It's every business's dream to rank at the top of the search engine results page for that million-dollar keyword or phrase. It's the simple things that most people take for granted, however, that can keep your website from ever reaching that position. No matter how much you invest in your website, it can suffer as a result of some of the most common SEO mistakes. Let's examine the six most common mistakes you'll want to avoid:
Bad Title Tags
Bad title tags are those that are neither relevant to your page nor pull the search engine user in to your website. Things like “Dog Washing” is dull in comparison to the effectiveness of a page title like “3 Tips for the Best Dog Bath.” More people will be likely to click on something with a descriptive title that is very concise and clear. Try to make your title more alluring and descriptive of your content and avoid common title tag mistakes to make your website stand out.
Duplicate Content
Using platforms like WordPress and content management systems (CMSs) can make managing your website it easy, but it can also leave you prone to having duplicate pages. Designing a website can be more simply finding the right tools. Search engines detest duplicated content. They often penalize every page considered a duplicate directly or indirectly by forcing your relevant pages to become less relevant in results. To avoid this, be extra careful when designing and uploading your website. Be sure to test your pages and double check your pages.
A Lack of Deep Links
There are two types of links when it comes to SEO: shallow and deep links. The former represents the kind of links you get from a menu without any sort of surrounding text. The latter are links surrounded by keyword-rich content that works to create a tightly knit web and makes it easier for viewers to seek more related content on your website. A lack of these links, especially on your home page, can mean that you're not distributing authority throughout your website. It can also increase harmful factors like your site's bounce rate by allowing users to navigate back to the results page of their search engine.
Low-Quality Hosting
The quality of your host is important. If a search engine tries to crawl your website while it's down or slow, you can incur penalties. If a visitor finds your website too slow to load, then you can miss out on a potential customer. Ensure that you're using a reliable web hosting company like Earthlink to keep these things from happening to you.
404 Errors
404 errors represent missing content on your website. If you have a lot of 404 errors, then you'll set off red flags to search engines that your website may be low-quality. This can lower your search engine rankings and result in entire pages being de-indexed. You can check for 404 errors by using something like the Google Webmaster Tools feature provided by Google.
Unrealistic Expectations
Understand that search engine optimization is something that takes time. You won't see amazing results overnight. If you did, they would likely be fleeting. Stay true with safe strategies like content marketing and social media. These strategies will build up an audience while creating enough content for search engines to love your website.
By keeping these common mistakes in mind as you build or groom your website, you can ensure that you won't receive infractions from search engines. You'll also find that all the SEO work you have done on your website will tend to go far.