According to the latest statistics, American businesses spent $80 billion on SEO marketing last year. This number is proof of the success SEO services bring to businesses throughout the states.
As the world moves forward, all businesses, regardless of their size, are fully determined to increase their SEO efforts to boost their Google ranking. But feeling frustrated is definitely normal if you have been working with an SEO service or implementing your in-house SEO strategy that shows no results. The good news is that it isn’t the end for you!
This blog will discuss some of the most common optimization mistakes that negatively impact SEO strategies. So if you’re ready to make some amends and reach the top of SERP, continue reading below.
Why Do Google Rankings Matter?
But before you start making changes and fixing your mistakes, it’s essential for you to know why Google rankings matter. Here’s a simple answer:
- Generate Traffic – a higher Google ranking will help you generate organic traffic on the website.
- Convert Leads into Clients – more people coming to the website will translate into more clients.
- Builds Reputation – over time, a higher SERP position will turn you into a trustworthy and renowned brand.
- Increases Reach – you will not only have an increase in the local reach but also a greater reach to people who will otherwise not know your business.
- Boosts Branding Efforts – SEO marketing is integral to a business’s marketing and branding strategy. Having a strong reputation online will boost your brand image offline too.
Common SEO Mistakes that Affect Ranks
Here are some of the mistakes that you’re probably making and causing damage to your SEO service’s efforts.
Not Conducting Keyword Research
It’s probably safe to say that keyword optimization is the backbone of a successful SEO strategy. If you start with random and irrelevant keywords, you will fail to address the user’s search intent. Therefore, conducting keyword research and analyzing industry-specific keywords for your web content is essential.
Stuffing Keywords
And even if you have great keywords with an optimum density, your efforts will be futile if you over-optimize your content. Keyword stuffing was a common practice back in the day. But now, Google has changed the way it looks at web pages and ranks them. Therefore, avoid stuffing too many keywords in your content.
Forgetting Specific, Long-Tail Keywords
In addition to using generic keywords, using short keywords is also a common mistake. Statistics say that a user types at least four keywords when looking for a company online. Therefore, target specific, long-tail keywords and those that are closely linked to your service/products.
Forgetting Mobile-Friendliness
Over 58 percent of online searches are carried out via mobile phone. If your website is not mobile-friendly and gives a hard time to over half of the people visiting it, you’re losing customers. When building a website, prioritize mobile friendliness to make the visitors stay longer.
Too Slow to Load
Despite being mobile-friendly, if your website has poor responsiveness, you will lose potential clients. People looking up for businesses online are keen to use websites that are easy to navigate, have a quick response rate, and offer a seamless experience. Make sure you’re ticking these boxes and focusing on UX.
Not Optimizing Images
Image optimization isn’t just adding proper Alt-Text. In fact, compressing the size of images, making them easy to load, and using relevant images is a part of a well-crafted SEO strategy. Visitors will be turned off instantly if your images are too large to load.
Buying Backlinks
Everyone will rave about professional link-building services. But very few will tell you the truth. While it’s true that having solid backlinks is important, i.e., generating traffic through high domain authority websites, it’s a bad idea to buy backlinks to boost your page ranking. Google’s Penguin Algorithm particularly dislikes this practice!
Duplicating Content
Plagiarism is another one of the practices that Google hates. Duplicate content, irrelevant content, and content with external links’ spam will drag your website’s ranking to the bottom. Therefore, always update your website with original, good-quality content that attracts customers.
More Mistakes
In addition to the above-mentioned mistakes, here are some more mistakes that can damage SEO efforts.
- Not Adding a Sitemap
- Ignoring Meta Tags
- Not Updating Content Regularly
- Ignoring Long-Form Content
- Ignoring Google guidelines and EAT Criteria
- Poor Internal Linking
- Forcing External Links
- Broken Links on the Website
- Showing a Laidback Attitude
- Not Using Google Tools such as Google Search Console, Google Analytics, and Google Keyword Planner
What Can You Do?
Are you tired of seeing your SEO strategy’s futility? Here’s what you can do!
Hire professional link-building services and SEO services offered by Search Berg. The SEO agency offers a wide range of SEO services, including content marketing, paid marketing, social media marketing, and business reputation management. Get in touch here to learn more about SEO services offered by Search Berg.
