10 SEO Mistakes to Avoid in 2018

By Emily Pribanic - Last Updated on January 7, 2020
SEO Mistakes to Avoid in 2018

SEO is essential for companies to get noticed.

SEO is how users find the best websites when they are searching on Google. Without a proper SEO strategy in place, a company will miss out on leads, traffic, and conversions.

SEO is important for companies to master so they can gain more website traffic. SEO, when done properly, is the best way to attract organic traffic to a website. SEO is very important to companies and because of this, it is necessary to note mistakes the company can easily make when it comes to SEO.

Common SEO Mistakes to Avoid in 2018

No Keyword Strategy

SEO is all about making the intended website easier for users to find. Without a keyword strategy, it is impossible to have a successful SEO strategy. It is also necessary to have a keyword strategy to create the articles or blogs that will be featured on the website.

Excessive Keyword Optimization

While it is necessary to have a solid keyword strategy for effective SEO, too much keyword optimization will lower the quality of the content. This will also have negative effects on SEO ranking and traffic for the website. Not only does this lower ranking and traffic, it ruins the flow and readability of the content. When content does not have a good flow or readability, the quality of the content is decreased.

Optimizing Irrelevant Keywords

A successful keyword strategy optimizes the right number of keywords that are relevant to the content and the business. Optimizing irrelevant keywords can cause the entire keyword strategy to fail and harm campaigns. A good keyword strategy is the heart of great campaigns and enhances even greater returns. A good keyword strategy helps companies get better leads, more organic traffic, relevant visitors, better engagement and more conversions. For companies that struggle with developing a successful keyword strategy, Google offers a keyword planner that can help.

Plagiarism

Schools have never been okay with students directly copping content from others and Google feels the same way. Google frowns upon plagiarism and will penalize users for doing so. To avoid this, companies should use the many tools available to check content for plagiarism, whether it was done on purpose or by chance.

Faulty Link Building

Companies who try to buy links, work through link baits or other default practices get penalized by Google. These are faulty links and of low quality and this low quality reflects on the link profile of a website. These low-quality links could cause the website to be labeled as spam. If a company is not sure how to legitimately build their backlinks, they should check out Google’s guidelines to adopt ethical and acceptable ways to build high-value links.

Irregular Website Updates

Companies should always be ensuring their website is updated with the most recent information. The top websites on Google offer users new, updated and relevant content every time they visit. High-quality content that is regularly updated improves organic traffic and SEO rankings for websites.

Lack of Search Engine Update Knowledge

Over the past few years, Google has implemented algorithms to help users get more out of their searches. It is imperative for companies to stay up-to-date with these updates and understand how they work. It is necessary for companies to stay informed about the updates, trends, and changes about whatever platforms they may be using.

Lack of Image Optimization

Optimizing images offers a high chance of driving traffic from Google’s image results page. Most of our society enjoys the ease of learning information from images. A company lacking the optimization of images on their websites may be losing valuable customers.

Lack of Speed Checking on Websites

The easiest way to lose traffic is for a website to not load fast enough. Internet users are used to fast upload speeds and if a website is down, they will not spend their time waiting more than 10 seconds for it to load. It is imperative for companies to ensure their website speed is high so they don’t lose traffic and potential conversions.

Websites not Optimized for Mobile Devices

With more than 70% of users browsing the internet on their mobile devices, it is mandatory that this device is not ignored. Websites that are not optimized for mobile devices will lose traffic because it is hard to view a website on a mobile device that is not suited for the device. Also, websites not optimized for mobile devices receive low rankings on Google.

When it comes to optimizing SEO efforts, some of the worst SEO mistakes a company can make is not having an SEO strategy before they begin and not optimizing their websites for mobile devices. High SEO rankings are essential for companies now as searchers never go past the third or fourth top link on Google, let alone the first search page. Above are ten SEO things to avoid when a company is trying to improve their SEO rankings. It is essential that companies avoid these to ensure their websites are ranked among the top in Google searches.

Emily Pribanic | Emily is a graduate of the University of North Texas. She has her B.A. in Advertising with a concentration in Copywriting. Emily has been writing since she was young and has a creative imagination. She lives in Dallas, Texas with her family and two cats.

Emily Pribanic |Emily is a graduate of the University of North Texas. She has her B.A. in Advertising with a concentration in Copywriting. Emily has been writing since she was young and has a creative imagination. She lives in Dallas, Texas with her family and two cats.

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