SEO mistakes are simple to make, but nailing your SEO strategy can be the difference between marketing success and failure. It’s important that you research your current consumers as well as those you want to target for growth, to ensure you’re meeting their search and purchase needs. Search engine optimisation can be confusing if you’re new to it, so it can be a great idea to speak to an expert to set you in the right direction. Get in touch to chat to our marketing team! Alternatively, read our blog to find our more about the 7 common SEO mistakes that could be costing you…
1. Ignoring user intent with keyword research
When you’re conducting initial research for your SEO strategy, you need to be looking at keywords. However, focusing solely on search volume will decrease the likelihood of lead conversion. You might find a great keyword that seems relevant and gets a tonne of searches, but in reality, is it what your customers are looking for?
You need to ensure your targeted keywords are aligned with their intent, whether that be navigational, informational, or transactional. If you’re not what they’re looking for, your bounce rate will increase and search engines are likely to penalise you for it.
2. Keyword stuffing
It might seem like the right thing to try and populate your webpage with your targeted keyword as often as possible. And in theory, this is correct. You want to ensure you have a decent keyword density, which you can view by installing plugins like Rank Math or Yoast, without compromising the natural readability of the text.
Algorithms penalise keyword stuffing, which is likely to negatively impact your SEO ranking as a result of overloading. As a general rule of thumb, aim for a keyword density of around 1-2% to maintain the readability and please the search engines, and avoid this common SEO mistake!
3. Neglecting mobile optimisation
It should be no surprise that websites that are not effectively optimised for mobile will be less likely to rank well. With an increasing amount of mobile search users, you should arguably be prioritising mobile optimisation in all of your website builds, designs and SEO strategies.
Frequently test your website responsiveness and performance to ensure you’re proactively improving user experience for both website and mobile.
4. Page speed
Slow websites equal poor user experience. Poor user experience equal high bounce rate. High bounce rates equal negative SEO performance.
Neglecting page speed is a simple SEO mistake to make, especially when you’re implementing new and fun designs. Be sure to compress images and consider the use of videos and file types when navigating your page speed. Check out Page Speed Insights regularly to get a review of your website and give you actionable data.
5. Failing to use internal linking strategically
Internal linking helps both users and search engines navigate your website intuitively and simply. Using internal linking is a great way to showcase the relationships between your webpages and bring visibility to similar, relevant content. It’s important to avoid unrelated links and use appropriate, descriptive anchor text when linking to internal and external pages.
6. Understanding backlinks
Backlink strategies can easily forgotten, which can prove to be a costly SEO mistake. They are crucial for building domain authority, particularly in the eyes of search engines. There are lots of link building strategies for you to consider, but the most important thing is to avoid spammy link building sites. You’ve probably received a few dodgy emails advertising link building catalogues, promising you 1000 high quality backlinks, but don’t fall for it. Focus on PR, digital outreach, networking and guest posting, as well as creating shareable content.
7. Not tracking and analysing performance
Perhaps one of the most common and significant SEO mistakes is not analysing data and performance. It’s an easy mistake to make but it’s vital for growth and development. Use GA4 or Google Search Console, as well as an SEO tool like Moz to track traffic and rankings and gain data driven insights into your performance. Like all marketing activities, it is important to monitor SEO and continually update to see results.
