Ten Universal SEO Mistakes and How to Avert Them Part Two
In our first article of this two part series, we discussed the following items: 1) Not Doing Proper Keyword Research; 2) Assigning Too Many Keywords per Page; 3) Failing to Optimize Image Markup; 4) Poor Copywriting, Grammar and Spelling; and 5) Poor URL Selection. This article covers in great depth the final five items related to the “Ten Universal SEO Mistakes and How to Avert Them.”
6. Your Onsite Elements are Lacking: Like the copywriting and grammar section above, this section features a list too extensive to present in full here, but some examples include:
• Failing to have unique Titles for every page or failing to make them relevant to the page.
• Poor descriptions and/or poor inclusion of unique keywords relevant to the page.
• Stuffing keywords on the pages. Don’t simply throw them together in hopes of achieving rankings. There must be some method to weaving them in, i.e., use one per paragraph.
• Having no sitemap or using a poorly organized sitemap.
• Absence of interlinking relevant content within and between the pages of the site. Don’t have content that doesn’t make sense regarding the rest of the pages and the site’s theme in general.
• Poorly organized navigation.
• Poor call-to-action (or having no direct marketing elements).
• Using Flash to design the site. Search engines cannot read Flash. Always Use HTML.
• Believing that doing all of the on-site elements perfectly (Titles, Descriptions, Meta Data, etc) will achieve first page results. This almost never happens. The on-site elements are simply a foundation that you need to get right to have a chance of survival.
7. Not Adding Fresh Content: This is a must-follow rule for ranking in the Top Ten in the SERPS. Did you ever wonder why blogs and news results clutter the top of the SERPS sometimes? Well, it’s because they’re the freshest content available! Search engines love to see daily or weekly content. This is easily obtained by putting up a blog , or posting weekly through optimized articles and press releases.
8. No Back-linking Strategy: “Back-linking,” for those who may not know, is the term used to describe those pages that point back to you, those that link to your pages. You want back-links from quality sites, those with pertinent information, those that are well optimized, and those that offer readers a service or some form of help or information.
9. Failure to Inaugurate an SEO-Friendly Content Management System (CMS): Self-explanatory… If your CMS isn’t search engine-friendly, then how are the search engines supposed to read any part of your website at all?
10. Thinking You Can Do it All, All by Yourself: Trying to do SEO yourself… No one individual can be expected to perform a stellar job in all areas of SEO, its specialties, and its sub-specialties. You may find that you need one person for the Paid Media side, one for keyword research and competitor analysis, one for back-linking and link development overall, another for copywriting, blogging and optimized press releases, and yet another for the technical side of SEO. Hence, SEO requires an entire team of individuals that are highly trained – not just one individual who can hold his own in all areas.
This content was written regarding Stone Crossing Solutions; a professional interactive marketing firm that has decades of experience in all aspects of Search Engine Optimization. Get a free SEO assessment today and you’ll see what Stone Crossing Solutions can do for you; receive your free evaluation of the top eight dimensions critical to SEO performance and you’ll be competitive in the marketplace like you’ve never been before. For more information about Stone Crossing Solutions, feel free to go to http://www.stonecrossingsolutions.com.
Leave a Reply