You and your company’s content marketing strategy is built around Search engine optimization, otherwise known as SEO. This facet of marketing has changed over the years, but still remains atop most marketers’ agendas. This is because your company’s SEO directs customers to you and your products, as well as impacting your sales by introducing customers to your business. With a correct approach to SEO, your business could see dense web traffic as well as clicks converting into profits.

As a Web Design and SEO company here at Kirk Communications, we can help your business find an adequate blueprint for your SEO campaign. But as search engine developments and user perspectives change, SEO can become increasingly difficult to master.

Today, there are various common SEO mistakes that can jeopardize your business earning the attention it deserves online. There are many successful optimization techniques, but similarity, there are approaches to SEO that will hurt your chances of earning the most views. Below are some common SEO mistakes that should be avoided so your business can attain its desired optimization:

Low-quality content

Your content should always be geared around Keywords. The text must follow your target topic, and keywords that connect to your topic must be addressed in the body of the text. Every time you search something into a search engine site such as Google, it scans thousands of websites for the keywords searched. If your content doesn’t include strong keywords, your SEO ranking will be poor.

To avoid this mistake, stick to one topic and don’t try to cram multiple topics into one piece of content. This will cause keywords to mingle in ways that don’t necessarily link to a successful SEO. Your content should be focused on meeting the demands of your target audience. Content also needs to include specific keywords that can be seamlessly found in Search Engines.

Plagiarized content

This goes without saying, but plagiarized content is no way to develop a strong SEO. Mainly, this is because it is someone else’s content. Non-original content will not add meaningful and original works to your site. Instead, this copied material can just be seen as cycled content across the internet, which search engines can even view as spam. By investing the time and effort into creating original and personalized content, not only will your content be truly yours, but will also impact your rankings in search results.

Thin content

When your site includes content with little to no value to a user, it is considered thin content. A site needs strong keywords to connect with a user and allow the user to find your site. That being said, a page that is overwhelmed with obvious keywords can also be deemed as thin content. It’s important to spread the keywords evenly and at a modest rate so your site does not register as thin per search engines. Also avoid low-quality and doorway pages, which also can be deemed as thin content in terms of SEO.

Keyword stuffing

As alluded, stuffing your piece of content with keywords could actually damage your SEO instead of aiding it. You certainly might find yourself being tempted to including keywords in every sentence of you content. Don’t – this will only hurt your SEO. This approach could lead to search engines picking up spam from your content. This means search engines will lower your ranking. Your target audience should be able to recognize your content’s topic without implementing too many keywords. Allow your content to seem more natural by including the appropriate number of keywords.

Missing internal links

Websites from all breeds and sizes utilize internal links to branch to and from sites across the internet. These links not only relate to your content and can help your audience but will also aid in your content reaching attention via SEO. Links to relevant, well-ranked websites bring back traffic to your site.

The anchor text, or text that appears as a hyperlink and tells the reader what the link is about, is a vital aspect of SEO. This anchor text also impacts the search engines and can help readers navigate the site.

It’s important to avoid the “click here” anchor text. Try using a variety of anchor texts, ones that actually inform the reader what they’re about to click on. A “click here” anchor text can also seem like spam to search engines.

Missing title tags and meta description tags

Title tags and meta descriptions are two pillars of SEO. Missing both means your SEO will fail to reach a greater audience. Every time you make a Google search, both title tags and meta descriptions impact the ranking in which sites are distributed amongst search engines.

Title tags are displayed on search engines and specifies the title of website. Search bots will scan the internet, and title tags are just one of many variables scanned. The meta description is a way to summarize your website in around 150 characters. This can give a reader a general idea of what the article or content of the site entails, making the site more approachable for readers. It’s also important to include some keywords in both your title tags and meta description.