Search engine optimization (SEO) can be one of the most frustrating aspects of running a website, particularly if you aren’t getting the results you want.
There are plenty of reasons why your website may not be ranking as well as you’d like it to, but some common SEO mistakes can make ranking difficult or even impossible.
If you’re making any of these 7 SEO mistakes, your rankings will suffer, and you might be losing customers without even realizing it!
Here are 7 SEO mistakes to avoid on your website and how to fix them.
A sitemap is a page that shows all of your website’s pages and helps search engines crawl through your content more efficiently.
It also allows users to find exactly what they’re looking for on your site. This will ensure that you have good visibility in search engine results.
If you don’t have a sitemap for your site, search engines might not be able to find all of your website’s content.
SEO Mistake 2: Not checking for broken links
Broken links on your website can cause a visitor to leave your site without clicking anything.
Visitors are quick to click away if they see a broken link, so it’s important to make sure that you check all of your links regularly.
If you use SEO tools, then broken links should be sent straight to you via email—making it easy for you to take care of them quickly. Broken links will also hurt your website’s SEO performance, so it’s best not to ignore them at all.
Alternatively, you can use these local citations to build SEO backlinks.
SEO Mistake 3: Not paying attention to your anchor text
Anchor text links (the clickable words in a hyperlink) can have a major impact on your SEO.
Optimizing your anchor text – by including keywords naturally and consistently throughout your site – can boost your SEO efforts and help increase traffic to certain pages or sections of your site.
Over-optimizing anchor text, however, can hurt you more than it helps, which is why it’s important to focus on quality over quantity.
SEO Mistake 4: Not using the proper keywords
Whether you’re blogging or writing any sort of content for your site, you need to know what phrases to use so that your readers can find it.
Don’t just think about who you are trying to reach; also consider who’s looking for what you’re offering.
What words or phrases will they type into a search engine? Using them in your content will help increase visibility and drive more traffic.
SEO Mistake 5: Not knowing your target audience
Before you invest your time and money in SEO, make sure you know who you are writing for. If you don’t know who your target audience is, then how can you provide them with something of value?
The fact is that not all search engine users are looking for answers to their questions using Google or Bing.
That’s why it’s important to think about whether or not people would find what you have to say valuable enough to leave a comment or contact your business.
SEO Mistake 6: Ignoring mobile users
Mobile search queries have surpassed desktop and now make up 50% of all searches. So if you’re ignoring mobile users, your website is in trouble.
Mobile-friendly websites provide a better experience for mobile searchers, which makes for more satisfied customers.
If you ignore mobile SEO, your site will be less visible to consumers looking for your products or services on their smartphones and tablets.
SEO Mistake 7: Neglecting calls-to-action
When you’re writing a post or page, don’t forget to add a call-to-action. It could be something as simple as urging readers to comment on your post.
Or it could be asking readers to click a link in your content that takes them somewhere else for more information or a discount.
Make sure you have at least one call-to-action per page or post.
In Conclusion
When it comes to search engine optimization, there are a lot of things you can do to improve your website.
In this post, we’ve covered 7 mistakes that you’re probably making right now.
Avoid these common SEO mistakes, and your site is sure to reap more rewards from Google, Bing, and Yahoo!
Have you made any of these 7 SEO mistakes yet? Let me know in the comments.
