You probably know that SEO is crucial for your website. But did you know that there are lots of mistakes you can make during the process? Of course, everyone starts small, so it's understandable to see these kinds of errors happening. But it's essential to learn how to avoid them to begin ranking for your desired keywords.
1. You are Not Focussing On Lead Generation
While it's a great idea to build a following on social media or attract subscribers with your content, Google frowns upon this. They want you to make money, and the quicker, the better. Therefore, you have to focus on lead generation for technology companies to solve your problem.
In case you don’t have any potential leads at all, you're not going to get very far in rankings. To avoid this mistake, try linking back to products that might be able to improve your readers' lives. For example, if they enjoyed your article about getting fit and healthy, link them over to an offer related to losing weight or building muscles.
2. You are focusing on quantity instead of quality
One of the most common SEO mistakes is not putting enough focus on quality. Or in other words, create content that will rank well but isn't helpful or interesting for your visitors. The problem with writing lots of low-quality articles is that Google starts labeling everything as spammy content after a while.
This means that all of your work might go down the drain if they update their algorithm again, and you end up losing rankings. Don't let this happen. Instead, focus on making one great article after another, and not only will you please your readers, Google will like you too.
3. You don't focus on SEO Keywords
By not paying attention to your target keywords, you're going to have a hard time ranking for them. It's even more complicated if you're trying to rank for random words you want people to look up. For example, let's say that your blog is all about getting fit and staying healthy, but instead of writing about that, you create articles with titles like “how I got my new iPhone” or “my TV broke down today.”
Of course, this will not help anyone, so no one will ever find those articles by searching for anything related to what they are about. To avoid this mistake, put yourself in Google's shoes and figure out which words or phrases the users might type in. Then, try to include those words or phrases in your post's title and description to start ranking for it.
Then, try to include those words or phrases in your post's title and description to start ranking for it. Dental SEO company Safari provides the example of ranking for a local dental clinic. If you’re looking to rank for ‘Dental Clinic + Location’ then you need to include those keywords in your page title (meta title), H1 element, and at least one H2 on the page. Keyword usage builds relevancy and sends the right signals to Google and other search engines.
4. You're not adding enough value
Let's say that you'd like to rank for ” SEO tips.” So to beat other web pages for this specific search query, you need something they don't have; unique content. And how are you going to be able to do that? By writing handy tips that will help people solve their problems with SEO. The more value your articles offer, the more likely people will share them on social media or link back to your blog.
And the more links you get, the higher you rank. But keep in mind that there is a “but.” If all of your articles are low-quality and don't offer any value at all, Google will put you right where you belong; at the bottom of the SERPs.
5. Duplicate Content
This is another common mistake, and it also occurs in two ways:
- You're copying other people's work
- Your content looks like someone else's (even though you didn't copy it)
If your website suffers from duplicate content, Google isn't going to be happy. And they won't rank you well until you solve the issue. Ranking poorly will lead to less traffic and less targeted visitors (because all of them go to the original page).
So make sure that when you add content, it's unique, and Google can tell the difference between yours and other pages'. This way, only your article will show up for its specific keywords, instead of a bunch of duplicates.
6. Not Promoting Your Site
People complain about how they write blog posts and upload videos, and nothing happens. That's because the content is not enough. It would help if you let the world know what you have to offer and convince them that it's worth their time. Promote your articles on social media, email marketing platforms, share them with peers by asking for links back in return.
Let's say that two similar articles are published simultaneously; one doesn't get any shares or links, while the other gets 100. Even though both of them might be well-written and contain helpful information, the second article will probably outrank the first one because more people liked it.
These are the main things that snag people up when trying to optimize their websites for Google searches. But don't worry. There isn't anything too complicated here, and it doesn't require any advanced knowledge from you either. Just implement these simple tips into your blogging routine and watch the rankings go up in no time.
Also, keep in mind that if even Google can make SEO mistakes, then that means that you can too. The most important thing is not to let these mistakes discourage you, and keep pushing forward until you achieve your goals.
