1. You Use Keyword Stuffing
Keyword stuffing is when you overuse your target keywords. You might add them to every sentence or in all of your headings or on all of your pages. While it’s true you want to use targeted keywords, overdoing it will do more harm than good. Keyword stuffing is a type of blackhat SEO, and it’ll get you penalized by Google.
You want to use keywords, but only in a natural way. When you add them too often, they start to read like a robot wrote your content. We aren’t designing websites for robots, we’re designing them for real people. Google’s recent Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) program can actually understand your topic and decide if you’re overusing your keyword, so this is something you should take seriously.
Instead, create keywords that feel natural. Longtail keywords are beneficial for this reason since they’re highly targeted. Then, use them naturally. It’s always better to skip using your given keyword for a specific area of your website if it means avoiding the use of an unnatural keyword.
2. You Skip Title Tags & Meta Descriptions
One common mistake that’s seen the most with new websites who might not be aware of the best ways to promote blog posts is the lack of tags and descriptions. While it’s true meta tags and descriptions don’t play a direct role in your SEO ranking, they do influence user’s actions. These tags appear in search engine results, not on the website page itself.
Because they’re not obvious on the blog post or website page, they’re easy to overlook. A plugin like Yoast SEO can help webmasters and marketers remember to include customized, targeted meta tags and descriptions. These tags should help users recognize whether this page is worth clicking on.
3. You Forget About Mobile-Optimization
Mobile SEO just might be the biggest trend in 2019, so it’s about time you hopped on the bandwagon. Currently, over 50% of users access websites through a mobile device. If your website doesn’t display properly on different screen sizes, you’re losing customers. A leading marketing agency Lead to Conversion includes mobile-first development in their digital marketing services. It’s worth collaborating with a professional if you need to get your business website to mobile-first standards.
4. You Never Check Analytics
Nothing about SEO is one-and-done. It’s an ongoing process that can’t be handled once. If you want to be competitive with your SEO, you need to have an ongoing strategy for monitoring your progress and analytics. How else will you know if your strategies are working? The reality is not everything you try is going to be a success. Some keywords won’t rank. Some marketing efforts will fall flat. This is just a part of running a digital business today.
Using a tool like Google Analytics or Google Webmaster is your first line of defense for staying on top of your progress over time. These platforms have options for emailing you custom reports on a regular basis so these results can come to your inbox. It’s essential you recognize the progress of your strategies if you want to improve.
5. You Ignore Social Media
Finally, the last mistake is to not use every tool at your disposal, and that includes social media. Today, social media platforms function as their own kind of search engines. Platforms like Google and Facebook are incredibly popular search tools for users, and you need to be active on these channels if you want to be competitive.
Social media increases your traffic and allows you to rank in new ways. It’s also a powerful tool for reaching your audience and building relationships. No matter your audience, you can’t ignore these up-and-coming social tools.
Final Thoughts
In this day and age, it pays to be aware of SEO trends. No matter how big or small your business is, you can’t ignore your online presence. Having strong SEO means knowing how to adapt to the latest trends in a way that benefits your business.
If you’re making any of the mistakes above, you’re not alone. It’s never too late to learn more and make a positive change. Your business counts on it, so get to work strengthening your optimization today.
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