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How To Avoid Mistakes While Doing SEO For Yourself

  • Neil White

    • You’re having trouble leaping to page one. After all that hard work, it’s still not happening. You think you’ve got it all covered. You’ve optimized your website for the search engines. You found some nifty key phrases that promise to bring in a gigantic amount of traffic. You’ve got the links covered…So why is your website still falling short? If you’ve got this problem, then chances are you’re making some of the classic SEO errors you’re not even aware of. But, don’t worry. With a few adjustments and some technical knowledge, you’ll be able to improve your website’s overall ranking score. And here’s how:

    Keyword Density

    It’s important to remember that you’re writing for the users. Do not overpack your website’s content with too many keywords in a futile attempt to gain more traffic. You should strive to provide creative and quality content for your target audience. So, let’s say you have a 700-word text. The optimum number of keywords in it would be 7. Everything more than that may invite a Google penalty. Therefore, keyword frequency in a given text should be approximately 1% of the word count – that’s the magic formula.

    Not Paying Attention to Title Tags

    Title tags have their value too. They’re small pieces in the HTML head section. And you shouldn’t use generic titles such as “Home Page” or “Blog” as they don’t have any keywords. Remember that search engines pay a lot of attention to title tag keywords, so it’s crucial to create carefully thought titles.

    Word of advice: Place the top keywords at the beginning of your title tags, and don’t make them longer than 60 characters. That’s what the search engines use, and that’s why meta description comes in handy.

    Broad Search Optimization

    This is a common mistake that many have made in the past. If you have a business that targets clients in a specific area, be it a region or a city, then you need to embed that into your keywords. For example, let’s presume your business is centered in Sydney and you want to hire a web design freelancer. You’re not going to type web design freelancers in Australia, you’re going to look for those in your vicinity, right? So, you might type something like ‘SEO Gold Coast‘ and the search engine’s going to list SEO companies based on Australia’s Gold Coast

    The bottom line is, you need to include city-specific keywords in your meta descriptions and page titles because Google deals a bit differently if the keyword is more area-specific. Your goal should be to hit the bull’s eye and get as many potential customers in your area as possible.

    The bottom line is, where appropriate, you need to include city-specific keywords in your meta descriptions and page titles because Google deals a bit differently if the keyword’s more area-specific. Your goal should be to hit the bull’s eye and get as many potential customers in your area as possible.

    Trying to Outsmart Google

    If you thought about reposting old articles and using old content with new URLs, hoping against hope that Google’s not going to get a whiff of this, you’re sorely mistaken. The search engines will go berserk and make your website compete against itself. This kind of bad practice will also downgrade the value of your links, ‘cause you won’t have one definitive URL. You’ll be doing your website a disservice. So just play by the rules and provide new and interesting content.

    Not Focusing on the Content

    This is one of the major ones. Content should be your number one priority when it comes to creating a website, attracting potential clients, and getting high rankings. It’s not something that should be done in a sloppy way. So how exactly does one create HQ content? First of all, your website’s pages need to fulfill the minimum of 300 words to enter into the high-ranking zone –  otherwise forget it, Google’s not going to bother. Also, that keyword density we’ve already mentioned – don’t lose sight of that. Thirdly, do not forget about your target audience. You’re writing for the users, so provide interesting, interactive and engaging texts.

    A Third Party Domain

    Don’t be a slob and permit other names to be in your URL or your blog. It’s really unprofessional and casts a shadow over your SEO efforts. It’s always advisable to have a URL that is completely yours, meaning that the website and all of its content belong to you. So, make an effort and get a custom domain name.

    Poor Backlinking

    Backlinks have always played a major part in the SEO game. Still, not all links carry the same value. You need to get as many relevant and authoritative websites that are willing to link back to you. And in order to increase the number of high-quality backlinks, you should spend a few hours once a week doing only this, as it will also contribute to your website’s higher ranking.

    Summing up…

    These were the 7 big ones in the SEO category of No-Nos. There are much more things to be considered, but for now, this should suffice. Just make sure not to make these mistakes and your website should be fine. Happy optimizing!

    Do You Have Any To Add?

    If you have any great SEO tips that you’d like to share, or have any comments on this article, please share, below.

    Additional reading: 3 Powerful Pillars of SEO: Authority, Trust & Relevance

    11 Essential SEO Promotion Stages For Your Website

    Here’s How Proper SEO Audit Can Help You Beat Competitors

    Featured image: Copyright: ‘https://www.123rf.com/profile_olivier26‘ / 123RF Stock Photo

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    Neil White

    Neil is a digital marketing enthusiast and a beginner at the blogging scene. His home is the whole world because he travels a lot. While you are reading this he is probably somewhere other than where he was yesterday.