Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is still a relatively “new” marketing opportunity to most people and it is commonly misunderstood and misused. Below we’ll take a look at 3 SEO mistakes to avoid so you can leverage your SEO efforts and make sure you’re getting the most bang for your buck (or time).
1. Keyword Stuffing
When SEO first arrived on the scene, you could stuff your website full of keywords and phrases without any consequence. In fact, keyword stuffing was a common practice that increased rankings. But now, search engines are smarter and penalize keyword stuffing. That’s right, if you stuff your website full of keywords, your search engine rankings will be lower. Check out this quick synopsis on Wiki.
The Fix:
You need to be strategic when adding keywords to your website. It’s important to do your research and identify primary keywords (4-6 keywords) that have the lowest competition and highest search volume. Before you try to rank for highly competitive keywords, go after the low hanging fruit. As time progresses, you can add new keywords into the mix but you want to be very targeted.
2. Duplicate Content
While it’s tempting (and timesaving) to copy and paste duplicate content on your website, don’t do it. Seriously, DO NOT use duplicate content on your website. Duplicate content is when the same content is used on multiple pages of your website. Google (and the other big search engines) will penalize your website if it does not contain unique content.
The Fix:
It’s simple, write unique content that’s search engine friendly, easy to read and utilizes a select group of keywords effectively. When planning content topics, make sure they use unique titles and use at least one of your pre-determined keywords.
3. Not Optimizing Title and Meta Tags
Title and Meta tags are pieces of code within your website that help search engines quickly digest and display important information about your website. It’s important to optimize your title and meta tags because they help make your website more search engine friendly. They also help you differentiate your listing in the search engine results.
The Fix:
Keep it simple stupid (KISS). Don’t overthink or stuff your tags full of unnecessary information. The best practice is to keep your Title tag under 70 characters and Meta Description tag under 160 characters. Either learn how to make the updates yourself or hire a professional SEO expert to optimize your tags.
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