If done correctly, SEO can be a very powerful way to bring potential customers to your website. However, search engines are constantly changing so it can be very difficult to keep on top of the most effective SEO techniques.
This blog discusses five of the most common SEO mistakes we see businesses make and what simple actions they can take to resolve them.
1. Ignoring your Analytics
Data is everything when it comes to SEO. It is solid evidence that explains whether or not your SEO techniques are actually working. You can assess how well your website is performing and even pinpoint certain pages or areas of your site that are getting more attention than others.
Google Analytics is a great tool to use to get an overview of your website’s performance. You can find out information about demographics, traffic, bounce rates, and more. It will provide you with heaps of information that you can then use to make even more improvements on your website. Without this data, it is impossible to track whether or not your SEO techniques are actually working.
2. Optimising the wrong keywords
When choosing which keywords you want to optimise, it is vital that you do your research. You should be using specific keywords that are relevant to your business and bring you a lot of traffic.
Relevance is key. If you only offer services to local customers, don’t waste your time optimising global keywords. Equally, certain broad keywords will have a lot of competition and you would be wasting your time trying to compete to rank on the first page.
Instead, make sure you optimise relevant but specific keywords. For example, if you are a small iPhone repairs shop, you would be wasting your time trying to rank for the keywords “iPhone” or “Apple” as these would be far too competitive. However, if you optimise the keywords “iPhone repairs shop in Birmingham” (or wherever you are based) there would be less competition and you would find your website ranking a lot higher, a lot quicker.
3. Overlooking your content
Content is so important when it comes to SEO. If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a million times: content is key.
Make sure you produce new content as often as you can, but most importantly update the existing content on your website regularly, as Google loves fresh content. You should be writing over 300 words on each web page to inform Google that you are an expert in your field.
Don’t forget that the purpose of search engines is to provide users with relevant, quality information, so the better your content is, the higher it will be rewarded.
4. Not adapting to search engine updates
Search engines are constantly updating and making changes to their algorithms. One of the worst mistakes you could make is not adapting to accommodate these changes.
You may have created the ‘perfect’ SEO strategy that brings loads of traffic to your website and gets you multiple conversions every day, but there is no guarantee that this strategy will work as perfectly tomorrow. With one major update, your whole SEO strategy could end up working against you, so make sure you keep on top of every update.
5. Not hiring an expert
SEO is not a five-minute job. In order to get any worthwhile results, SEO requires advanced knowledge and a lot of time and effort. Whoever manages your SEO should be an expert on current trends, strategies, they should also know your website and business inside out.
SEO should never feel like an experiment. Every change that is implemented should have been planned out and analysed to ensure that it will work effectively.
If you need any help with your SEO strategy, then don’t hesitate to get in touch. We are happy to talk through your business goals and discuss how we can help you to achieve them. Give us a call now on 01543 387 047.