7 Common SEO Mistakes to Avoid in 2023
Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the easiest ways to get your website in front of more people. However, creating a truly optimized site isn’t always as simple as it seems. In fact, it’s easy to make mistakes and those mistakes can end up costing you traffic at best and reducing the number of leads and conversions you receive through your site at worst. The last thing you want to do is inadvertently sabotage your site. Here are a few of the most common SEO mistakes you’ll want to avoid making with every page you publish.
1. Not Having a Content Strategy
Your content strategy essentially outlines your plan for blogs, social media posts, and any other content you’re wanting to publish on your site. It informs you and your team of different initiatives you want to pursue, upcoming promotions, and topics you need to touch on. Without a strategy, it’s easy for your site to go off-topic or miss trending issues and talking points.
If you don’t already have one in place, create a content strategy for your site. If you’re not sure where to start, work with an experienced content marketing team to help create a strategy that will help you reach your goals.
2. Keyword Stuffing
Keyword stuffing is the process of using as many keywords as you can in every post. This tactic used to work to drive traffic and send strong ranking signals to search engines. But as the algorithm has become more sophisticated, search engines actively look down on this practice. When it comes to keywords, choosing a few highly targeted phrases is almost always better than choosing as many relevant keywords as possible.
Once you have a few targeted keywords and phrases, incorporate them into your content where they make sense and sound natural. Forcing them in where they don’t fit or adding them as many times as possible will only hurt the performance of your content, not help it.
3. Ignoring Readability
Readability determines how accessible your content is for your end reader. By not paying attention to the way the page is formatted, the reading level it’s written at, and the tone you use, it won’t matter how great the information in the post is. Readers won’t find it easy to navigate and will likely click away. Worse, search engines may not prioritize your post over others.
Look at the readability of every page you’re publishing. At a minimum, you should have properly formatted headers to organize the post and allow readers to skim the page and short paragraphs to keep readers from feeling overwhelmed.
4. Pushing Quantity Over Quality
Publishing content on a regular basis is essential if you want to direct readers to your site. However, publishing a high volume of content without paying attention to its quality won’t help you drive quality traffic or encourage search engines to send readers to your pages.
Instead of publishing low-quality content at a fast rate, focus on publishing high-quality content at a slower rate. You may see results slightly more slowly at first, but the traffic you direct to your pages will be more qualified and more likely to turn into sales in the future. Even better, you’ll set yourself apart from your competitors as a true subject-matter expert in your industry. This can inspire greater confidence in readers that are struggling to choose between your business and your competitors.
5. Covering Non-Industry-Related Topics
Having a local focus when you’re a small business owner can help build trust with your customer base. But that doesn’t mean you should focus all of your content creation efforts on writing posts about local events and activities. You still want to focus on your industry and provide readers with insight into your services and the ways your business can better meet their needs. Worse, publishing non-industry-related topics can confuse search engines, causing your site to rank for terms that your customers won’t be searching for.
As part of your content strategy, you’ll want to create content that speaks to your audience and tells them how your business can better serve their needs. Consider the types of questions your clients and customers are asking and structure your content around answering those questions.
6. Letting Old Content Sit for Ages
It’s normal to post content and let it sit for years without touching it again, but doing so means those posts may not continue working for your business. They may have outdated information that causes readers to click away or may discuss services or processes that you no longer provide. This can make your business seem less relevant and can even reduce the amount of attention your site gets from search engines.
Get in the habit of refreshing your content every year at a minimum. Update those old pages with fresh information. Change the structure of the posts to better target readability. Input new statistics and data as needed. Even minor changes can drive new traffic to the page and encourage stronger ranking for your posts.
7. Plagiarizing Your Competitors
When your competitors are doing something that’s working, it’s tempting to mimic or copy them. Unfortunately, doing so can result in serious consequences for the performance of your own site. Search engines watch out for duplicate or plagiarized content and may penalize your site if they determine that you copied someone else’s work.
Instead, take the time to create unique content every time. You can use your competitors’ sites for inspiration and to see what types of topics they’re covering, but only use them as a resource to jumpstart your content creation efforts. Never copy anything word-for-word or follow the exact layout they’re using for a specific blog.
Avoid Making These SEO Mistakes
When it comes to SEO, writing fresh content and keeping up with the latest trends will help your website perform better for longer. As long as you avoid making these mistakes with your pages, you’ll set yourself up for success.
