Search Engine Optimisation or SEO is the technique to get ahead of others in search engines such as Google, Bing, or Yahoo. There is no doubt that SEO is vital for websites to earn traffic. Organisations invest a lot of time, effort, and money to optimise their websites for search engines. But is it possible they could be doing just the opposite? Are they committing SEO mistakes that are pushing them down rather than up the rankings of search engines? Check out if you are making the following mistakes:
1) Content is King: If you have low-quality, crappy content on your website, then it is time to say bye-bye to your SEO rankings. That is because search engines hold content in high regard. If your content is terrible, your rankings are going to be wrong. How to enhance the content on your website? Make sure it is informative and provides appropriate knowledge to your readers. More words, the better; ideally, it should be beyond 600 words touching around 1000 words. It should be grammatically correct with proper sentence construction, no spelling mistakes, correct punctuation usage, etc. Readers would not stay long on a page that is poorly written. People will avoid linking to your website if they see poor content.
2) Plagiarised content: Content on your website or blog should be unique and not copied from elsewhere. Using plagiarised or duplicated content is one of the worst SEO mistakes. Also, two different pages on the same website should not have the same content. This is a big no-no for search engines, and you are likely to be discarded from search results. Use plagiarism checking software to ensure there is no duplicate content.
3) Too many keywords: Keyword stuffing is an unscrupulous and unethical practice by some desperate SEO enthusiasts to get rankings. First of all, content stuffed with keywords becomes awkward to read. These keywords appear out of context and unnatural leaving the reader scratching his head. Plus, search engines have become more competent. Therefore, such pages containing excessive keywords would be filtered out or demoted in rankings. In some cases, it would be removed altogether. Moral of the story: Write in a usual manner with keywords thrown in as naturally as possible.
4) Ignoring the mobile revolution: Just as there was a computer revolution a few decades back, today we see a mobile process. If you are not sure, look around you. Almost every other person seems to be using a smartphone. And those who are not using are most likely seriously considering buying. Nowadays, not having a mobile phone is almost equal to living in prehistoric times. One of the common SEO mistakes websites make is underestimating the power of the mobile. Webpages that are not mobile-friendly give a poor experience. And search engines are the first to notice this fact. If a website does not offer an excellent mobile experience, it will likely lose rankings. A smooth mobile experience also facilitates load speed, page appearance, font size, video loading etc.
5) Not getting expert advice: Most blog or website owners think they are SEO experts once they read up on SEO on the net. They feel now they know all about SEO. But trust me, SEO is not that simple. It is like watching a few medical videos and thinking you have become a doctor. Some things are best left to the experts. New strategies and techniques are always cropping up in the field of SEO. It is not possible to keep abreast of what is happening in the SEO world in your busy schedule. In contrast, an SEO professional is skilled in domain awareness. He continuously upgrades his knowledge in his field of expertise. So our idea is if you do not have the time to dedicate to the search engine rankings of your website, hire a full-time professional.
Though these five common SEO mistakes are apparent, not everyone is aware of them. Moreover, the SEO field is ever-expanding. Whatever is applicable now may be obsolete tomorrow. So keep abreast of the latest happenings regularly.
