If there’s one thing to be certain about with search engine optimisation (SEO), its intricate nature can catch even the most experienced specialists off guard. Because there are so many tasks to accomplish, data to analyse, websites to audit, and keywords to research, it is easy to get lost in the process.
Even a seemingly petty mistake may result in a domino effect that could derail your chances at getting better SEO results. We conducted intensive research on the most common mistakes done by SEO specialists that could result in poor performance of strategies. Here are the things we found out:
Poor Link Structure
Think of SEO as a chain, each link has to be intact otherwise the whole structure breaks. SEO specialists should always be on top of everything when it comes to link structure. As a website grows, the link structure branches out to external and internal links, and this is where duplicate content, redirects, 404 errors become more common.
The only way to avoid having an underdeveloped and poor link structure is to regularly audit your website and to make sure everything’s on their right places even before you add another internal and external link.
Weak Content
If producing duplicate and rehashed content worked years ago, well, they don’t anymore. Google has been very strict when it comes to content. If your articles do not provide valuable information, it is highly unlikely that your website will perform SEO-wise. The rule of thumb is to write for the users and not the search engine.
If you want your content strategies to work, there are a few things you must know. First, make sure that the content descriptions are accurate; keywords are sparingly distributed throughout the article; it should have header tags, title tags, meta descriptions, SEO titles, and slugs; it should engage high authority external links. Completing these tasks can dramatically improve your site’s SEO and content performance.
Underwhelming Paid Campaign
Of course, organic traffic is your go-to when it comes to SEO because it’s free. However, this does not mean you should abandon all your efforts for paid campaigns. Combining organic and paid efforts could land you to the best results. In 2019, Google has made paid campaigns much more logical and practical, which should motivate marketers to finally get their hands on paid ads. These days, brands will not have an excuse not to consider paid campaign because updated algorithms now allow them to find potential buyers much easier.
Inadequate Local SEO Campaign
It is the responsibility of specialists who handle local business accounts to ensure that their clients have solid local SEO campaigns. If you have little to no local SEO effort, you are practically giving up the fight before it has even started. The main goal of a local SEO campaign is to engage people in the vicinity for them to get to know the brand and eventually to engage them into buying from the brand.
Understanding what the users search for in an area is extremely important; this is why in-depth keyword research is a requirement for a good local SEO campaign. You may also want to use Google auto-complete to know the most search terms in the area.
Outdated Website
If the last time you audit your website was last year, then start acting today. Google algorithm updates are rolled out several times in a year, so if you haven’t audited your site in the last months, it’s time to give it good check as there might be things you need to overhaul on the back-end or front-end.
A thorough website audit will help you know the overall state of the site. An audit is also a good way to weed out the culprits for the site’s poor performance, such as broken links, redirects, missing links, and 404 errors. You can use a wide array of tools to perform a site audit, including Ahrefs, Moz and SEMRush.
Doing SEO is like operating a machine, every part and piece should be functioning otherwise the whole operation will stop. To some, running a good SEO campaign may seem like performing rocket science because it involves a lot of tasks; however, if you know what you should be doing, everything can be done in a breeze.
Does your website need an SEO overhaul? Is it performing poorly in the past couple of months? If so, your brand might need some helping hand. Let our SEO experts analyse what needs to be improved in your site. Give us a call or send us an email, and we’ll be glad to help you out.