Quick-fixes are great, especially when there is a meeting with a potential client and you need to show some good numbers. Say you succeed on delivering on the first-impressions front but would you be able to hold that client long enough to put it on a retainer? We know you know the answer. It’s a no. In order to hold your ground and expand it as times passes along, you need something more concrete and sustainable for times to come. If you’re looking for long-term SEO performance and not a short-term jabs or quick-fixes, here is list of SEO mistakes you need to avoid at all costs.
It’s not always Algorithm’s fault
It’s quite convenient to put everything on Google’s algorithm updates than doing the actual legwork. Believe it or not, your website’s inability to take off or drop in rankings might not even be the algorithm’s fault. If you happen to come across a performance drop that sticks around longer than usual, you might want to check for some technical issues or major content changes your website might have gone through before the drop. While you’re at it, also check for manual penalties.
Using the same content for the same kind of pages
It might sound good and easy on paper but the reality is much harsher. Take location pages, for example; you might have several running on your website if you’re operational in multiple locations across the region. And if the content on all those pages is virtually the same, it is bound to attract negative repercussions. Make it a priority to avoid duplicate content within the website and create unique content for each of them. As hard as it sounds, it is actually just tedious and not difficult.
Relying too heavily on automated tools
Automated tools can only take you so far, and are not exactly the best guides. If you want to SEO right, you have to rely on manual skills, bringing all that experience, the failures, the learnings into play. And if that is something you’re proficient in then you might want to bring in a professional who knows the intricacies of SEO and can find the gaps between your strategy and results in terms of user intent, keyword research, content, on-page, and technical aspects and help bridge them.
Not asking for help from those who’ve made it
They did it, while you watched from a distance. Wanting to be where they are now but never quite managing to move even a few steps ahead. It may seem like asking them is asking too much, but think again. They can give you practical insights, and not theoretical knowledge, that can help a brand like yours, especially if you are in the same line of business or niche. If you are still too shy or too proud to ask, you can reach out to SEO forums or turn to social media for some light.
Ignoring Content, On-page Optimization, and Technical SEO
You need to find a way to assign resources to each of those aspects and more including local SEO and creating Google Business Profile. Ignoring or overlooking for far too long can either hamper your progress or worst, hold back our website entire from the get go. And irrespective of how many times we’ve emphasized it, there simply no substitute for high-quality content that takes user intent into consideration. You can do everything right outside of it but if you content lags, do does your website.
Adopting millwork SEO strategy
It means avoiding getting somebody on board to handle your site’s SEO on your behalf who adopts more or less the same tactics for every niche. Granted, there are some aspects that can be the same, but however similar the line of business or niche, every website is unique and must be treated that way with a dynamic SEO strategy specifically designed for it. Find ways to deliver real value to your customers, ways that are unique only to your brand and help it expand fluently.
Indulging in shady Link-building practices
Truth – links farms exist in the black (hat) market area and people don’ shy away from paying to build their likable asset base. This tactic however leads to more harm than good. It might get you a jump in the beginning but sooner than later, the spark starts to lose its hold. And you now end up in a deeper mess than you were before. Why, because most of those links are of low-quality and from sites you wouldn’t give a second look to if you happen to come across it organically. However, link building is an indispensable part of a successful SEO strategy, which is why you need to tread with caution and trust only experts who will help you build links the white hat way.
