Why is your business on page 2 or 3 of Google? There may be a multitude of factors, but it’s possible that you could be making simple SEO mistakes that can make a world of difference in your rankings.
Let’s take a look at 5 SEO mistakes that you might be making, and what you can do to fix them.
1. Not Using Analytics to See What’s Converting
The ultimate goal with SEO is to gain traffic to your blog or website so you can convert visitors into customers. Without tracking what actually converts, how can you know what’s working and what isn’t?
It’s easy to get caught up on watching your site traffic go through the roof, but what gains traffic and what converts could be two very different things.
You may have the most bomb.com blog post filled with keywords and links, but if it’s not converting, something needs to change. Without the use of analytics, there is no way to measure what strategies work (or not), and you could be wasting precious time trying to pump up your SEO with practices that aren’t right for your audience.
2. Non Optimized Keywords
Keywords are a [somewhat] controversial subject when it comes to SEO. When the Internet began, keywords were king. You could attract outrageous numbers to your website by throwing in the right keywords as many times as possible – even if they didn’t really make sense in the context of the copy.
Not so anymore, young Jedi.
Keywords are still important, but the value of each word itself has vastly decreased. They are useful for searching for content ideas, but Google’s search engines now use semantic searches, meaning the keywords must make sense and offer value within the context of the website copy.
In fact, too much keyword stuffing could cause your rankings to plummet.
The best use of keywords is to ensure that they are highly optimized for your audience. This means the keywords are:
- Specific and don’t have to compete with broad keywords for the first-page spot
- Make the concepts of your content clear
- Targeted to attract people interested in what you’re offering
- Designed to attract people actually interested in making a purchase, not just looking for free information
- Targeted toward a specific region or location (this depends on the type of service or product you are promoting)
3. Misused Title Tags and Meta Descriptions
EVERY page should have a unique title, and not just for SEO purposes. Page titles are what gets shared in tweets and are used as the text when someone bookmarks your website. So descriptive, highly unique titles are hugely important.
Many websites just have their company name as the title – for EVERY PAGE. That’s a completely missed opportunity not only for better SEO, but to inform and persuade your audience about what it is you have to offer.
Meta descriptions are also highly important. They are the 160 characters that show up on a search engine when your website pops up. Ultimately, this means a meta description is a sales pitch for your page within search results.
Don’t waste the opportunity presented by meta tags, and make each description as unique and persuasive as possible. Your homepage and each page throughout your site should include a custom meta description that will make people want to click on your website in search results, and be sure to include relevant keywords.
For example:
- Homepage description: 11 Online offers web design services for businesses looking to make money online. This includes WordPress customization, custom template design, eCommerce websites, etc.
- WordPress customization page: 11 Online offers WordPress customizations, including custom WordPress template design, Thesis theme customization, and more.
4. Wasting Anchor Tags for Internal Links
Using anchor tags such as “Click here” are great calls to action, but are kind of useless when it comes to SEO. When was the last time you ever searched “click here” in Google?
Make better use of your anchor tags by surrounding them with anchor text. This is text that explains what the internal link is in words that search engines like.
For example, you may want to link to your e-commerce page with something like, “find out more about our ecommerce website solutions” instead of “find ecommerce here.”
This is a great way to copywrite a more robust call to action while generating better SEO for your page.
5. Bad Content
In our current online market, content is king, so make sure what you’re putting out is informative, useful, original, and accurate. Keep in mind that search engines are user-focused. It’s all about how the end user can benefit and what is the easiest way possible to get them what they are looking for.
Even if you’re a small startup with a very small reach, good content will always be found over poor content. Good content is shared, posted, tweeted, and that’s when people will make their way back to you.
SEO can be a moving target, but you can always learn more about it. Check out this great resource for SEO basics.
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