Keep in mind that a great SEO strategy will only do so much. You still need to make sure your website is up-to-date and designed with your clients and readers in mind. If you’re ready to breathe new life into your website, contact Denver Website Designs to schedule a consultation.
Go Back 1. Not Having a Content Strategy
Your content strategy essentially outlines your plan for blogs, social media posts, and any other content you’re wanting to publish on your site. It informs you and your team of different initiatives you want to pursue, upcoming promotions, and topics you need to touch on. Without a strategy, it’s easy for your site to go off-topic or miss trending issues and talking points.
If you don’t already have one in place, create a content strategy for your site. If you’re not sure where to start, work with an experienced content marketing team to help create a strategy that will help you reach your goals.
2. Keyword Stuffing
Keyword stuffing is the process of using as many keywords as you can in every post. This tactic used to work to drive traffic and send strong ranking signals to search engines. But as the algorithm has become more sophisticated, search engines actively look down on this practice. When it comes to keywords, choosing a few highly targeted phrases is almost always better than choosing as many relevant keywords as possible.
Once you have a few targeted keywords and phrases, incorporate them into your content where they make sense and sound natural. Forcing them in where they don’t fit or adding them as many times as possible will only hurt the performance of your content, not help it.
3. Ignoring Readability
Readability determines how accessible your content is for your end reader. By not paying attention to the way the page is formatted, the reading level it’s written at, and the tone you use, it won’t matter how great the information in the post is. Readers won’t find it easy to navigate and will likely click away. Worse, search engines may not prioritize your post over others.
Look at the readability of every page you’re publishing. At a minimum, you should have properly formatted headers to organize the post and allow readers to skim the page and short paragraphs to keep readers from feeling overwhelmed.
4. Pushing Quantity Over Quality
Publishing content on a regular basis is essential if you want to direct readers to your site. However, publishing a high volume of content without paying attention to its quality won’t help you drive quality traffic or encourage search engines to send readers to your pages.
Instead of publishing low-quality content at a fast rate, focus on publishing high-quality content at a slower rate. You may see results slightly more slowly at first, but the traffic you direct to your pages will be more qualified and more likely to turn into sales in the future. Even better, you’ll set yourself apart from your competitors as a true subject-matter expert in your industry. This can inspire greater confidence in readers that are struggling to choose between your business and your competitors.
5. Covering Non-Industry-Related Topics
Having a local focus when you’re a small business owner can help build trust with your customer base. But that doesn’t mean you should focus all of your content creation efforts on writing posts about local events and activities. You still want to focus on your industry and provide readers with insight into your services and the ways your business can better meet their needs. Worse, publishing non-industry-related topics can confuse search engines, causing your site to rank for terms that your customers won’t be searching for.
As part of your content strategy, you’ll want to create content that speaks to your audience and tells them how your business can better serve their needs. Consider the types of questions your clients and customers are asking and structure your content around answering those questions.
6. Letting Old Content Sit for Ages
It’s normal to post content and let it sit for years without touching it again, but doing so means those posts may not continue working for your business. They may have outdated information that causes readers to click away or may discuss services or processes that you no longer provide. This can make your business seem less relevant and can even reduce the amount of attention your site gets from search engines.
Get in the habit of refreshing your content every year at a minimum. Update those old pages with fresh information. Change the structure of the posts to better target readability. Input new statistics and data as needed. Even minor changes can drive new traffic to the page and encourage stronger ranking for your posts.
7. Plagiarizing Your Competitors
When your competitors are doing something that’s working, it’s tempting to mimic or copy them. Unfortunately, doing so can result in serious consequences for the performance of your own site. Search engines watch out for duplicate or plagiarized content and may penalize your site if they determine that you copied someone else’s work.
Instead, take the time to create unique content every time. You can use your competitors’ sites for inspiration and to see what types of topics they’re covering, but only use them as a resource to jumpstart your content creation efforts. Never copy anything word-for-word or follow the exact layout they’re using for a specific blog.
Avoid Making These SEO Mistakes
When it comes to SEO, writing fresh content and keeping up with the latest trends will help your website perform better for longer. As long as you avoid making these mistakes with your pages, you’ll set yourself up for success.
Keep in mind that a great SEO strategy will only do so much. You still need to make sure your website is up-to-date and designed with your clients and readers in mind. If you’re ready to breathe new life into your website, contact Denver Website Designs to schedule a consultation.