Here are some of the most common SEO mistakes that could undermine your online presence and how to avoid them in simple steps.
It's easy to make mistakes whenit's done SEO for a websiteI've even caught myself making stupid mistakes here and there. That said, it's important for webmasters to know what some of the bad things are when it comes to SEO.
Sites without errors have a better chance against the big ones. Sites with many backlinks but some markup issues can quickly rise in search results once the SEO issues are addressed. Fortunately for webmasters, most of these errors are extremely easy to fix and can be completely corrected in just a few minutes.
For those with search engines that regularly crawl their sites, changes can be made almost instantly from the search engine's side. Those with slightly slower crawl speeds will naturally have to wait longer, but the changes will have their benefits over time. I also want to add that this article will reflectchanges in SEOin recent years as meta keywords, for example, are certainly not as important as they once were.
Here are the most common SEO mistakes and how to fix them:
The problem
You've filled an entire page with nothing but images OR you're using development methods that aren't crawlable, such as a site that uses nothing but Flash. The search engine has no text (or anything else) to read.
You may have a well-written, keyword-rich article that looks great in Flash or images, but search engines may not be able to read it. Therefore, you won't rank very well for your keyword-rich article.
The solution
SecondGoogle's official webmaster guidelines,
”Try using text instead of images to display important names, content, or links. Google's crawler doesn't recognize text in images. If you must use images for text content, consider using the ALT attribute to include a few words of descriptive text.“.
Additionally, I would recommend using more plain text on your website. And just because it's called plain text doesn't mean it has to look plain. There are some beautifully designed websites that are easily readable by search engines. You don't have to sacrifice beauty just to get search engines to crawl your site.
The problem
You might have a fantastic webpage on your website with a keyword-rich description about, say, strawberry cheesecake. You elaborate on how wonderful and deliciously moist your cheesecake recipe is. Your URL, however, only says www.somesortofsite.com/node61. Search engines value not only the URL, which should somehow describe your site, but also the slug, which, in this case, I've called node61.
The solution
Get a URL that describes your site. If you have a website about affiliate marketing, for example, try something like https://affiliatemarketing.com. If you write an article about affiliate marketing tips, insights, or anything else, make sure the slug represents it in some way.There are several ways to do this, depending on the content management system you use. You can configure WordPress to automatically give you a descriptive slug based on your post title, or you can enter your own slug.
The problem
You're spending too much time researching and finding the BEST keywords to use in your meta tags.
The solution
Don't spend too much time doing this.
According to Neil Patel, the co-founder of Crazy Egg and Hello Bar:
“Meta keywords are no longer relevant in today's SEO. Google may decide to change the rules in the future, but for now, you shouldn't waste your time on it.. If you are a WordPress user, you do not need to add any other tags that you think are relevant to your content. “.
While there are still many webmasters who think otherwise, they're certainly not as important as they once were. However, meta keywords now mean much less than they used to. I must confess, I still enter information into those pretty metadata fields, but I don't spend as much time on them as I used to. Neither should you. Just grab a few quick tags and a cute little description and call it a day. Basically, just set it and forget it.
The problem
No “alt tags” on your images.
The solution
Add alt tags to each of your images. This way, you provide search engines with information about what's in the photo. You don't have to describe the entire image, but at least put something descriptive there!
According to Google:
”…If you must use images for text content, consider using the ALT attribute to include a few words of descriptive text“
Everyone likes to know what's in a photo, even if they can't see it. Many people don't have the time to add alt tags for every single little icon or design element. It's not really necessary to have alt tags on ALL images, just the important ones. The topic of alt tags is becoming increasingly controversial, but it doesn't hurt to add them, and personally, I've noticed a difference since adding them.
The problem
Everything on your site is HTML. You love HTML and can't get enough of it.
The solution
If your site design is in HTML, you are committing a grave development sin. Website design should be written in CSSWhy is this a problem? Search engines can have trouble distinguishing between design and content if your site is written strictly in HTML.
Another challenge faced by those whose sites are not CSS-based is the painstaking process of making changes to a layout.
The problem
Your site has no backlinks.
The solution
A site’s on-page SEO really helps, but off-page SEO is what will take it to the top.Websites need backlinksand quality backlinks.
According to Patel:
”When deciding how to rank your website, Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines look at how many links lead to your site (and the quality of those links).“.
”The more high-quality, trusted, and authoritative sites link to you, the higher your blog posts and sales pages will appear in search results pages.“, he added.
Indeed, one of the most important aspects of SEO is backlinks. It's also important to include keywords in backlinks. It's important for backlinks to be natural, or at least appear natural, so webmasters must be careful not to create too many backlinks at once.
Too many backlinks in a short period of time looks suspicious, and sites have been penalized for it. Take it easy.Add a new backlink here and thereTaking it slow gives you plenty of room to experiment a bit—to see what works and what doesn't without a huge investment of time or money.
The problem
You've chosen a great keyword, but you have 50,387 backlinks and still don't rank for the keyword.
The solution
You've chosen some bad keywords. If you already have a lot of backlinks and want to stay in your niche, you'll likely get much more traffic with slightly less competitive keywords.
Every niche has those extremely competitive keywords, but with a little creativity and research, you canfind some good keywords– ones that people search for often, but are something your website can rank for.
Source Search Engine Watch
Published in Digital Marketing, SEO
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