Top 5 SEO Strategy Mistakes That Will Kill Your Website's Ranking

What are the top 5 SEO strategy mistakes that will kill your website's ranking?

Besides creating a website, search engine optimization is one of the most important aspects of marketing a business owner can do for their website or blog. It is what helps you get found online by your target audience without having to pay for every click. In most instances, a well optimized web page can actually draw more of the right kind of traffic to your website since it more than likely matches the user's search intent. More of the right kind of visitors through organic traffic means you are more likely to convert them to paying customers or clients. 

This powerful money saving technique doesn't come easy. Optimizing your website for search takes time and effort. 

To help you reach your potential faster, I'm sharing five mistakes people typically make with SEO that ruin their efforts and waste their time. 

Read on to discover how to avoid these mistakes so you can rank higher in the search engines and drive more traffic to your site.

Mistake #1: Not Putting Your Content First

One of the biggest SEO mistakes you can make is not putting your content first. Your content is what will attract visitors to your site and keep them coming back for more. If you don't have good, relevant content on your site, your SEO efforts will be for nothing.

It should be engaging

Make sure your web content is well-written, informative, and engaging. It should be something people want to read and share with their friends. 

It should be readable

Readable content that is SEO optimized focuses on a specific keyword, but it doesn't stuff keywords into the article. Instead of trying to use your keyword as much as possible, just write your copy. It will sound more natural and your readers will appreciate you for it. 

Key take-away: Focus on producing high-quality, keyword-rich articles that will engage and inform your readers. This is the best way to improve your website's ranking and get more traffic.

Mistake #2: Treating SEO Like a Distant Objective

If you're not regularly monitoring and tweaking your website's SEO, you're missing out on valuable opportunities to improve your ranking. Search engine algorithms are constantly changing, and new strategies are always emerging. If you don't stay on top of the latest SEO trends, you'll quickly fall behind your competitors.

Since SEO takes time to be effective, it should be an ongoing part of your website plan, not an activity you think about when something goes wrong or you need more sales. 

By regularly monitoring your website's SEO and making adjustments as needed, along with producing high quality content for your intended audience, you can keep your site ranking high in the search results.

Key take-away: Develop an SEO strategy and work on it regularly, not when you experience issues or need to drive sales. 

Mistake #3: Using the Wrong Keywords

If you're not using the right keywords in your website content, then you're missing out on a key opportunity to improve your website ranking. 

What are keywords?

Keywords are the terms people use when they search for information online. If you're not using the right ones, the search algorithm is not going to show your website or article in the search results.

To figure out which keywords to use, start by thinking about what topics your website covers. What kind of information do you offer? What are people looking for when they come to your site? Once you have a good understanding of that, research which keywords are most commonly used in relation to those topics.

Once you have a list of potential keywords, start incorporating them into your website content. Use them in your titles, in your meta descriptions, and throughout the body of your text. But again be careful not to overdo it – too many keywords can result in keyword stuffing, which will actually hurt your ranking rather than help it.

Finally, don't forget to keep track of how well your chosen keywords are performing. Use Google Analytics or another similar tool to see how often people are finding your site through specific keyword searches. That will give you a good idea of whether or not you need to adjust your keyword strategy.

Key take-away: Focus on using the right keywords for your product or service. Using the wrong keywords in your web content won’t attract the right target audience.

Mistake #4: Doing Too Much High Level Optimization

One of the more common mistakes that people make when it comes to SEO is trying to do too much high level optimization. This can include things like:

• Optimizing your website for the wrong keywords
• Using a poorly written title tags and meta description
• Trying to get backlinks from irrelevant websites

• Link building is already hard. You don’t want to spend time building links to your content that won’t serve  you well. 

• Not paying attention to the types of searches your customers typically perform.
  
  Focusing too heavily on one type of search intent instead of a broad range of search intent. I get it, we all want people to purchase from us, but we have to recognize that there our potential customers perform more than transactional searches. They perform informational searches early on in their research. We need to meet them where they are at, which means we need different types of content on our website that is optimized for different searcher intent.

If you want to rank well in the search engines, you need to focus on doing things that will actually improve your website’s ranking. For example, you should focus on creating high-quality content, building relevant backlinks, and making sure your website is mobile-friendly.

Focusing on the wrong types of optimization can actually hurt your website’s ranking, so it’s important to do your research and focus on what will get you the most results. 

Key take-away: Invest your time in the activities that will actually make a difference in ranking your website. 

Mistake #5: Lack of Focus on Quality

When it comes to SEO, quality is key. That’s why it’s a mistake to focus on quantity over quality when it comes to your website content. Stuffing your pages with low-quality, keyword-stuffed content will not only turn off your visitors, but it will also get you penalized by Google. Make sure every piece of content on your site is well-written, informative, and relevant to your target audience.

Key take-away: Focus on producing quality content that people actually want to read and share. Answer the Public or Google’s suggested search terms is a good way to see what questions people are asking in your niche.

If you need help with your website, particular optimizing it for search and avoiding the top 5 SEO strategy mistakes outlined in this post, give us a call. We would be more than happy to help you optimize your website for search.