There’s always something to improve in your SEO strategy, especially given the ever-changing nature of the industry. In some cases, businesses go on with their usual SEO strategies, not realizing that some of their tactics are outdated and no longer useful. SEO mistakes may even be made that can do more harm than good to your business. So, it’s important to be aware of these mistakes to improve your SEO strategy.
1. Lack of Keyword Research
Keyword research is perhaps one of the most important steps in SEO strategy. It’s where you get to know what keywords people are using in search engines to look for your products or services. This is important because keywords with high search volume may produce more traffic for your website. So it’s crucial to choose the best keywords for your business.
However, not all businesses do keyword research, and this makes it more difficult for them to improve their website’s visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs). Some even use the same keywords for all their content writing, unaware that it’s not the best for SEO.
Keyword research is not only about looking for the most popular keywords though. It’s also about finding the keywords that are relevant to your business and will ultimately lead to better conversion rates.
2. Keyword Stuffing
Keyword stuffing is when you include your keywords in places they shouldn’t be. While you may be able to rank higher in search engines, it’s not the right thing to do, since it will turn off your readers.
And if readers see your content as spammy, they won’t visit your site. Keyword stuffing also hurts your brand’s reputation. Keyword stuffing is also one of the most common SEO mistakes businesses make. While there’s no hard and fast rule as to what constitutes keyword stuffing, a good rule of thumb is to follow the 80/20 rule. This means 80 percent of your content should be about your topic and only 20 percent can be about your keywords.
3. Lack of Backlinks
Backlinks from other websites have been found to have a significant impact on SEO rankings. It serves as a vote of approval from other websites that your content is worthy. And it’s not that hard of a task. You can find plenty of ways to get backlinks. The key is to create content that other sites will want to share with their readers. It can be an infographic, blog post, or helpful guide. After you create your content with your target keyword in mind, then do outreach to other sites and ask if they can share it with their audience. No matter how small the site might be, they’re likely to share it if your content is valuable and relevant.
But even though getting backlinks used to be enough to improve your site’s rankings, Google has gotten better at detecting attempts to manipulate search results. So you need to make sure that your backlinks are coming from websites trusted by Google. It’s also important to note that backlinks from the same sites are not counted by search engines.
4. Poorly Written Content
Yes, poor copywriting quality is a real thing. And you need to be good at it if you want your content to be well-received by your readers. Otherwise, no one will read it, let alone share it. You should also note that the number of words in your content won’t seem to matter anymore in the world of SEO. It’s quality that matters most.
So, you have to create truly engaging website content to get your readers’ attention. You have to create content that is engaging and entertaining but at the same time useful for them. You’ll also have to ensure that your content is written in such a way that it doesn’t show any signs of keyword stuffing. It should be written such that people can actually understand what you want to say without having to dig deep.
5. Not Optimizing for Mobile
Stunning visuals and long-form content are nice, but they get more attention when they’re accessed through a mobile device. Readers want to access content quickly and easily, whether they’re on their laptops or their phones. Mobile has become the primary way people access the internet, so you have to make sure that your content is mobile-friendly.
One way you can do this is to use responsive design. This means that your site will work well on mobile devices and with screen readers. But this does not necessarily mean you have to create separate content for mobile users. You can just modify the content you already have. Make sure that your content is short and concise so that it will be easier to read on a mobile device.
6. Focusing on Buzzwords
In the previous years, search engines heavily relied on meta tags for SEO. So businesses would include keywords in their meta tags to try to rank higher in search engine results pages. But just because someone is using a popular keyword, doesn’t mean it’s the best for your business.
For example, if you’ve used a certain keyword that a lot of people try to rank for, there’s a higher chance that you will be penalized by search engines. In any case, search engines today know how to recognize spammy content and content that is of little value to readers. So you should focus on creating content that people will want to share instead of focusing on keywords.
But it’s still a good idea to include keywords in your meta tags. You just have to make sure that it’s done in an organic way. A good website copywriter can help you out.
7. Ignoring Local SEO
Google has been shifting its focus to local SEO for quite some time now. This means that you need to use local SEO to boost your local visibility. Even if you already have an online presence, you still need to leverage SEO to help your business grow. The best thing is that you can use SEO to tap into markets that you may not have been reaching out to.
So how will local SEO help you with this? Think of it as neighborhood SEO. If you have a brick-and-mortar business with a physical address, then you have to claim and optimize your business’ location on Google My Business.
This will help you expand your local reach and get more physical customers. It also helps you get more leads and increase your conversion rate. Aside from claiming your business location, you also have to add photos of your business and include an accurate physical address.
8. Lack of Social Media Presence
In today’s world, social media has become important for businesses to expand their reach and get new customers. It’s also a good way to build relationships with your current customers.
Social media has also become important for SEO. It helps your business get more exposure, as well as get backlinks from other social sites. And since social media is a great way to get more backlinks, it will help your search engine rankings, which is something you need to know.
So how exactly do you do this? You need to participate in social media engagement and post quality content, whether it’s text or visual. You should also include a link to your site in your bio, so it will lead people to your website.
Bottom Line
SEO is definitely not an easy task. It requires a lot of time and effort, but can also help you grow your business significantly. So if you’re still using old SEO strategies, then you should really consider updating how you go about it.
Improve your website’s ranking with the help of New Digital Marketing Agency. We are a digital marketing agency for startups in Toronto. Our SEO specialists work closely with your team to create professional, targeted content specifically designed to ensure every customer that’s searching for your solution finds your products and services. From copywriting to blogs and content creation, New Digital is by your side every step of the way. Contact us today to get started!
