Common SEO Mistakes Companies Make, Part 3
Search engine optimization is one of those tasks that seems far easier until you try to do it yourself. It isn’t a singular task, but a collection of strategies that you need to implement throughout your site and continue updating on an ongoing basis. In most companies’ cases, attempts at DIY SEO lead to expensive mistakes. We have already posted two blogs listing some of the most common mistakes, but we have plenty more advice to give, especially because SEO is constantly evolving and changing, so review these additional SEO mistakes to avoid.
Leaving the Location Out of It
In our last blog about SEO mistakes, we mentioned the problem with short-tail, general keywords compared to more specific long-tail keywords. While it is helpful to add your location to your keywords, that is merely one of many ways you should work toward local SEO. Local SEO tells search engines where you are located so they can prioritize your site in search results when the user is in your area. There are a variety of ways to optimize your site based on your location, and it is no longer necessary to name the location in your content.
Building a Wall of Text
One of the most important aspects of your search engine optimization is your content. With written content, however, it isn’t only about the way it is written. The structure matters as well. In particular, avoid writing excessively long paragraphs and giant blocks of text. Instead, break up the text with appropriate headings and subheadings.
Those headings will help your SEO in multiple ways. First, it makes your content more interesting to read, so users will keep coming back time and time again. Google will see that traffic and recognize that you have desirable content. Second, subheadings are among the many factors Google uses to determine what your content is about. Making them appropriate, accurate, and keyword-friendly can offer a great improvement to your SEO.
Losing Track of Tracking
Unless this is your first McCauley Marketing Services blog, you know that we are huge fans of tracking and analyzing data. After all, understanding how to learn from each campaign is the way we are able to deliver continuously strong results for our clients. This holds true in SEO as well. While you work toward better search engine optimization, it is crucial to repeatedly track how well your site ranks for your targeted keywords, topics, and pages. This tells you whether your strategies are working, and which areas need more of your attention.
Choosing Quantity Over Quality
Content is such a cornerstone of your SEO that it makes sense to assume that the more content you have, the more likely your SEO is to succeed. While this is true, it is important that you do not sacrifice quality for quantity when it comes to content. Google’s algorithms have sophisticated ways to determine whether or not a page is well-written. This is why it is important to hire a professional writer rather than trying to write your own blogs and other pages. You may be the expert in the subject, but a skilled copywriter can take your expertise and write it in an organized, informative, and engaging way, and then the rest of your team can take it from there and embrace it.
Search engine optimization is getting more important by the day while the internet becomes more and more flooded with competing websites. It is also getting more challenging by the day as Google and other search engines continue to make their algorithms pickier and more complex. While these SEO mistakes and those in the first two editions of our blog are helpful, the truth of the matter is that you need an SEO professional for great results. To start planning and integrating your optimization strategy, call McCauley Marketing Services today to schedule a meeting. In the meantime, follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more expert tips.