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Search engine optimization (SEO) is a vast field and involves a lot of measures and techniques that can be taken to increase your chances of making it to that coveted first spot on the first page of Google’s search engine results page (SERP).
That’s why it’s a good idea to get an SEO expert to help you through the process and not try to do it yourself.
However, in case you want to know about the measures you can take before you get that consultant, the best first step is to know which rookie mistakes to avoid. In that case, you’ve come to the right place.
Here is a curated list of the seven common mistakes to avoid in SEO, as told by https://www.smartstreetmedia.com/san-diego-seo.
Worst Mistakes That Should Be Avoided While Doing SEO
1. Neglecting Long-Tail Keywords
At the heart of it, SEO is all about getting ranked for those keywords, so it is understandable when businesses focus on ranking for specific keywords relevant to their niche. However, many businesses go for the wrong keywords. Many businesses go for single- or double-word keywords.
However, many users and, consequently, search engines, go for long-tail keywords. It isn’t about how you refer to your products and services but rather about how the users refer to them. That means that what you think is right might sometimes be completely different from what your users go for.
Do your research thoroughly on tools like SEMrush, Google Trends, and Keyword Planner to make sure you understand what people are seeking.
2. Duplicating Content
This is having the same concept in multiple URLs, also known as webpages. There are many versions of this. Homepage duplication is common, where you have various versions of the homepage under different URLs.
This can sometimes confuse search engines as to which is the real homepage. Duplicate URLs are also pretty common, where the casing of some letters word might change.
You should maintain consistency in your home pages and URLs to avoid this duplication. You should also keep the content on every webpage unique to prevent duplication.
3. Not Paying Attention To Content Marketing
Content marketing is just as important as on-page SEO. Content is king and has always been king.
While an SEO consultant can help you get the on-page SEO right, you also need to have a solid content marketing strategy for how you will provide value to your users.
4. Terrible Site Structure
Site structure is the way your website is laid out and how the pages on the website link to each other. The general idea is that the farther away a page is from the homepage, which typically has the highest authority, the less authority and ranking it has.
Many websites tend to have a structure that’s all over the place, and the result is that they lose ranking. To avoid this have a flat structure with a maximum of 3 links to any page in the website. You should also have relevant links based on keywords and content relevance. It should all be pretty intuitive for your users.
5. Keyword Dishonesty
This is creating content that is not relevant to the keyword used. If you want to rank for a given keyword, you will have to focus on the topic of that keyword.
Remember, you’re not just trying to rank, but also to help the user by providing answers to their questions. Instead of trying to squeeze too many topics in the same article, try focusing on a single topic per essay.
6. Spinning Articles
Another common mistake has to do with lazy content creation. Some webmasters take content from sources and spin it, either manually or using the software.
This is not good practice and is generally frowned upon. Try to focus on creating original content for your website.
7. Not Having Title Tags And Meta Descriptions For Your Content
While keywords are essential for your SEO, it doesn’t end there. You need to include title tags and meta descriptions to tell search engines and users about your content.
The meta description, in particular, is what will appear in the snippet on your site on the search engine results page. The user will see it first, and it will help them determine whether they want to click on your website or not.
If it’s not catchy or not there at all, then you’re shooting yourself in the foot, as far as SEO is concerned. So, these are the worst SEO mistakes to avoid in 2019 & beyond.
