No matter how much energy and money you invest in your website, it is worth nothing if it doesn’t get the necessary amount of traffic. In a perfect world, search engine crawlers would be all over your website, reporting back information that puts you at the top of the search page for relevant terms. In reality, however, there are certain elements that stop them dead in their tracks. Here are a few of the most common and deadly SEO mistakes you should avoid along with helpful tips for dealing with them.
#1 Not Knowing Your website stands. Do a website audit!
You should always, and I mean, always know where you stand. The only way to determine whether the following mistakes are indeed the cause of your SEO problems is to know where you stand in various rankings both before and after you make the necessary corrections. If these tips don’t do a lot for your website ranking, then you should immediately identify and rectify the factor that is holding you back.
Start with a complete audit of your website – both on page and off page factors to understand the overall health of your website.
#2 Server Errors. You should not have orphaned Pages!
Many webmasters modify their website information and structure regularly. This is important for maintaining good SEO and for gaining return customers, but it can lead to a sizeable number of pages returning server errors. These are disastrous, especially if the error is in the 400 or 500 range of status codes. You need to find these pages and either replace them with new material or 301 redirect them to a relevant page. There are several link checkers that can help you identify these server errors so you can decide how to handle each one.
#3 Duplicate Content.
This is a biggie! Most website administrators are sensitive to duplicate content in terms of the actual text on their site, but duplicate content in other areas can get you in just as much trouble when it comes to search engine optimization. Look at areas such as title tags, meta tags, product descriptions, and even URLs. Having a “default” page that is essentially a duplicate of your home or other landing page can come up as an issue as well.
It can be difficult to completely eliminate all duplication, especially if you have an ecommerce site, but taking care of the basics will improve your site ranking and avoid getting your site flagged. There are several tools, such as Yahoo Site Explorer, that can help you identify and thus reduce duplicate content.
#4 Not Having the Right Links.
As one SEO said: “Links are the bane of our lives!”. Why are your competitors ranking ahead of you in search engine results? Often, this is not caused by anything within your site itself, but instead by links from external sources. Identifying the places that are linking to your competitors and not to you can help you solve this problem.
It may take a little footwork (there are also tools out there that make this easier), but it will be more than worth the effort. Having too few links from external sources or even links from the wrong sources is one of the most common SEO mistakes.
#5 Password Protected Areas.
Some types of websites demand having “members only” or similar pages that are protected from general view. But, it’s important to remember that these pages are protected from search engine bots as well. Any keywords that are being used in these pages are essentially useless.
One solution is to make information accessible and to limit certain rights and services to members, but this won’t work for everyone. If your site demands a user-protected model, be sure your keywords are used in public areas as well.
#6 Flash, AJAX, and Other Non-HTML Formats.
Flash and AJAX both have their place; AJAX makes websites feel more fun and interactive, while Flash is often the best way to create a great interactive experience. However, both formats, and indeed most non-HTML formats, are difficult for search engine crawlers to navigate and read.
CSS could be considered if you want a full-featured user experience but also want to be ‘seen’ by the search engines. Whatever method you choose to use, make sure your pages have ample HTML content for search engines to pore through.
#7 Changing Page URLs.
There are many good reasons to change your URL, most of them related to marketing and branding. But, changing your URL effectively means that you are starting from scratch with an entirely new web page in the eyes of search engines. You lose all of your equity and link value.
If you absolutely must change any URL on your website, use a permanent redirect to ensure that you don’t lose visitors and ranking. This usually will result in taking some (but not all) of the previous page value.
#8 Choosing Quantity over Quality.
Many website owners and administrators, especially those with relatively new sites, are overeager to get links to their site. They will buy them, trade for them, steal them if possible… anything to get a link. But, links from most websites will not do anything for your SEO; if anything, they may actually harm it! Quality links come from websites that are both relevant and highly visited are what you require. Paying for links and other ‘black hat’ behavior will only cost you in the long term.
#9 Doing SE Yourself.
SEO is a complicated topic, one that takes years to perfect. Hiring an SEO consultant or a web designer experienced in the field is a must, if you can afford it. It’s good to know the basics so you can maintain your designed website on a daily basis, but designing a site with good SEO requires a lot of detailed work that most amateurs simply wouldn’t think of. In many cases, hiring a reasonably priced consultant will pay for itself almost immediately.
#10 Losing Patience.
Unfortunately, there are no overnight solutions to SEO problems. Instead, you must work diligently at your website, eliminate barriers, and adding fresh, keyword-rich content on a regular basis. If you are using the right strategies and avoiding SEO mistakes, you should see a gradual improvement in your rankings.
But, you will probably not see a sharp increase. It will take a while for search engine crawlers to see your changes and reward you for them, so be patient throughout the SEO process.
