Top 10 SEO Mistakes to Avoid
Search Engine Optimization or SEO is the optimization of a website so it may be easily found in a search engine, such as google, bing or yahoo. Many people are attempting to learn how to perform SEO for a friend’s website or even for their own business. If you are going to put forth the energy and effort to learn search engine optimization techniques take a moment to review the Top 10 SEO Mistakes. When it comes to SEO knowing what not to do can be just as helpful as knowing what to do. Learn how to maximize your efforts and minimize wasted energy by reading the Top 10 SEO Mistakes to avoid below.
1. Focusing too little on your content
Think about your search habits. When you run a search, how often do you look at the second or third page of results? Exactly. That’s why SEO — and the content you put on your website — is so important.
2. Focusing too much on SEO
Back in the day, getting to the top of the search rankings was as simple as having the right keyword combos in your content. And the more you mentioned those keywords, the better. It made for pretty stilted content. Flash forward to today and keyword stuffing will get you kicked down the rankings, rather than up. Google has learnt context — and rewards sites that produce quality content that answers users’ search queries.
3. Not thinking about your reader
It’s essential to think about the type of reader who will be visiting your website. What do they want? What are they searching for? What problem do they need to solve? What are their fears and desires? Their ambitions and needs?
Google and all the rest of them are phenomenally good at making sense of your content and matching it to relevant searches. So think about what your reader is searching for and frame your content accordingly.
4. Plagiarising content
Pilfering content from another website without their permission is illegal. And you will sink down the search rankings like an anchor to the seabed. In extreme cases your entire site may be de-indexed, making it impossible to find through search.
5. Duplicated content
By this we mean having identical content on different pages of your website. Google doesn’t like it. It wants you to be original, so get your creative cap on.
6. Ignoring the tag
Your tag tells search engines – and readers – what your page is about. It will be displayed on the search results pages, and in your visitor’s browser tab, so make sure it’s clear to incentivise those clicks.