SEO is a very important practice to consider when setting up an online business. Utilizing a bad SEO strategy can sabotage your website if you’re not careful. In this article, we’ll discuss 5 SEO mistakes to avoid in 2018.
Google, Yahoo, Bing and other search engines keep altering algorithms to give optimum results to their users. This continuous shift in algorithms demands to bring the swift change in their search engine optimization strategy. If companies fail to keep up with these algorithm changes, they will face penalties and may get out of SERP race too.
Read also: 15 ways small businesses can compete with major brands in SEO
There are many businesses online, and only a handful of websites are enjoying top ranking due to their excellent SEO strategies. There is also a surplus of those whose existence is in danger due to bad SEO strategy. To stand out in search engine results, digital marketing services in the USA must practice the latest in SEO strategy. They should remain up to date with the latest trends and avoid blunders that could harm their repute.
SEO Mistakes to Avoid in 2018
We know that SEO isn’t something you can learn overnight. But it is a persistent learning process which keeps changing over time. If practised properly, it is the most effective way to bring organic traffic to your website. Whether you are new in online marketing; running your own business, in-house SEO team or an outsourcing service, here are five common SEO mistakes to avoid in 2018.
Keyword Blunders:
What SEO revolves around keywords? Certainly, not anymore. The statement may have been true a few years back, but now keywords are only a single part of search engine algorithms. These frequent keyword mistakes can sabotage you in 2018:
- Keyword Stuffing: Search engines are far more advanced from the time they started helping users search info online. Stuffing the content with the same word not only irritates readers but search engines like Google, also hate it. When you stuffing your content with keywords, it results in dropping your site from the search engine rankings. Remember, keyword ratio up to 2% of the whole content is best, while even 1% do the job. However, a 3% keyword density will be overkilling it.
- Irrelevant Keywords: Optimizing wrong keywords isn’t bearable in 2018. It can fail the entire SEO strategy. Only use keywords which are relevant to your content. All the keywords which can take you away from organic traffic, leads, sales, engagements, and profit are irrelevant. Use tools, i.e., SEMRush to find the best keywords to use in your content.
- Relying on Single Keyword: It is one the biggest mistakes to get down your SEO rating. Use multiple keywords for your content to target online traffic. Keep in mind the ways people can think to search for a particular problem.
Read also: Best ways to do keywords research for your online business in order to increase ROI
Low Content Quality:
Content is the king of SEO. Kindly don’t underestimate its power by committing the following blunders:
- Duplicate Content: As understood by the name, it is a content which you borrow or copy and paste from your competitor websites or any other resource. Search engines are sharp enough to identify copied content in a snap. Don’t try to outsmart them by spinning the content as it has no significance in the whole SEO process.
- Thin Content: Thin content is of no significance to the reader. These low-quality pages that may be duplicated or automatically generated content are worthless. The user landing on web pages with thin content will immediately bounce back.
Nothing is more dangerous for you than having a poor web experience. For good SEO services ratings, you must have a user-friendly site, which must be fast enough, mobile friendly and secure. These website mistakes can ruin you:
- Slow Load Time: In this era of speed, response time matters a lot. A slow website is one of the biggest SEO mistakes. Users seek every page to load under three seconds, so the search engine does. Improving your load time will ultimately result in the excellent SEO rating.
- Website Not Optimized for Mobile: Above 60% of internet users access websites from their smartphones. These mobile users will switch the website as soon as they face trouble to navigate it from their phones. Google knows it all too well, so it wants high-quality sites for mobile users.
- Insecure Website: Websites without SSL certificate are kicking you out of the SEO game in 2018. Websites with no lock, without https or SSL, or red colour are easy to hack. This insecurity will also lower down your ranking.
Read also: 5 Web Design Trends that are Changing Marketing Perspective
Improper Image Optimization
It is an old saying that a picture worth is a 1000 words. People enjoy visuals; hence they are one of the critical sources to drive traffic to your page. Image optimization is as important as the textual content optimization. Websites which don’t give enough importance to image optimization are losing their traffic. Give them right tags; opt for right size, format, and compression to gain massive traffic.
Bad Quality Backlinks
Quality matters a lot when it comes down to backlinks, don’t use bad quality sites for backlinking, PBNs and those with low trust. Use a link checker tool to make sure that the links are not broken.
Final Thoughts
Search engine optimization is a cost-effective strategy for digital marketing services in the USA to earn a good brand reputation. But in the land of SEO, things remain changing. Digital marketers must stay up to date with these changing trends. They should avoid fatal SEO mistakes, some mentioned above, to get the maximum benefit from the organic traffic.
