Four Common SEO Mistakes You Should Avoid
If your goal is to draw more organic traffic to your company’s website, you have likely spent a lot of time researching such tactics and techniques. However, it is also essential to know at a minimum, what common SEO mistakes you should avoid during the optimization process.
Here are some of the most common errors people make when trying to optimize their sites for search:
1. Publishing Non-Original Content
When trying to grow a website, it can be tempting to pack it with as much content as possible. However, it is vital to remember that quality is more important than quantity when it comes to SEO.
The most harmful error you can make when adding content to your site is copying and pasting text from another webpage. Google and other search engines see this behavior as spammy and unethical – and might decide to penalize your website as a result.
Search engines much prefer to see original content that:
- Includes strong, attention-grabbing headlines
- Provides readers with answers to common questions, and
- Offers users a compelling reason to spend more time on the site
You can give your website the SEO boost it needs by avoiding duplication and sticking to these three principles.
2. Not Optimizing for Local Search
Does your company primarily conduct business with customers in your city? Then it is vital to optimize your site for local search by:
- Adding region-specific keywords to your content
- Posting your address in the header or footer of your website
- Adding location-specific pages to your website
- Creating and updating your Google My Business Account
Skipping these four steps is likely to result in website traffic from faraway cities or worse, not receiving any traffic at all. However, you are sure to see a sizable uptick in local traffic if you implement them correctly.
3. Using Generic Anchor Text for Internal Links
It is recommended to avoid using the following generic terms when anchoring the internal links on your company’s website:
- “Click Here”
- “See Here”
- “More Info”
- “Link”
When search engine bots comb through your website, they pay special attention to this anchor text since it helps them to anticipate what they will see on the next page. Generic text can cause algorithms to think your site is confusing, which is likely to harm your rankings.
You can typically avoid this issue by using a description of the linked page as your anchor text. So, if you are trying to send your users to a page that details your inventory of pre-owned cars, trucks, and SUVs, you may want to use “used vehicles” or “pre-owned cars for sale” as your anchor text.
4. Not Using Unique Meta Descriptions and Title Tags
When adding a new page to your company’s website, it can be quite easy to focus so intensely on the text and the images that you forget to spend time optimizing the meta descriptions and title tags. However, this small error can have devastating effects on your search engine rankings.
If Google’s algorithm analyzes your website and notices a lack of unique tags and descriptions, it may struggle to understand the context of your content. It might even come to the conclusion that all your pages are identical.
So, what do search engines want to see from your tags and descriptions?
You should usually stick to a [Page Name] – [Company Name] format with your title tags to help Googles bots better understand your website. Also, be sure to keep title tags to 65 characters or less. This approach will result in tags like:
- Financing – John Smith Automotive
- Services – ABC Plumbing
- Pricing – NYC Roof Repair
Your website’s meta descriptions should be as unique and persuasive as possible – while staying below 155 characters. The following examples are likely to deliver positive SEO results:
- “John Smith Automotive offers competitive financing options on new and used cars. Stop by our showroom in New York City to learn more.”
- “Do you have a clogged toilet or leaky sink in New York City? ABC Plumbing can help. Contact us today to learn more about our services.”
- “At NYC Roof Repair, we offer affordable prices on roof replacements and repairs to the people of New York City. Call us today for a free estimate.”
Your tags and descriptions do not need to be complicated. However, they are vital if you want to increase the organic traffic your website receives.
Avoid Catastrophic SEO Mistakes – Contact FZA Digital Today
Don’t allow these common SEO mistakes to derail your site’s SEO strategy! Reach out to the team of knowledgeable digital marketers at FZA Digital today for all of the advice and guidance you need to drive organic traffic the right way.
To get in touch with us, all you need to do is fill in our online contact form or give us a call at (424) 229-2923. We look forward to helping you in any way we can!
