If you are new to the world of digital marketing search engine optimization also known as (SEO) is one of the most powerful forms of online marketing any business can use. However, you’ve put in the time, and you’ve done everything right, but your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts are getting you nowhere fast. What’s going on? Chances are you’re making one or more of these simple SEO mistakes that prevent you from making consistent progress with your ranking strategy. Fortunately, the fix can be easy and inexpensive if you know what to do — so if you find yourself wondering what you might be doing wrong, read on to see if any of these common SEO mistakes could be the culprits behind your frustrating ranking struggles.
1) Not doing enough keyword research
Proper keyword research is one of your first and most important steps to getting great search engine optimization results. It’s also a key part of your long-term website maintenance plan, and it can help you avoid making serious or potentially costly mistakes. It’s important to use a keyword tool that guides you through every step of finding niche keywords, researching them effectively, and selecting high-quality keywords that generate traffic on demand. If you don’t do enough keyword research before starting a new site, you could be missing out on some amazing opportunities to get your content in front of people who are searching for what you have to offer. If you don’t keep up with ongoing keyword research after launch, it will be difficult for you to grow traffic over time. There are two types keywords to keep in mind as you do your research: Short tail keywords which are one to two words and long tail keywords which are more then 3 words.
This doesn’t mean you need to spend hours and hours on keyword research every day—but it does mean that if you aren’t careful about doing consistent keyword research over time, then you might miss opportunities for growth. The more time passes without updating your keyword list and analyzing how often people are searching for each term, the more likely it is that search volume will decline. When search volume declines, so does your ability to rank well in Google and other search engines. And when you start ranking lower than before, fewer people will see your content because they won’t click on it. That means less traffic coming to your site—and less potential business for you. So make sure you know how to do proper keyword research from day one!
2) Not having a social media presence
Social media is critical for companies today, and neglecting a company’s social media presence can lead to fewer visitors, fewer backlinks, and fewer customers. So it’s vital that you have an active presence on at least one of these sites, preferably all three of the top platforms: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. The more active you are on your business’ social media accounts, the better off you will be in terms of getting traffic from social networks. Make sure to respond quickly to any questions or comments left by others, as well as post interesting links related to your industry. Not only will having a strong social media presence help you get found online, but it will also help increase engagement with your target audience—which means more sales down the road!
If you aren’t using social media marketing to promote your business yet, now is a great time to start doing so. All major companies use some form of social media marketing because it works. There are many different things that you can do with social media marketing, but there are also many mistakes that you should avoid at all costs. In order to make sure that your company isn’t making any mistakes with its social media presence, check out these 10 social media marketing mistakes that most businesses make.
3) Not having good quality content
If you don’t have good quality content, you can forget about being found in a search engine. If your content isn’t interesting and useful, it won’t rank on page one. It’s that simple. It doesn’t matter how many backlinks you have or how many social media followers you count if your site doesn’t bring anything of value to those people. They will leave without clicking through to any other pages on your site, which means no traffic for you!
4) Neglecting your site’s design
Your site’s design is one of your most important on-page factors. It doesn’t just increase aesthetic appeal, it also has a direct impact on user experience and click-through rates, as well as your rank in search results. User experience is a broad term that encompasses many specific elements, including page load time and content organization. If you haven’t taken a look at these factors recently, now’s your chance to get up to speed. Our guide to designing high-performing websites will help get you started.
5) Doing too much SEO at once
It’s easy to get excited and dive right in, but it’s important to remember that search engine optimization is a long-term strategy. If you try to do too much at once, you could end up doing more harm than good. A better way to tackle things is one step at a time: identify your top priority areas and tackle them first, then move on from there. Remember – search engine optimization takes time; don’t expect overnight results! And even if you are seeing some movement, make sure you keep track of how much work went into it. That way, when it comes time to look for new clients or apply for promotions, you can show what kind of value your SEO efforts have brought to your business.
6) Forgetting about mobile SEO
In today’s world, a significant portion of your visitors are coming to your site on mobile devices. Many studies show that Google’s search results tend to favor pages that are optimized for mobile, so if you aren’t optimizing your site for these smaller screens, you could be losing business. So how do you optimize? Here are some tips Use short, clear titles and descriptions that include relevant keywords; include images in your content (especially if it’s an image-heavy topic); make sure all of your links work; provide click-to-call links wherever possible.
7) Ignoring user experience (UX)
If your website has a poor user experience, Google can penalize you. User experience signals are ranking factors. It doesn’t matter how much time and effort you put into ranking well if people can’t get around your site easily and effortlessly. Don’t make it hard for users to find what they need! Focus on both form and function to ensure a positive experience for anyone who comes across your site. Some of these tips will apply directly to design, while others will focus more on the load speed, internal links to other pieces of content, or usability. It is also important to focus those with visual impairments or other web accessibility issues especially with Google Image SEO Remember that good UX is essential for search engine optimization success.
8) Focusing on backlinks alone
Backlinks are external links that point back to your website which act as internet votes telling the search engines that your website has high quality content. If you’re just trying to collect as many backlinks as possible, you’re missing out on one of the most important aspects of search engine optimization. Backlinks are great and can be a vital tool in your SEO strategy, but they are only one part of it. You need to give equal attention to content creation—both how that content is formatted and how frequently it’s updated—in order to rank well with search engines. As such, it’s a good idea to spend some time looking at your website from an SEO perspective before moving forward with any major changes or preparing a new link building campaign. Ask yourself: What is my target audience? How will I serve them? How will I keep them coming back for more?
9) Focusing on short-term gains instead of long-term goals
One of Google’s main principles is to focus on users and all else will follow. This principle underpins their search engine optimization (SEO) efforts, too. In other words, there are no hidden rules when it comes to how you set up your website—just make sure it serves your customers well and helps them find what they need. However, it can be difficult to resist doing things that might improve your site rankings immediately but don’t help users in any significant way. Don’t fall into that trap! If you focus on long-term gains instead of short-term ones, you should see more traffic over time.
10) Not starting a blog
As a business owner, you probably already know that blogging is a great way to attract new customers. In fact, 88% of consumers say they are more likely to purchase from companies they follow on social media. If you aren’t blogging yet—or your posts aren’t ranking high on search engine results pages (SERPs) it might be time to consider starting one. The good news? It’s easier than ever before! With so many free and low-cost tools available today, it doesn’t take much effort or cost to start your own website and begin sharing valuable content with potential clients and customers.
11) Ignoring Search Engine Crawlability
A website should be easily accessible to search engine robots This is where things like technical SEO comes into play more. Technical SEO revolves around optimizing title tags and meta descriptions, fixing broken links as well as addressing duplicate content issues. By fixing these issues your will improve both the speed and amount of website content that is indexed.
