In search engine optimization (SEO), there are countless mistakes that people should really stop making. So if you currently do anything on the list below, please, it’s time to stop.
1. Miscommunication with developers
Not communicating properly with your developer can lead to disastrous outcomes. Coding errors, content duplication and URL rewriting without redirection are just a few that haunt my dreams at night.
2. Duplicate meta tags and title tags
If none of your pages are the same and the content is completely different, why have the same generic meta description and title tags on every page? Tailor your tags to the content and target the right keyword for each page.
3. Not diversifying traffic
Ideally, no more than 40% of a site’s referral traffic should come from search engines. Otherwise, any large change will significantly impact your website. Use AdWords, link building and fresh content to your advantage and diversify.
4. Measuring useless SEO metrics
Metrics like “visits,” “pageviews” and “average time spent” are useless unless paired with other metrics. Focus on actionable Key Performance Indicators such as bounce rate, visitor loyalty and conversion rates.
5. Producing content without quality
Producing quality and relevant content should always be your primary goal. Determine what your customers actually want to read, and write it.
6. No link building
What, no gravy? If you recall the old Looney Tunes cartoon, gravy is to link building as steak is to your website. Links are considered votes of trust. Without links or some kind of awareness, your site can’t rank.
7. Flash website with no HTML alternative
If you have an all Flash website, I’m very sorry for you. Flash is decorative and fancy, but it should be used for those purposes alone. Search engines aren’t very good at reading Flash and while we’re on the subject, they’re pretty bad at reading JavaScript too. Use HTML for your content and navigation, and Google will become much friendlier.
8. The God Complex
We can’t control Google nor will we ever. Their algorithms and business model will continue evolve. We can only attempt to control certain variables until they change them again. That’s just the way it is. Do ask us SEO questions. We like those.
9. Impatience
SEO is not a magical process that happens overnight. It takes time for new pages to be crawled, to get quality links to pages and to move up in the rankings. This is one of the most important things to understand to ensure everyone is on the same page at day one.
Have you made any of these mistakes? What are your biggest SEO no-nos?
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