Common SEO Mistakes You Don't Want to be Making

Search engine optimization, SEO, is a crucial component of operating a successful business online. Having a website, blog, and other content available to the masses is one thing; being able to draw in potential clients and customers to the products and services through these outlets in a strategic way is another. This is what SEO is meant to achieve. Although the rules of optimization are continually changing given shifts in technology and platforms used, there are several mistakes businesses can and should avoid when implementing an SEO strategy. Here are the most common, along with simple tips for how to fix issues along the way.

Unuseful or Irrelevant Content

The entire point of SEO is to have a website rank highly on search engines like Google. Companies want prospective and current customers to be able to find their information quickly and easily, and content via a website like product pages and blog posts help do the trick. However, search engine algorithms penalize poorly-written, irrelevant, or repetitive content. TO product content for content's sake means little in the world of SEO.

Be sure that content developed and published on a site is relevant to the audience you are trying to reach. Businesses need to take care to produce high-quality articles delivered within an organized site that users can navigate easily. These small steps can go a long way toward getting real results from an SEO strategy.

Broken Links

Adding links to content is a valuable aspect of building out a smart, efficient SEO plan. However, broken links are a detriment to the long-term goal of improving SEO. Broken links – those that lead to an error page – deter customers and prospects from going any further with a company's content. They are not only frustrating; they also show unprofessionalism and a lack of care for the content your business is publishing. Most importantly, though, broken links lower search engine rankings.

Taking time to find and fix broken links is a must in any SEO strategy. This can be a significant undertaking, particularly in a large company or expansive website. However, the effort put in to correct broken links can be a surefire way to improve SEO over time.

Failing to Promote Good Content

Having strong content with working links is one piece of the puzzle. Many businesses forget that marketing that content is also a necessity if SEO is the goal. You want to ensure your high-quality content with relevant and working links is getting out to the masses, consistently. Although posting an article on your own blog can be the first step, that needs to be pushed out to social media to gain the attention of others. Having a newsletter can also make a positive difference in content promotion, as can link building, targeted sharing, and paid campaigns.

Targeting the Wrong Keywords

One of the ways a website is able to rank higher in search engine results is through the strategic use of keywords in content. There are plenty of mistakes to be made in the realm of keywords, however: avoiding long-tail keywords, focusing on generic keywords, or keyword stuffing all lead to bad SEO practices and minimal results.

Keyword success in an SEO strategy boils down to the up-front research. Optimizing for the right keywords means taking the time to utilize tools that help you identify what people are searching for online and including those terms back into your content without overdoing it.

Not Working with an Agency or Expert

Businesses operating online must have some form of SEO strategy in place, and ideally, one that incorporates all of the items mentioned up until this point. However, many are unaware of how to get the job done correctly and efficiently, without taking a significant amount of time away from the actual business at hand. Hiring an SEO digital agency is often beneficial, as you take the burden of learning about SEO tactics and best practices off your shoulders.

SEO agencies have the expert knowledge necessary to create a strategy for content promotion, link building, and ongoing campaigns that propel a business forward in their optimization efforts. In many cases, an SEO digital agency is also more cost-effective than hiring someone in-house, leading to even more efficiencies for the business.

Skipping the Analytics

Finally, a common but unfortunate SEO mistakes is failing to pay attention to the analytics. The point of SEO is improving search engine ranking so that more potential customers find the company's information and website. You could have a strategy that is generating a lot of traffic, but what does it mean if those potential customers do not convert to paying customers? Focusing some attention on the analytics of an SEO strategy is a must, as this offers insight into what is working and what can be left on the table.