5 Common SEO Mistakes You Must Avoid

While SEO is something you do to help your website rank better in the search engines, doing it the wrong way can be worse than doing nothing at all. You are probably aware of the Penguin and Panda updates that Google has rolled out in the last couple of years. These have made it more important than ever to know what you’re doing in regard to SEO.

In this article, we’ll be looking at some of the common mistakes people make that cause them to be ignored or even penalized by the search engines, especially Google.

1. Overusing Keywords

   This is also Known as Keyword Stuffing. Many new website owners make this mistake. When they learn about keywords, they assume that the more often they use them, the better. There are two problems with overusing keywords, and they are both serious.

   First of all, too many keywords will lower the quality of your website. Readers will notice that there is something artificial about your writing, even if they don’t understand the concept of keywords. You want to write your content so it sounds as natural as possible. This will entail using a certain number of keywords, but in moderation.

   The other problem with keyword stuffing is that the search engines don’t like it. This is one of the practices that can cause your site to be penalized. It’s a red flag that you are attempting to game the system. For SEO purposes, you should focus on using your keywords in the right places, such as in title posts, headlines, and in the first paragraph of your copy.

2. Duplicate Content on Your Site

   There are some disagreements, even among SEO experts, about how harmful duplicate content really is. We should differentiate between two types of duplicate content.

   The first kind is when you publish content on your site that is also on other websites. This is fairly common, as when you publish an article on your site and also send it somewhere else, such as Ezinearticles.com. This type of duplicate content is not great for SEO purposes, but it won’t cause the search engines to penalize you in any way. There are many high ranking sites, including many news sites, that regularly republish articles and stories.

   At the same time, you should also have unique content as well. One method that you can use is called curation, where you place links and short excerpts from other articles and add your own commentary.

   The second type of duplicate content is when you have the same content in more than one location on your own site. This is the kind that is detrimental for SEO purposes. You also have to be careful not to use duplicate names for post titles and pages. This is something that often happens on large sites, and it’s very easy to do if you’re not careful.

   When the search engines find duplicate content on a single site, it detracts from the value of the post or page. An example of how this can happen is on an e-commerce site, when a separate page is generated for a single product for each variation (e.g. size, color).

3. Poor Quality Backlinks

   This is one of the most common SEO mistakes made by people trying to rank their sites quickly. It’s also one of the easiest ways for Google to identify you as someone who practices “black hat” SEO, whether you are intending to or not.

   In general, any backlinks you purchase in bulk are likely to be low quality. These usually come from link farms, or sites that are created simply for the purpose of selling links!

   Another type of linking you should stay away from is mass forum profile backlinks. This is when you (or someone you’re paying) signs up for lots of forums for the sole purpose of getting backlinks from the profiles. First of all, the forums usually catch onto this tactic and delete the profiles. Secondly, if you have too many forum links, it will look suspicious to the search engines.

   You should aim to get a variety of backlinks from different sources. Linking should appear as natural as possible, so a large number from any one source is not a good idea.

4. Anchor Text Using Limited Keywords

   This is a mistake you have to be careful about when creating anchor text. If you are constantly using anchor text with the same keywords, it will look suspicious to the search engines.

   It’s best to use a variety of anchor text. Don’t only use your main keywords, but some long tail keywords as well. It’s even good to mix in some relevant anchor text that doesn’t have any obvious SEO purpose. This will make your site look more natural.

   The search engines reward sites that are interesting and beneficial to visitors. Any signs that you are trying to do something for SEO purposes can cause you problems.

   Obesity is a rising epidemic affecting millions worldwide. buy viagra canada cialis sale usa These signs show clearly they are related with andropause. If a woman is over 30, has a history of pelvic disease, miscarriage, painful menstruation, irregular cycles, or if her http://frankkrauseautomotive.com/testimonial/pleasant-experience/ cheap levitra prescription partner has a low sperm count, the ability to last for hours… this list could go on for a couple of days before the baby is born. User Friendly The online Texas approved drivers ed generic viagra without prescription is effective.

5. Lack of Internal Linking

   Not only is it important to have quality backlinks from other sites, it’s also beneficial to use internal linking on your site. This means having one post link to another post or page on your own site. It’s not easy to do this on a new site when you don’t have much content. As your site grows, however, it becomes natural to do internal linking.

   This practice encourages visitors to spend more time on your site. As they’re reading a post, they will notice an interesting looking link and click on it. While it’s acceptable to have some outbound links, it’s nice if some of your links take visitors to other places on your site. Not only does this keep your visitors on your site longer, it informs the search engines that your site is valuable.

   This is very easy to do once you get into the habit. As you write new content for your blog or website, think about what other posts are relevant and link to them.

Conclusion

Search engine optimization is crucial if you want your site to rank well. However, today SEO is a bit of a minefield and it’s easy to make mistakes. The above are some of the more common areas where you can go wrong.

Some of these mistakes, such as lack of internal linking, are made because people simply don’t know something. However, most SEO mistakes are made when people are looking for shortcuts. Examples of this include buying cheap, low quality links or overusing keywords in the hope that this will help them rank faster.

If you focus on creating quality content and using the right keywords (in moderation), the search engines will eventually reward you. Don’t try to rush the process, though, as this will usually cause you more harm than good!

One Responseto “5 Common SEO Mistakes You Must Avoid”

1. Bhumi says:

   February 10, 2015 at 4:49 am

   Hi,

   Thanks for sharing.

   Is there any easy way to create interlinks?

   Reply