Search engine optimization (SEO) is an art. Because it’s such a technical field, some businesses prefer to hire contractors such as Yeah Local to help them achieve their SEO goals. Others prefer to go it alone, and here’s where problems begin. SEO’s complexity means that it only takes a simple, silly mistake to undo months or even years of planning. We delved into the archives of SEO blunders and came up with 8 of the simplest harmful mistakes that SEO professionals are likely to make during their careers.
1. Forgetting to Remove noindex/nofollow Tags
Deep Crawl mentions that both the noindex and nofollow tags can have their uses on a website []. Noindex deals with removing the website or page from the Google search results and nofollow tells the search engine to leave that link out of considerations about the website’s authority. Developers use noindex and nofollow to gain more control over particular pages. However, if the search engine spider spots that command, it’ll immediately follow what noindex or nofollow tells it. Forgetting to remove them from your page can lead to disaster.
2. Using the Wrong Keywords
Who’s your audience? What do you want them to want before they get to your website? Google’s newest method of SEO search has been termed intent-based searches. What this translates to is that Google tries to figure out the reason the person is searching for a particular term and then giving them results related to that reason. As a result, the keywords you use should be tailored to the audience you want to target. Having keywords that are too vague or could fit into general marketing patterns won’t help you pinpoint your customers.
3. Not Using Google Analytics or Google Console
Google Analytics is a complete analytics package. It’ll tell you where your visits are coming from and what’s driving your traffic. Google Console guides you on building a better website and helps you see any technical problems you may need to fix. Some people disregard these tools because they see them as useless. Some of this stems from the fact that these tools are free. However, if you know what you’re doing, you can get excellent SEO out of these tools. More expensive tools might make this information more comfortable to read or stick some bells and whistles on it, but the data remains the same.
4. Not Creating Better Content
By now, you ought to know that Google ranks websites based on the freshness of its content. Moz outlines examples showing how Google sees freshness and how it relates to your search engine result ranking. We know about evergreen content already, but fresh and topical content can generate tremendous results. Always take the opportunity to refresh your content. Post new informative blogs or how-tos about things that fit your niche. Content isn’t something you “set and forget.” It’s a continually evolving and changing part of your website.
5. Avoiding Internal Linking
Lots of website owners love external links. It’s great to see a website with a ton of authoritative links scattered throughout the text. Unfortunately, some content creators forget that internal linking is also a significant part of the algorithm. Internal links make it easier for Google to add your site to the results page, and it has the added benefit of driving traffic to other areas of your website.
6. Forgetting Conversions Are the Goal of SEO
It’s easy to lose sight of the forest if you’re too close to the trees. When you examine any page advising you on SEO, a lot of their suggestions revolve around traffic. However, if you ask yourself what a website needs, it’s not traffic. It’s conversations. Traffic helps generate those conversions by increasing the number of potential buyers who will see your product. However, it doesn’t work to make those conversions happen. That’s all down to your SEO.
7. Forgetting Intent-Based Search
When we mentioned keywords before, we touched in intent-based searches. Keywords and intent go hand in hand. A business can’t have one without the other. Yet, for modern SEO to be successful, a company must demonstrate a mastery of both.
8. Pressing Pause on SEO
What happens when you stop paying attention to SEO? Your website gets stagnant. Visitors drop off (and so do conversions). Many new business owners get used to SEO and think that once it starts working, it’ll sustain itself. But SEO isn’t a switch that you can turn on and off. It’s more like a pump that needs to be primed for it to make results flow. If you stop priming it, it’ll stop running.
Don’t Make These Mistakes
While these are the most common mistakes SEO professionals make, they’re by no stretch of the imagination the only ones. SEO professionals have to contend with a fluid landscape that changes from day to day. Traffic numbers, intent, and any number of factors can make SEO fail. With so many factors that could cause the SEO machine to break down, why add your own mistakes to the list?
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