Common SEO Mistakes You Need To Fix

Search engine optimization ‎is something everybody wants to get involved in so that their site can rank among top pages of search engines such as Google and Bing.

A lot of newcomers in the industry pay lots of money and yet asked themselves why they aren't there yet?.  They are not there yet because they aren't aware of some factors or they don't understand these factors correctly.

We should also put in mind that SEO changes every day and we need a concentrated follow up on these changes or else we will be lost in the process as what might work today may not work today. 

So if you have been spending money on optimizing your site or you are a beginner in search engine optimization, there are several common mistakes you need to fix,

Common SEO Mistakes You Need To Fix

Having a wrong optimization mindset: 

Lots of people in the website industry have a very wrong mindset when it comes to SEO. They believe the method used Yesterday is the same  Today and will remain Like that forever. I urge you to change this belief as this will destroy your website before you start. Some believe that it is all about:

• Link building: very wrong mindset. SEO goes beyond Link building. It involves a lot, content, website design, search engines rules and much more.

• It is done only on the Landing page: This is also a wrong mindset as every page of your website needs to be optimized for search engines. It should be done after you are sure you have address what your users want.

• SEO is all about Keywords Density: Too many Keywords on a particular page can kill such page opportunity to appear on a search engine as it might be seen as spamming. When doing Keywords use the right keywords, be it a single one but that actually carries a good meaning relating to your business.

You are not using the Google Keyword tool: 

Lots of website and blogs ignore the use of Google Keyword tool as they believe that by using the popular keywords related to their industry. Google Keyword tools give you an idea of queries that can be used to find your website and using such keyword will drive traffic to your site.

Also, try to avoid popular Keywords as these are overused and the competition on them are usually very high. Try using long tail keywords that are hardly used. For example, instead of using the keyword "SEO" which is a popular keyword for blogs about Search engines, you can go for "Search Engine Optimization" instead.

Poor Content: 

This year Google announced that content plays a major role for a website to rank on their SERP. Publishing good and informative content will help your site rank well on Search Engines. A site with good content attracts traffic. So here are things you should avoid when creating content:

• ‎Directly copying contents from another Website: This is the first bullet that will kill your effort. Try writing original content and if you are going to use someone else content. There are ways to do this and keep your originality.

• Providing wrong and irrelevant information: This is you shooting yourself on the leg. Once your site is know for providing wrong info and irrelevant info for that matter then you are done for especially if you are business website. ‎ This will make you have trust issues with search engines and Internet user. Aviod providing wrong info and irrelevant one. There are several niche you can write about that users are interested in, it only requires your commitment. 

• No citation and statistics to back up your claim: when you cite some else work in your research it increases your website trust. Also providing statistics to your claim proves that your site can be trusted and thus will increase your site rank on Search Engine Result Page.

Non Unique Title Tags and Description: 

Having a unique title tag on every page of your website can help increase SERP. Here are several things you should avoid while giving Titles to pages‎:

• Don't use the same title for all your pages

• Avoid including your website name for ‎all your pages. ( website name should be for the homepage only)

• Make the title unique, short and creative. Avoid lengthy title tags for a page‎. 65 characters maximum. 

For Description, though Google claims they don't pay attention to it, a good description attracts an audience. Your description should be persuasive, unique and must provide relevant information. It should be between 150 and 160 characters.

Slow Loading Website:

A website that loads slowly is bad for business. According to Google, website speed is among the factors that decide website ranking on SERP. A slow loading website increases bounce rates meaning that users aren't patient enough to wait a minute for a website to load when it doesn't load in few seconds, they head for an alternative one. Also, put in mind that as you consider your site speed also make sure ‎it mobile responsive as this also is a ranking factor. Most Internet user uses their mobile to access it.

No Consistency in Publishing:

There is a saying that whoever "fails to plan, plans to fail," this also affect website owners. You must be consistent in publishing articles on your website. If you plan to publish an article or more per day or week or month, endeavour to follow up on that plan.

Consistency has SEO value and drives traffic to the website. Being consistent updates your users and makes Google visit you regularly.

You are not using Internal Linking: 

Lots of website owners think internal linking is a waste of time or they are just being lazy. Internal linking has lots of benefits such as;

• Helping search engine discover more pages from your site.

• Reduces bounce rates as user remain glued to your site as they find out more about the subject through it.

• It helps increase trust and Search engine sees such links as important. 

However, as you do it, don't make it too much.

Not submitting your Website to Search Engines Webmaster: 

After designing and making your website active, you refuse to submit it  ‎to Webmaster. This is like driving while being blindfolded. You want to rank on SERP and you aren't telling the search engine that you actually exists. There are many gains that come with submitting your website on webmaster which includes ranking on SERP.

Avoiding Analytics:

Every marketer wants to see how their products are performing in the market, so also do website owners. Analytics from Google and other search engines provide data that gives insight into how your website is performing ‎so as to help you improve in any way where you are lacking. Google analytically is free and thus there is no money excuse for Internet marketers or else they are just being lazy.

Not linking your Website to Social media:

Social Media helps a lot in SERP ranking and thus ‎you need to be active at least with one of the social media platforms. Social Media is a good SEO tool according to experts and that not all it helps drive traffic to your site.

Stopped learning:

SEO, as I mentioned in the beginning changes from time to time, just because you've gotten good with Today's SEO, doesn't mean you should relax. Follow up with the latest update about new rules search engines are providing for SERP so as you won't be left behind. SEO requires you to follow up with its latest news and trends.

Conclusion

With these several mistakes highlighted above if you know you've defaulted one of them, it not too late you can go back to your website to correct such errors.