7 SEO Mistakes Bloggers Should Steer Clear of
Search engine optmisation is crucial for any blogging campaign to be considered a success. As such, it needs to be implemented in the right way. SEO can be a tricky affair for a variety of reasons, chief among them being the multiple factors used by Google to rank websites and which are subject to change anytime.
The myths surrounding the topic have become numerous and distinguishing truth from fiction can be hard. However, here are mistakes you should certainly not fall prey to:
Chasing PageRank
It goes that the higher PageRank you have the higher you rank in search engines, and subsequently the more visitors you get.
This is not the only metric that will improve the success of your blog on search engines.
Duplicate Content
This is something everyone knows about yet some still carry on practicing the same tired tricks from a decade ago. Creating different pages for the same topic with a slightly different variation is a trick Google won’t bite and will sentence you for it. For example, creating different pages for the keywords, ‘increase sales with Pinterest’ and ‘making money with your Pinterest’ – this will just be a waste of time and won’t be adding any value to your site.
Buying Links
Buying links may benefit you on the short-term but rest assured this play is like taxes – you may get away with it now, but they gonna get you.
Instead of buying links that Google will flag in a matter of time, opt for recommended linking techniques that might take time to build but whose end result will be worthwhile.
Sacrificing Looks for Content
Many bloggers are obsessed with the design of their blogs, and rightfully so. For without an appealing design, most people won’t be drawn to your site. This does not mean to include too many images or graphics though, this will only serve to make it slower.
There are also sites that use sounds and motion from Flash at the expense of page speed. This will not only make it time-consuming for search engines to crawl your pages but also not a worthy trade-off.
Free Hosting Blogs
Free hosting services such as Blogger, TypePad and others can give you a decent enough platform and great value. The downside to using these platforms, however, is they are not flexible enough to allow you to install themes, plugins, plus other extensions you definitely need for superior SEO results.
Keyword Stuffing
This is one of the most common SEO mistakes, and surprisingly many are still practicing it to date. Keyword stuffing is unethical and will get you punished.
Rather than use duplicate or hidden text in your pages, strive to create useful pages properly optimised for your keywords.
Leaving Title Tags Automated
The title tag is one of the most important aspects when it comes to search engine rankings. First, try to limit the title to not more than 60 characters. You can then optimise the title tags. As you do so, you may want to check how popular the keywords you are targeting are. And you can do this using a keyword tool such as Keyword Planner before optimising it.
These SEO goofs may seem basic to you but should not be overlooked. Or better still, you should consider evaluating your blog right away to confirm your overall SEO is on point.