Don’t Make These SEO Mistakes

Writing copy that’s optimized for search engines is one of the simplest way to drive traffic to your website. Unfortunately, many of us make deadly SEO mistakes that can impede our quest for high Search engines ranking.

This is especially true for  “SEO newbies” who think that simply stuffing keywords into their copy will shoot them to the first page of search results. If you want to truly make your website succeed, make sure you aren’t committing these SEO cardinal sins that can hurt your ranking and traffic.

1. Keyword stuffing. As mentioned earlier, stuffing your copy with keywords isn’t helping anyone. If you’re targeting the keywords “dog trainers in Miami,” don’t include that phrase in every sentence of your 800-word blog post. Your readers will notice the repetitive nature of your post, driving them away rather than making them stick around your site.

Furthermore, Google will penalize your site and make it harder for you to raise its rank in the future. Make your copy sound natural and include the phrase where it only makes sense. That way, your readers won’t be subject to choppy and forced content, and everyone — including Google — is happy about your work.

2. Not having a link-building strategy in place. In the SEO realm, high-quality content should be a top priority – there’s no doubting the value of good copy. Nevertheless, your amazing copy won’t get read unless you’re getting a lot of incoming links to your site.

Building links is essential for high ranking (and high traffic). Luckily, there are plenty of ways you can boost the number of incoming links to your site or blog. For instance, consider writing guest posts. Sites like myblogguest.com provide many opportunities for content creators to build links and showcase their talents. You can also try link-building services like BuildMyRank.com to help increase the size of your link-building network. Be aggressive in your search for link-building opportunities.

3. Targeting the wrong keywords. You need to target words with low-to-medium competition. Going after words with a high competition is a recipe for disaster, especially if your site is just starting out; you’ll never rank for those words – at least not in this lifetime. Using tools such as Google Adwords Keyword Tool can help you find the least competitive keywords for your particular niche. Once you have your target keywords, you can start writing high-quality copy around them. One of the most common reasons that new sites fail to gain traction is a lack of keyword research. Don’t let that happen to you – be prepared.

4. Poor site navigation. A site that’s hard to navigate is a problem for readers and search engine spiders alike. Making your navigation more user-friendly is a surefire way to improve your site’s organic traffic. Also, make sure your navigation isn’t graphics intensive. Search engines spiders face limitations when dealing with graphics platforms like Flash, so plain ol’ copy is ideal.

5. Not enough content. The more content you have, the more “food” that search engine spiders have to feed on. Of course, you shouldn’t throw up just any content onto your site. Avoid duplicate content and keyword-stuffed posts (see #1). For the best results, stick to original relevant content that your readers and customers want and expect – don’t branch out just for the sake of targeting obscure keywords with little traffic.

Like I said earlier, SEO is serious business. If you want your page to stand out from the millions already out there, it’s important you follow the best SEO practices and avoid these careless mistakes. If you take the time to truly optimize your site, you’ll reap the traffic and ranking rewards. Good luck.