Major SEO Mistakes of the Other People You Should Learn From

Major SEO Mistakes of the Other People You Should Learn From

I first discovered the charged power of incorporating keywords into websites to boost rankings in 1996. By adding a keyword that is desirable the META keyword tag and repeating it frequently in the text, I ranked clients’ websites on popular search engines like WebCrawler and Lycos. It wasn’t simple however, as I was client that is optimizing for 14 search engines, which all had differing algorithms. While much has changed since Google introduced PageRank, many of the fundamentals I refined in the 90s still apply.

I originally shared my philosophy on search engine optimization (SEO) a decade ago with The 3 C’s of SEO. In my article, I identified three primary areas of focus for successful SEO:

• ·        Content
• ·        Credibility
• ·        Code

The 3 C’s still apply today while social media has influenced Google’s algorithm. In this article, I shall outline the most common (and timeless) mistakes and misconceptions about SEO.

Content

One of the most formidable challenges with SEO, is the creation of fresh, unique, relevant and content that is compelling. Creating copy, photography, video or other forms of content is both time-consuming and costly. Developing content so remarkable that it is worth sharing is even more challenging. This is a issue that is key as inbound links still drive organic rankings in search. There are a few common mistakes marketers make when SEO that is attempting adult supervision, most of which centers around volume, quality and relevance.

For starters, marketers often mistake the value of quantity vs. quality of content. Thus, they may hire or pay vendors to create high volumes of generic, unprofessional or content that is generally low-quality including short blog posts, fact-less articles or poor quality images and video. The use of exact-match domains (EMDs) with thin and flat topical micro-sites is still a thing with marketers unfamiliar with Google’s Panda update in 2011 while less common today.

When creating content that is new a website, too many marketers fail to keep voice search in mind. With the adoption that is rapid of, Amazon Alexa and Google Home, more searches than ever are conducted by voice. Thus, queries tend to be phrased in the form of a question instead of 3-5 keywords that are topical. A oversight that is related some marketers is the failure to localize content for different countries, languages or business locations. The internet is both global and local and rewards that are google that understand this fact.

Even if marketers can create content that is truly compelling some are still working off outdated strategies including keyword-stuffing website pages. This is a issue that is particularly prevalent blog posts and articles being overly-optimized beyond what would be considered natural or authentic. Conversely, overly-aggressive websites that are publication-type inundate pages with advertising or affiliate links to maximize revenue, at the expense of the user experience and rankings.

Code

While most website visitors are not familiar with HTML and management that is content (CMS) that are used to create and manage websites, Google cares a good deal about source code underlying websites. There are a handful of mistakes marketers make when building websites with SEO in mind. First and foremost, the code must be clean, fast, WC3/ADA-compliant and responsive. Far too many marketers are sold CMS platforms with bloated code and SEO that is limited that hurts rankings for a variety of reasons.

The most common problem with CMS platforms is that the large amount of code can push the content Google down wants to rank. Big code also slows down the website, which negatively impacts the user experience. Google recognizes and rewards user that is exceptional, which includes designing with mobile users in mind. Also known as responsive design, mobile-friendly websites render a page differently depending on screen size.

With or without a CMS platform, websites should be designed with CSS, minimal JavaScript and image that is optimized video files for maximum speed and usability. Far websites that are too many on outdated versions of HTML or other coding platforms, or have been built or rebuilt over the years, making them slower, less-reliable and more difficult to index. I still come across prospective clients that do not have a XML that is current sitemap robots.txt files to help guide search engines. Marketers may also not realize the impact of a sites’ structure and architecture can impact rankings. Historically, Google has preferred a flatter site hierarchy, which sometimes directly conflicted with a deeper structure that was more challenging to navigate and spider.

