50% of people around the world use the internet.
This reason alone proves why online marketing and search rankings matter.
But if you think you need to be one of those SEO experts before you can make waves, you’ve got another thing coming.
Anyone can pull off the SEO tricks that could propel a website to the top of search engines.
A small concern, though, is not everyone can do it right.
You don’t want to go against a basic rule in blogging: not attracting traffic, do you?
So let’s fix it in this post. Here, you will learn the biggest SEO mistakes that are driving your readers away. Finding out what they are, then resolving them is the way to go!
1. Not optimizing your site for mobile devices
This is one of the biggest SEO mistakes to avoid. And it’s killing your conversion rates.
After all, 48% of people who visit a website that is not mobile-friendly are turned off. It annoys and frustrates them how inconsiderate the site owner could be.
The fix:
So you need to understand mobile optimization. One of the common mistakes is thinking that there’s nothing more to it than a responsive design.
Here’s what else you can do:
- Use rich snippets. The goal is to stand out and create content better than on a desktop. You can turn to Schema.org for this.
- Use HTML5 . Don’t create special effects using Flash. Otherwise, users who didn’t install the plugin won’t get to view your effort.
- Optimize your meta description and titles . This allows you to be concise. And you’re going to make it happen even with relatively less screen space.
2. Not creating a fast-loading website
Did you know that a 100 millisecond delay in loading speed can cost you? So if you don’t want to see a 1% loss in revenue, you should straighten things out.
To kick things off, go to PageSpeed Insights to check if your page is up to speed. Just enter your site’s URL for analysis.
Page Speed Insights
Your score could mean one of the following:
PageSpeed Insights Scale
- (Slow) 0-49. Your website’s speed is frustrating. Your visitors may check out another site than wait for yours to load.
- (Average) 50-89. Your website’s speed is okay. But it can be better.
- (Fast) 90-100. Your website is fast. Just keep it up!
The fix:
What you can do is to create a fast-loading website. Make a rock-solid strategy and follow it.
Here are some tips:
- Uninstall extra plugins – Just because a plugin is free doesn’t mean you should keep it. Unless your site’s performance says otherwise, you’re better off without it.
- Use compression – Use compression tools like WPSmush. This way, you can reduce the size of your media.
- Enable caching – Caching plugins work by allowing data to be stored temporarily. Examples of these plugins are WP Rocket and W3 Total Cache.
3. Low quality pages are everywhere
“Thin content” shouldn’t be on your site. It refers to content that has zero value to the information that’s already available on the internet.
Because they’re invaluable, Google doesn’t see the need to index your pages with thin content. You just wasted its resources.
The result? You’ll get a spot among the omitted results. That, or receive a message from Google Search Console: you violated its guidelines.
Message from Google Search Console
The fix:
Check your site’s content. And ask yourself if the content is of exceptional quality.
Is it rich with information? Does it offer value? Does it contain unique details?
If you answered NO, all you need to do is simple. Revise your content until you can confidently answer YES to the same questions.
And if you’ve already received a message from GSC, remember that the process is manual. You will need to REQUEST A REVIEW.
Once you do, an employee at Google will review your site. He will determine whether you’ve already fixed the problem.
4. No such thing as keyword research for you
It doesn’t matter if you outsource or hire an in-house staff for this. What matters is that you do it.
After all, it’s the key to generating organic traffic. Some SEO experts even believe it’s the heart of digital marketing!
Using keywords is one thing. Using the right keywords is another. And it is only through research that you can figure out what’s right and what’s not.
If you’re using the wrong keywords, it’s like you’re turning your back on your visitors and potential customers. You’re not addressing their interests and pain points.
The fix:
Go to Google’s Keyword Planner. Start by searching for your root keyword.
Google Keyword Planner
Once the results are in, you can browse the list of keywords. Go with keywords that have high search volume and low competition.
5. Broken pages are everywhere
If you need information on the internet, landing on a page that’s broken (or doesn’t exist) must be irksome. It’s an utter waste of time.
If you’re the webmaster with broken pages, you should resolve the issue. Not only is it annoying for visitors, it doesn’t put you in the good graces of search engines.
You see, where SEO is concerned, broken pages mean missing links. And missing links are frowned upon by Google. After all, you just consumed its resources for nothing.
On top of that, you’re not the only one who suffers a glaring eye. If another website trusts you enough to link to your content, he ends up with a broken page, too. Now imagine if about 100 websites linked to your content?
The fix:
Broken Link Checker
You can install a plugin like the Broken Link Checker to remedy this. Because it’s easy-to-use, it’s a go-to plugin for many SEO experts.
Once you activate it, it will scan your site for broken links. Other than the broken URL, it will also show you that link’s anchor text, status, and location. And once you know which links are broken, you can edit the link!
6. Creating duplicate content
Even if you don’t do so on purpose, posting duplicates on your site is bad. It’s like committing a hate crime to a search engine.
Remember, content still matters. In digital marketing, it is still king – and as it seems, will always be.
Duplicate content issues come up for these reasons:
- http vs https webpages. Does your site have both an http and https versions? And does your content exist in both versions? If you answered “yes”, getting flagged shouldn’t be surprising.
https in a website
- Scraped content. Do you run an e-commerce site that sells a popular item from one manufacturer? Then you’re likely to encounter republished materials. This includes a scraped blog post and product information from that manufacturer.
- URL parameters and analytics code. For example, www.petmdcom/brown-dog-chocolate-labrador… is a duplicate of www.petmd.com/brown-dog
The fix:
You can set up a 301 redirect. Doing so helps you rank better and create a strong relevancy.
You can also use rel=”canonical” or =”noindex,follow”. The canonical attribute will justify the link equity to the original source. The meta robots tag, on the other hand, won’t restrict crawl access.
Wrapping up
If you’re new to digital marketing, you might not get everything perfect immediately. But know this: everybody makes mistakes. So you shouldn’t beat yourself up about it.
The important thing is you learned a lesson. That, and you are doing something to resolve it!Author’s Bio
Ankit Singla
Ankit is a professional blogger, affiliate marketer, consultant, trainer, public speaker and founder of MasterBlogging, where he is passionate about helping people generate a full-time income with blogging. You can follow him on twitter at @iAnkitSingla