If you have just started running a website, it is not uncommon to feel overwhelmed by SEO. In fact until they set up a website, many people do not even know that SEO exists! To give you a little helping hand, we have outlined some of the most common SEO mistakes webmasters make and explained how to avoid making them yourself.
If SEO is new to you, it is easy to fall into traps and make mistakes. See our hints and tips below to make sure you don’t!
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Using the same page titles and meta descriptions for each web page
Having the same page titles and meta descriptions for each of your website pages is not going to help it’s SEO. Every page should have it’s own unique title. You can still include your website or business name in the title, but tag it onto the end instead.
It is equally as important to create unique meta descriptions for each of your web pages. Meta descriptions are made up of 160 characters and are displayed under your webpage title in relevant search results. It is best to think of your meta descriptions as like mini sales pitches that will entice people to click on your link. Be sure to optimise them by including relevant keywords.
Using the same anchor text for every link
If you use the same anchor text for every link to your web page, it will not only look spam-like to visitors but suspicious to search engines too. There is such a thing as over optimising anchor text and this could hurt your website’s search ranking. Instead, mix things up a little by using variations on the anchor text. You could also use the name of your company or your website URL as anchor text too. Varying your anchor text will make your links look more natural.
Choosing quantity over quality
When it comes to building links to your website, quality trumps quantity every time. You should be looking to gain links from industry relevant websites that have high authority. A link from a popular website or blog is likely to have a much greater impact on your website’s search rankings than multiple links from low quality websites. If you have a link from a website with high authority, Google will put more weight behind it, as they will trust the source.
Stealing other people’s content can damage your website’s SEO.
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Copying content from other sites
Copying and pasting product descriptions and website content from other websites will damage your website’s SEO. Google and other search engines thrive on fresh, unique and relevant content. If you do not feel you can produce unique and engaging content for your website, hire a professional copywriter from us here at Fluid Digital!
It is also important to make sure that your website content is worthy of being shared. The more people that link to your content, the more likely you are to rank higher in searches. The content you produce for your website does not always have to be text based. Mix things up by creating infographics and video content every now and then.
Not having an SEO strategy
Far too many webmasters think they can get away with dabbling in SEO every now and then. The truth is that if you want to stand the best chance at ranking well and improving your website’s visibility online, you will need a clever and consistent SEO strategy. This is something our team of SEO experts can help you with.
Having an SEO strategy will give you a better understanding of what you need to do in order to reach your goals. It will also help you to measure your success, so you can see that your SEO efforts are worth the time and investment.
Conclusion
We are not going to lie – SEO is tricky. It takes knowledge, skill and dedicated in order to get it right, however it is worth it for the positive impact it will have on your website. If you want to make sure you avoid these common SEO mistakes, you may want to consider working with a professional SEO agency like Fluid Digital. See our SEO service page for more information.
Image credits: opensourceway & Iain Mullen