How bad SEO practices can hurt your online presence.
Search Engine Optimization is used to help more people find your business online.
When done well, it can position a website on page one which increases the number of searchers who will discover you online.
But there are some SEO practices that can have the opposite effect.
And they’re easy to avoid if you know what they are.
Top 7 SEO practices to avoid.
- Targeting highly competitive keywords
Since being on page one of the search engines is so important, it’s best to avoid competing with the online giants like Amazon, Yelp, Forbes, Wikipedia etc.
Instead of trying to rank for the short-tail search term (aka keyword) “Roofers”, go after a long-tail keyword such as “Best Roofers in Providence RI” - Keyword Stuffing
Avoid trying to use your target keyword too much on each page.
This bad SEO practice is called “keyword stuffing.”
The search engines can spot it a mile away and they’ll penalize you for it.
Just write helpful, relevant content with your keyword and synonyms mentioned naturally throughout the page.
Aim for a 1-2% keyword density, so 1-2 mentions of the keyword for every 100 words. - Buying links
Purchasing low-quality links from other websites won’t help increase your authority by the search engines.
Again, if you write solid, useful content then other sites will link to it.
Or look for other respected sites whose audience might benefit from your content and write to the site owner and ask if they’ll link to your page. - Not matching page content with search intent
People search for many reasons.
Maybe they’re just looking for information or maybe they’re looking to buy.
The content of your page should match the searcher’s intent.
If you have a page optimized for the keyword “Kitchen design ideas” then it should contain kitchen design ideas, and not a sales page for kitchen counter installation services. - Thinking SEO is one-and-done – not monitoring and adjusting.
The search engine algorithms are always changing.
You should be monitoring how often your page is shown in the search engines and how many times searchers click on it.
There are tools like Google Analytics that can tell you how long visitors stay on your page, and heatmaps that show what sections of your page visitors focused on. - Forgetting about mobile users
In 2023, there were almost 7 billion people who owned mobile devices.
There are around 17 billion mobile devices worldwide.
So, if your website does not offer a good mobile user experience, then people will move on.
You have mere seconds to grab their attention and less screen real estate to do it.
Ensuring your website is responsive (meaning it adjusts based on the device it’s running on) is a crucial SEO practice. - Not submitting your sitemap to Google Search Console
A sitemap is a list of URLs that make up your website pages.
You want Google to know about all the pages on your site, so having a sitemap with that inventory is so important in helping Google discover your website.
This is known as indexing and crawling.
Google scans every website it knows about on the entire internet and tries to figure out what each site is about so it can present the best results to users searching on their platform.
Key Takeaways
In the ever-changing landscape of online marketing, it’s important to understand the do’s and don’ts of SEO that impact the success of your online presence.
By avoiding bad SEO practices, you position yourself for improved visibility, increased traffic, and higher search engine rankings.
Be proactive by continuously monitoring and adapting your SEO strategies, and staying informed about algorithm changes.
Solid SEO practices ensure your digital strategy remains effective, relevant, and keeps you competitive.
Our digital marketing services are tailored to your business’ unique goals.
We assess where you are, and understand where you want to be, so we can recommend the best strategy for you.
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