Blogging is simple. SEO? Not quite.
See, what you’re doing every time you post a blog is compete with every other blogger out there for that top result on the search engine result pages. Hence naturally, for each article you write there are thousands with similar keywords, etc. who win the game of Search Engine Optimization with a little understanding and smart thinking.
The main purpose of SEO is to increase website traffic, but most of the people don’t do it properly. People learn from their mistakes. We would like you to learn from them even if you’re a beginner and haven’t made any errors yet.
Here are the top 6 common SEO mistakes that prevent people from achieving optimum results:
I. Duplicate Content:
Think logically for a minute here: If someone posts a thousand identical articles one by one in hopes of getting the top result, do you think search engines will have no clue about it?
Search Engines are controlled by order-seeking, guideline-following, intelligent people who keep writing algorithms to give the best results on their search pages.
Pulling a stunt like posting duplicate content (knowing or unknowingly) will NOT get you better SERPs. It might lead to your page being ignored due to posting of duplicate content.
Even writing posts largely similar to each other can cause this strict ‘No-No’ for SEO.
Keep track of your content, and stay original. Remember, no one writes like you, so make it count.
II. Targeting Wrong Keywords:
‘Put yourself in their shoes.’ And no, were not talking about empathy here. Quite simply, just think how the people searching for something on your blog subject might type on their search bar. This is shouldn’t be so hard, almost everyone is an avid internet user and knows how to find what they need online.
Unfortunately, as simple as it sounds, you’d be surprised at how many websites screw up in this area. Including irrelevant keywords and unrelated sentences or even stuffing the content with keywords are the reasons why not everyone can SEO.
If you’re new to this, play it simple. Include words you think regular people type and make it genuinely relate to your content. You can’t go wrong with that.
III. Keyword Stuffing:
Let’s get one thing absolutely clear: You are not writing for a class assignment where you need to meet the minimum requirement. Repeating words repeatedly will not gain you better results, it will gain you invisibility; invisibility from your link never seeing the light of day because the search engine picked up on your attempts to fool them.
Do not mess with search engines. They know and understand your tricks better than you do. Write relevant articles, maintain originality and don’t even try to cheat by stuffing keywords.
Even if we indulge in the long-shot and assume that you do get a visitor because of keyword stuffing, how much quality do you think there will be in such an article? You’re just asking for an increase in bounce rates before the search engines shuts you out.
IV. Ignoring Internal Linking:
This is incredibly simple to understand. When someone visits your page, finishes their work and finds nothing leading them anywhere else, they leave. This is what you must avoid. Once you have them interested in your page, try to keep them there.
Understand the different parts of your website and have them connected to each other well, like the roads in a city.
However, avoid trying to irritate people with flashy links like ‘click here.’ You will lose respect real fast, no questions. Instead use meaningful icons with keywords or anchor text links that direct a visitor to a related different part of your website.
This kind of internal linking is important. Don’t leave your web content untied.
V. Focusing on link quantity over link quality:
Again, overstuffing your pages with links (internal or external) or buying a few hundred links doesn’t make for good SEO. Such activities are flagged on the search engines as ‘Unusual link activity’ and you risk being indexed off the result pages, or the very least, ignored by search engines. There really isn’t much to understand here. Quality over quantity when it comes to links or keywords any day.
The reason we emphasize quality of links is because, if your links are naturally good then people will share, click, read, mark and promote them on social media.
Avoid making the simple mistake of trying to cheat the search engines and make original quality content, whether it is keywords, links or the website in all.
VI. You’re expecting quick results:
One factor we have never failed to stress is to have fun with your blogs. Everything doesn’t have to be a competition. It is important is to do your best and keep making posts if that’s what you want to do.
Good things take time. Overnight changes will not make you perfect at SEO nor will you be Google’s favorite. Patience, Fun, and Quality. Having these three will already separate you from the herd.
Conclusion:
SEO is not simple. Else everyone would be good at it. The most common SEO mistakes arise because they think they can fool and cheat Search Engines. More often than not, putting out quality content can make the best difference.
Learn from these mistakes people have made; if you have not seen examples of this personally it is because they have failed to attract you as a good site to visit and perhaps the search engines shut them out.
About author:
Rintu Biswas is an SEO expert at MyTasker, a professional SEO Company. He is extremely passionate about his work. He has been in the SEO Industry for 5 years. You can follow his Facebook Page.
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