They are willing to bend or break rules for short-term gains while I haven’t experienced code trickery like cloaking for years, some marketers are still committed to black and grey hat SEO, meaning. Unfortunately, Google eventually catches up and once penalized, websites may not recover for months, if ever. Along the lines that are same many sites are not properly secured, which Yahoo! recently demonstrated can be quite costly. While we’re on the topic of trickery, it should be noted that Google does not like duplicate content, whether intended or not.

The area that is final of relating to code best practices, revolves around keywords and structured data. Believe it or not, despite a focus that is proactive SEO, many marketers fail to incorporate keywords where it matters most: Title and header tags. Additional keyword-optimization opportunities include meta description, ALT tags, anchor file and text names. Lastly, some marketers fail to properly utilize schema markup or snippets that are rich help Google and others understand the content and context. This is particularly useful for eCommerce product pages, and information that is location-based addresses and phone numbers.

Credibility

While the need for quality content and code that is clean not changed in the last 20 years of search engine marketing, credibility factors have changed dramatically. Since Google came on the scene in 1998, with an algorithm that is innovative focused on the hub-and-spoke model of authority, SEO professionals have put a good deal of effort into securing inbound links. Unfortunately, too many marketers have forsaken quality links (from popular and reputable websites) for quantity (typically lower quality websites with questionable domain authority).

We’ve known for years that quality trumps quantity, when it comes to inbound links. Some marketers are holding out on that insight and continue to purchase links from high domain authority websites or create or buy even into link farms, which has been out-of-vogue for nearly a decade, but still retains the allure for desperate marketers.

While links continue to be a focus that is major SEO professionals, there has been discussion around the weighting of inbound links in Google’s algorithm. Recent research unveiled by Stone Temple Consulting at SEMpdx Engage Conference, indicates that links are still a significant factor in the algorithm that is ranking. The vote of confidence an inbound link (or citation) provides a website is still a factor that is key should be considered heavily in marketing efforts.

One area that marketers continue to debate, is the impact of SEO initiatives on graphic design, coding and copywriting. In the early days of Internet marketing, I would get into arguments with my interactive agency counterparts about copy, design and code, in which SEO best practices would appear to conflict with design best practices. That issue has largely resolved itself, as Google has become more sophisticated and focuses more on the user experience and value content that is high. As a result, sites that are beautifully designed with unique content and coding that is artful to out-rank sites designed solely for SEO and not the user.

Credibility covers a host of elements, many of which are misunderstood or unknown by unwashed marketers. One example is history that is domain which includes the age of the domain and when it expires. Google likes domains that are old expire many years from now, so stop auto-renewing annually and renew every 5-10 years. Domain authority, which is available for free via MOZ, indicates how likely the site is to rank for unbranded terms. A domain that is strong is over 50 out of 100. Off-site factors quality that is including quantity of inbound links weigh heavily in the Open Site Explorer domain authority ranking.

Most marketers understand the importance of social signals in search results, but typically focus only on sharing or links that are securing mentions via Facebook and Twitter. Although Google+ has over 400 million active users, many marketers fail to understand the importance of a user that is single known as Google. Google+ provides marketers a back-channel to Google, informing the engine what users that are active is important in terms of content.

A clear majority of businesses have a address that is formal. Regardless, every business should claim and optimize its Google My business listing that is local. This is particularly important for retail locations. Far too often, marketers overlook the claiming and optimizing of local listings, including Facebook, Yelp and other party that is third providers for maps and business directories. Another factor related to listings that are local reviews. Business reviews can make or break a continuing business and must be monitored and managed. Marketers are particularly bad about ignoring bad reviews and not securing a number that is meaningful of reviews, which directly impact revenue, per recent research. Adding one star that is additional the 5-star economy, adds 9 percent to top-line revenue.

Learn from the mistakes of others and follow best practices when optimizing your website. Looking for a few helpful SEO resources? We ensure you are up-to-speed on the SEO strategies that are latest, tactics and tools. Do not hesitate to visit our digital marketing agency in Doha's website. We're based in Doha, Qatar but providing our professional, digital, top seo agency Qatar and web design in Qatar services worldwide.