How SEO Can Transform Your Business’ Online Presence

What is SEO?

SEO is an acronym for Search Engine Optimization and is a necessary aspect of any digital marketing strategy. It’s the ranking process of keywords or key phrases in search engine results pages (SERPs) by improving the quality and quantity of traffic to your website.

Keywords or key phrases are the search terms users type into a search engine to find information about a particular topic or business. You can increase your website’s visibility and attract more qualified traffic by targeting the right keywords or phrases.

With over 3.5 billion searches on Google daily, you cannot afford to neglect SEO strategy. Yet, implementing one can be challenging, especially if you are new to it. SEO mistakes can hurt your website’s rankings and ultimately affect your bottom line.

10 SEO Mistakes to Avoid When Publishing Content

1) Neglecting Keyword Research

Targeting the right keywords can increase your website’s visibility and attract more qualified traffic; it should not be a guessing game. Start by identifying the keywords relevant to your content. Use tools like Google Keyword Planner to find related keywords and phrases.

2) Overstuffing Keywords

While targeting the right keywords is essential, overstuffing them in your content can have the opposite effect, hurting your rankings. Keyword stuffing is using your target keywords excessively in your content, hoping to trick search engines into ranking your website higher. Search engines can easily detect keyword stuffing. To avoid this mistake, use your target keywords naturally throughout your content and avoid overusing them.

How many should I use? It really depends on the amount of words you have on your page. Ideally, you should have one keyword for every 100-150 words. Here is a break of the type of keywords you will need:

• Primary Keywords: Find one main keyword that summarizes your content.
• Secondary Keywords: 3 – 5 keywords complementary to your primary keywords, with slight variations.
• Additional Keywords: 3 – 5 catch-all net of words that are variations of your main keywords.

Adding a keyword or two—without sacrificing the quality of your content—in the introduction and conclusion will help your SEO because search engines skim the first and last 200 words to understand your content better.

3) Ignoring Title Tags and Meta Descriptions

Title tags and meta descriptions are HTML elements that provide information about your website to search engines and users. They play a critical role in helping search engines understand your website and can influence whether or not users click on your website in search results. Ensure that each page on your website has a unique and descriptive title tag and meta description that accurately reflects the page’s content.

Free WordPress plugins like Yoast SEO allow you to optimize your webpage for SEO and readability by providing places to enter meta descriptions and SEO title tags.

• Meta Description: A summary of your content, no more than 160 characters.
• SEO Title Tag: This is the clickable title you see in the search engine (also known as Meta Title Tag), and it shouldn’t be confused with your content title.

4) Failing to Optimize for Mobile

Mobile optimization involves designing your website to provide an optimal user experience on mobile devices. This includes using a responsive design, optimizing page speed, and having a layout that is easy to navigate on smaller screens.

With over half of all internet traffic coming from mobile devices, optimizing your website for mobile is no longer optional; it’s essential. Optimization goes beyond generating more traffic; it enhances the overall experience for your visitors and helps increase conversions by keeping users engaged with your site, even when navigating on a smaller screen.

5) Not Having a Clear Site Structure

A clear and organized site structure is critical for users and search engines. It makes it easier for users to find the information they are looking for and helps search engines understand the hierarchy of your website’s content. To avoid this mistake, create a clear and logical site structure with titles and subtitles using HTLM Tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) to prioritize them over regular text. Once again, without sacrificing the quality of your content, you can use keywords in your headings and subtitles to prioritize them over regular text.

Examples images of HTML Tag headings you might see:

6) Forgetting About Internal Linking

Including internal links within your website’s content can have multiple benefits. First, it can make it easier for users to navigate your website and explore related content. Second, it can help search engines better understand the connection between the various pages on your website. Including internal links in your content is an easy way to boost your SEO.

7) Ignoring Content Quality and Relevance

It’s essential to create top-notch and pertinent content to have SEO success. Search engines prefer websites that offer users valuable and enlightening content. To prevent making this mistake, it’s essential to ensure that your website’s content is well-crafted, informative, and adds value to your intended audience.

8) Skipping Alt Tags on Images

Alt tags are HTML attributes that serve as alternative text descriptions of your website’s images. These descriptions are handy for visually impaired users who rely on screen readers to understand the content of the images. In addition, alt tags can provide contextual information for search engines, improving your website’s visibility in search results.

9) Neglecting Social Media

Social media signals may not directly impact your website’s search engine rankings, but they can still play a vital role in your SEO strategy. Sharing your website’s content on social media can improve its visibility, attract more traffic, and help build backlinks. Incorporating social media sharing buttons on your website’s content also helps with enhancing visibility and encourages readers to share. Additionally, adding relevant keywords to your photo’s alt text can help users find your content while searching for images as long as you are not overstuffing keywords.

10) Focusing Too Much on Rankings

Although it is paramount to rank higher in search engine results pages, your SEO strategy should not be limited to this aspect only. It is recommended to concentrate on producing valuable content, ensuring an excellent user experience, and establishing high-quality backlinks. This approach will not only help enhance your website’s search engine rankings but also help you create a robust online presence.

We provide comprehensive web design services that go beyond aesthetics, ensuring your website is fully functional, and user-friendly for your visitors. We implement SEO practices from the start to help jump-start your online presence.