of all web searches are done using a smartphone during the 1st quarter of 2021, and most customers do research about their purchases online before they buy.
Here are the nine biggest SEO mistakes that are killing your businesses.
Site architecture is the structure of a website. The architecture serves to organize and control navigation paths, site structure (pages, linking and menus), content presentation/display, and strategic pagination. A lack of site architecture can lead to disorienting for visitors on the site and they can also cause problems with search engine optimization.
The layout of a website is oftentimes derived from the organization’s goals, target audiences, messages they wish to convey, and what products or services they wish to advertise or promote. A website owner should focus on their desired visitor experience to maximize engagement with their site through utilizing appropriate navigational elements such as breadcrumbs, simplifying navigation by placing frequently accessed pages in a single location (homepage), or by utilizing a search tool.
A website’s mobile experience has become increasingly important in today’s digital age, as over 50% of web traffic is now generated by mobile devices.
Mobile site architecture needs to be carefully conceptualized before the design phase even begins so that it makes sense on all platforms, devices, and browsers. A consideration of mobile devices is contingent upon the goals and target audiences of the website, with additional considerations of screen size (portrait or landscape), browser compatibility, resolution, and speed. The site should also be designed so that it scales to provide optimized viewing for all users on all platforms.
Site architecture links directly into search engine optimization because if a website is not properly designed and lacks proper navigation then it can confuse visitors to the site. Visitors will be less likely to return to a poorly planned website.
Trying to rank for too many keywords at the same time is a common SEO mistake. Businesses may be attracted by the idea of drawing traffic from multiple keywords, but this strategy typically yields low-quality results.
In order to rank for any keyword, you have to provide a large amount of content on that specific subject. This means that by ranking for multiple keywords at once, your website will be lacking in its breadth of content and will not rank as high as it would had it been focusing on just one keyword.
Furthermore, search engine crawlers are more likely to penalize your site if they detect that you are trying to rank for too many subjects simultaneously. You can still diversify your selection: just pick 3 or 4 main keywords and focus on those.
In order to rank highly in search engine results pages, you need to use your chosen keyword in strategic ways throughout both the website and the content placed within it. Your keyword should appear often enough for relevance, but without being overused so as to cause negative user experience.
Poorly optimized website copy can be detrimental to a company’s SEO.
Website owners should optimize their content by following proper keyword density, using the appropriate H1 tags in order to increase relevancy for each page and title tag optimization so that it correlates with what was searched for making user experience more pleasurable as well.
One of the most important elements of online content is a clear call to action. This includes asking visitors to subscribe, sign up for a newsletter, or purchase your product. If you don’t include a clear call to action on your website, it can be difficult for your visitor to know what they should do next.
Finding out what goal you want your visitor to achieve will help you create the appropriate CTA for your website. For example, a website for a pet product should include an invitation to make a purchase. On the other hand, content publishers may want to encourage visitors to subscribe for blog posts or add the author’s book to their Wishlist.
You should avoid the use of aggressive SEO tactics because they can cause a penalty on your website.
These tactics are usually used by a company so that they rank higher and get more traffic, but there is the potential for punitive measures from search engines.
Google has updated its algorithms to penalize websites that were using these aggressive tactics as well as those that are deemed low quality.
Content spamming is also considered an aggressive tactic. This includes over-posting content or leaving comments on unrelated blogs in order to increase backlinks to one’s own site. These links will end up hurting your ranking rather than helping it.
There are certain practices regarding SEO that can put a business and its website at high risk of being penalized by search engines. These include:
1) Using content that is copied from another site without proper attribution.
2) Keyword stuffing.
3) Using hidden links or redirects.
4) Publishing low-quality content.
5) Financially incentivizing reviews through affiliate marketing.
6) Publishing duplicate content or stealing from an offline source.
7) Using blackhat practices.
Google and other search engines monitor websites for violations of these rules. When they find a site that is in violation, they penalize it by lowering its ranking on their search results pages. The ultimate result is lower traffic to the site which can lead to loss of revenue through lower sales or leads.
It is important to invest in the right content marketing strategy for your business. This includes investing in a strategy that aligns with your goals, is simple and easy to execute, and can drive business results. One example of this could be creating videos on YouTube for driving traffic back to your website or blog.
Google has also changed its algorithm to reward high-quality content rather than quantity. You should avoid low-quality content because it will look bad for your company’s reputation. Quality content providers are rewarded by Google with higher ranking on SERPs, which leads to obtaining more web traffic and sales.
Some marketers have found success by providing quality written content on platforms like LinkedIn or Medium. Others have been able to generate more leads and sales using audio podcasts on platforms like Soundcloud. The important thing is to choose the strategy that works for your business, implement it, and measure the results.
Usually, businesses dictate to SEO consultant what they want that person to do for them. They may give the SEO consultant the title of “SEO Expert” but they are only allowed to do a few things such as create meta descriptions or write content. This is not helpful because it limits the amount of work an SEO expert can complete for clients. If a business wants to utilize the services of an SEO Consultant effectively, they should consider hiring someone that has proven knowledge and experience in all areas that involve SEO. This could include:
1) Technical SEO – this includes things like crawling, indexing, linking structure and other technical activities.
2) On-page optimization – this involves the use of meta descriptions, title tags, keywords for both organic and paid search results. It also involves making sure titles are used in the Alt Tags of images, as well as the description for those images.
3) Off-page optimization – this involves creating content that engages users in an effort to drive traffic and increase the visibility of your site. This could include linkbuilding, outreach and PR campaigns.
4) Strategy – this includes setting goals as well as conducting competitive analysis, auditing a website, and managing projects for SEO purposes.
5) Reporting – this involves providing reports on the progress of SEO activities as well as analytics that can be used by clients to make business decisions.
SEO might not work as a quick-win marketing strategy for your business since it can take several months before any positive results can be seen.
Marketers do not have to wait long before they need a new strategy that will produce quick results. SEO is definitely not one of those strategies because it takes time to work and even then, the results may appear slow at first. It also requires consistent efforts for long-term success.
More traffic does not always mean more conversions. The number of visitors you gain can be more important than the number of leads and sales that you acquire. Too much traffic can be useless if there is not enough conversion to make up for it. This is because paid advertising always has a limit on the amount of traffic it can generate for your company. To get a good return on investment, you need to have a good conversion rate.
A good conversion rate depends on many factors such as how well-optimized your website is, how relevant your content is to the search query, and how engaging with your content is on social media platforms.
“In other words, a good marketing strategy involves improving and optimizing many aspects of your business which will include SEO. Your organic traffic success will be dependent on how well the rest of the elements of your marketing mix perform.”
Conclusion: It can be easy to make mistakes when trying to implement an effective SEO strategy for your business. By avoiding these common pitfalls, you’ll be able to work smarter and rank higher on Google. If you find yourself struggling with these problems, let’s chat! I’ll walk through how I can help improve your rankings and drive traffic by focusing on what really matters to your business.
