When it comes to SEO (search engine optimization) and your business – do you know if you’re doing it right?
If you have a blog or a website that you plan to market, and (hopefully) gain profit from, you need to have an effective content marketing strategy in place. One of the essential solutions to employ would be search engine optimization (SEO).
Although SEO has evolved over the years, it still remains one of the most powerful methods of boosting your Search Engine Results Page (SERP) rankings, which means enhanced exposure for your brand.
Nonetheless, numerous website owners today are still making SEO mistakes, without even realizing it. Additionally, there are some SEO myths that you may believe in that could actually be detrimental to your site.
Read on to find out if you too are making a few common SEO mistakes – (you might be surprised)
Assuming Your Content Will Automatically Have High Rankings.
One of the SEO myths in the online industry is site owners believing that their pages will readily get high rankings simply by having premium quality content. Although creating relevant and informative content is pertinent to boosting the rankings of your site, by no means is quality content a substitute for search engine optimization.
You also need to engage in on-page SEO, on all your website’s pages, to ensure that your content is ranked in the first few pages (preferably page one of course). Thus, never assume that you can ignore optimizing your pages with the hopes that your content will speak for itself.
Selecting The Wrong Keywords For Your Site.
Effective optimization of your site can only be done if you are using the right keywords. Proper keyword use and placement, helps in the building your authority and thus in turn moving your site up in the ranks
Some website owners may not even know they are making common SEO errors.
They assume they are incorporating the most descriptive keywords phrases for their goods and services. As a result, they choose to use long tail keywords for their SEO, not keeping in mind what specific keywords the customers may actually utilize in the search engine.
Even if you have a particular way of describing your blog or website, bear in mind that web surfers will usually key in just a couple of words when looking for content. Ensure those short keyword-phrases are what is used in your content.
Also, be wary of generic keywords, as these will not increase your page rankings.
Keyword Stuffing–It’s Not a Good Marketing Strategy.
Other than not using the right keywords, another of the common SEO errors people fall victim to is stuffing their content with too many keywords.
One of the SEO myths some people believe is that as long as they have their choice keywords in every other sentence of their content, their rankings will be boosted. This could not be further than the truth.
By over stuffing your content with keywords, your site will be flagged as spam. As a result, your site inadvertently becomes blacklisted by search engines. Meaning, you do not even get a chance to rank on the search page listings!
Additionally, overstuffing keywords means your content will not read naturally, which compromises the quality of your site.
Does Your Content Correlate With Your Keywords?
Another of the SEO mistakes individuals make is curating content that does not correspond with their chosen keywords. Thus, you may have the keywords in place to attract site users, but if they do not find your site useful, then your page rankings will start to drop.
Search engines also function to ensure that web surfers get results that are most pertinent to their queries. Therefore, if your content does not match the keywords that are making it rank, you will soon find that your site is no longer appearing among the top results.
Always ensure that the content that you are posting is based on the keywords that you are using.
Posting Plagiarized or Duplicate Content.
In years past, the posting of duplicate content on multiple sites was commonplace. There never used to be any repercussions for plagiarizing content. However, as aforementioned, SEO has evolved over the years.
Thus, if you assume that simply pasting duplicate content from a competitor’s website would help boost your rankings, you could end up jeopardizing your site, as the search engines will penalize you.
Some site owners try to counter this by simply spinning content so that they do not have to pay for quality content. Spun content is also considered spam, and would downgrade your search rankings.
To make the most of SEO and improve your page rankings, you would be better off investing in quality content. Use content that’s in alignment with your business, and beneficial to your site visitors.
Remember, you’re content builds your authority, and your increased authority helps boost your search engine rankings.
Overlooking Meta Descriptions and Title Tags
Content marketing and optimization is not exclusively about incorporating the appropriate keywords in your content.
Another measure to take would be to include meta descriptions and title tags. These tags are mainly for the search engine, as this is what they use when crawling for content before listing search results.
You should also get into the habit of incorporating image tags to your content. Although the search bots cannot visualize your images, they can read the tags and use them in determining your search engine rankings.
And What About Mobile Device Users?
In this digital age, most people are able to access the internet through their wireless enabled devices such as smartphones and tablets. However, some website owners have not taken notice of this and instead focus on optimizing their websites for computers.
A little-known fact is that search engines now put into consideration how mobile friendly your site is. If your website does not provide a user-friendly experience on mobile devices, it is quite likely you will not receive very high search engine page rankings.
So what does a good mobile friendly website look and feel like–you ask? Here’s a few good examples of well-designed effective mobile ready sites you can check out.
It’s Time to Implement Better SEO Practices?
It’s important to note that search engine optimization (SEO) is a key component of any content marketing strategy. Thus, you need to do your due diligence, and try to understand the workings of SEO and how it can benefit your business if done correctly.
And now that you’re aware of some of the typical SEO mistakes (that you might be making) – you can quickly avert them as you move forward with in your content marketing efforts.
Still trying to figure this whole SEO thing out? Is it proving to be too challenging and/or time consuming?
Do not despair – you can always reach out to an experienced Full Service Digital Marketing Agency that specializes in Search Engine Optimization for help. Most digital marketing companies offer a free consultation, to determine your business goals and to see if you’re both a good fit to work with each other.
Contact GILL Solutions today for a no obligation consultation, to discuss your SEO needs, and other marketing strategies to help you grow your business.
