Company Philosophy
Top 10 SEO Mistakes
Date: 03-Aug-2011
1. Targeting the wrong keywords
This is a mistake a lot of people make and what is worse – even experienced SEO experts make it. People select keywords that in their mind are descriptive of their website but the average users just may not search them. For instance, if you have a relationship site, you might discover that “relationship guide” does not work for you, even though it has the “relationship” keyword, while “dating advice” works like an attraction. Selecting the right keywords can make or break your SEO campaign. Even if you are very resourceful, you can’t think on your own of all the great keywords but a good keyword suggestion tool, for instance, the Website Keyword Suggestion tool will help you find keywords that are good for your site.
2. Ignoring the Title tag
Leaving the <title> tag empty is also very common. This is one of the most significant places to have a keyword, because not only does it help you in optimization but the text in your <title> tag shows in the search results as your page title.
3. A Flash website without an html choice
Flash might be smart but not to search engines and users. If you really insist that your site is Flash-based and you want search engines to love it, give an html version. Here are some more tips for optimizing Flash sites. Search engines don’t like Flash sites for a reason – a spider can’t read Flash content and therefore can’t index it.
4. JavaScript Menus
Using JavaScript for direction-finding is not bad as long as you understand that search engines do not read JavaScript and build your web pages accordingly. So if you have JavaScript menus you can’t do without, you must consider build a sitemap (or putting the links in a no script tag) so that all your links will be crawl able.
5. Lack of consistency and maintenance
Our friend Rob from Blackwood Productions often encounters clients, who believe that once you optimize a site, it is done forever. If you want to be successful, you require permanently optimizing your site, keeping an eye on the competition and – changes in the ranking algorithms of search engines.
6. Fixed too much onMetatags
A lot of people seem to think SEO is about getting yourMetakeywords and description correct! In fact,Metatags are becoming (if not already) a thing of the past. You can make yourMetakeywords and descriptions but don’t except to rank well only because of this.
7. Using only Images for Headings
Several people think that an image looks better than text for headings and menus. Yes, an image can create your site look more distinctive but in terms of SEO images for headings and menus are a big mistake because h2, h2, etc. tags and menu links are essential SEO items.
8. Ignoring URLs
Several people misjudge how essential a good URL is. Dynamic page names are still very frequent and no keywords in the URL are more a rule than an exception. Yes, it is possible to rank high even without keywords in the URL but all being equal, if you have keywords in the URL (the domain itself, or file names, which are part of the URL); this gives you additional advantage over your competitors. Keywords in URLs are more essential for MSN and Yahoo! but even with Google their relative weight is high, so there is no excuse for having key wordless URLs.
9. Backlinks spamming
It is a common illusion that it more backlinks are ALWAYS better and because of this web masters resort to link farms, forum/new group spam etc., which in the end could lead to getting their site banned. In fact, what you need is quality backlinks. Here is some more information on “The Importance of Backlinks”.
10. Lack of keywords in the content
Once you focus on your keywords, adapt your content and put the keywords wherever it makes sense. It is even better to make them bold or highlight them.
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