3 SEO Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Many common SEO mistakes are perpetuated by the same professionals that are supposed to know better. SEO isn’t as complicated as many people would lead you to believe. These three SEO mistakes are the most prevalent among average bloggers and beginning developers:

 

Not Finding the Correct Keywords

When you are using the Google AdWords Keyword Tool, it is important to make sure you have ‘Exact Mode’ checked instead of ‘Broad Match’. The problem with Broad Match is that it is going to not only show results for the word you are typing into the searching tool, but also key phrases that relate to the keyword. Exact Mode is going to help you get a much better understanding of your competition.

 

Coming up with the proper keywords for your website can be tricky. Sometimes we forget to think about what words other people are going to be searching for on sites such as Google or Bing. Try to think outside the box and see which words related to your target audience are most effective. Sometimes simply altering your keywords can make the world of a difference.

 

Proper Keyword Placement

Keywords are important but they should not be stuffed into your content. Just because you are talking about ‘relationships’ for example; does not mean you have to cram the word ‘relationships’ into your piece twenty times. When you do add keywords, be sure that the content flows and pay extra attention to your header tags.

 

Updating Infrequently

If you want to have a successful website, not only do you want to make sure you speak in a way that connects you with your members but you also want to keep them updated on a regular basis. Come up with new, fun ways to keep your members intrigued. Nothing is worse than logging in to a website and seeing the same old thing every day. If you want consistent traffic or an increase in traffic then you need to keep your viewers interested.

 

Try mixxing up the format of your content, and vary your tone. Photo galleries, list articles, interviews, news breaks, infographics, how-to-articles, and video posts are all viable alternatives to your average editorial opinion post. Readers will appreciate the diversity, you won’t suffer from burnout as easily, and Google will notice that your website is more active. Active websites are given higher Page Rankings, and are crawled more often than dormant blogs. Posts that have been published recently also get tagged as fresh, and will be displayed at the top of SERPs for a few days immediately after publishing.

 

Improper Linking

The links you create on your home page are extremely important. Your website’s home page should be a place where you show off what you love most about your site; this can be any special offers or new content you’ve posted.

 

External Links

Many people seem to miss the importance of linking to other websites. Trading links is something that can be both beneficial to you as well as the website that you are linking to. It’s not always easy to find people willing to trade links, but when you find a great site and they’re willing to do it for you; do not hesitate to return the favor as this is going to boost your traffic as well as your SEO.

 

Linking Internally

Many people think that in order to get attention to pages on their website, they have to place links everywhere. Do not do this! If you are placing a link on one page about another page on your site, only do so if the two topics are related. This is the proper way to tie related content together and weave the proverbial web. Linking all over the place really decreases the link value and overwhelms your members.