Avoid some of these easy-to-make mistakes and you’ll be well on your way to improving your website’s search ranking, organically.
Are you struggling to rank in Google?
If the answer is yes, you’re not alone!
Considering the sheer volume of content being published each and every second, competition to capture your audience’s attention is growing increasingly fierce.
In fact, it can feel almost impossible!
Worse still, there’s a chance you’re making the already difficult task that much harder for yourself with a few mistakes or missteps that most businesses make when they’re attempting to bring in increased leads, sales, and revenue.
So, what are they?
We’re glad you asked!
Keep reading to see if there are any on the list that might look familiar.
Remove these roadblocks and you’ll make the path to growth that much easier:
1You’re choosing the wrong keywords
Optimising for the right keywords is the key (pardon the pun) to ranking well.
It follows that if you’re not using the right keywords, you’re going to struggle!
Keywords are the terms entered into search engines like Google by users looking for the products or services your business offers. In order to effectively optimise for these terms, you need to understand what your customers are looking for, thinking of, and ultimately typing into their search bars.
Because here’s the thing:
The terms you use may be completely different from the terms other people are using.
If so?
You’re optimising for all the wrong terms.
Keyword research provides the perfect solution for this problem, helping you to find relevant keywords that relate to your exact concept, product, industry, or niche. So conduct some background research before you start optimising – it’ll ensure you’re putting your finger straight on the pulse with appropriate keywords.
2You’re missing quality linking opportunities
To get the most out of SEO, you need links.
But it’s the quantity, quality, and relevance of these links that really matters.
Building links internally within blog articles and content is a great way to keep a captive audience engaged in your content. After all, they did click on your website for a reason.
It pays to always be on the lookout for opportunities to add in internal links to keep users on your site and venturing through your content.
The same goes for external and inbound links. By linking out to – and gaining links from – external, relevant, well-ranking sites with a solid reputation within your niche you’ll supercharge your search visibility and lead generation.
3You’re guilty of keyword stuffing
Have you heard about Keyword Stuffing?
If you’ve ever attempted to optimise your site in the past, you might be familiar with the concept.
Keyword Stuffing (also known as over optimisation) is the process of loading content with keywords and terms in a way that looks unnatural and compromises the user experience.
And here’s the thing…
…it doesn’t work.
In fact, it could be doing more harm than good!
What do I mean by this?
Let me explain:
Going overboard with keywords is seen as spammy by the search engines, which places a mark against your site. Not only that, it’s difficult to read, often hard to parse, and nonsensical for your potential customers.
Instead?
Aim to subtly use keywords within content that’s readable, interesting, and natural.
4You’ve forgotten about analytics
So you’ve optimised your site, written content, and started promoting it, but…
…how do you know if it’s having any effect?
If you’re not checking your analytics every now and then, you’re living in the dark.
Regularly reviewing your analytics is a great way to track your progress, see what’s working, and more importantly which optimisations, keywords, or promotional efforts are leaving more than a little to be desired.
Google’s Analytics and Search Console are two of the main methods for measuring and tracking your website’s performance. This will help you see how your site is performing for certain terms both pre- and -post optimisation.
Neglecting analytics reports and not using the right metrics to measure success can be costly!
So make use of the data available to you and make informed decisions.
5You don’t have enough unique content
Unique content is what makes your site…well, unique.
If you’re copying content, the original creators won’t be the only ones judging you.
So will the search engines!
Thin, spammy, or duplicate content adds no value to your site, and Google knows it. Today’s search engines STILL demote and may even penalise duplicate content, so it is worthwhile taking the time required to create original, meaningful, worthwhile content.
6You keep forgetting about mobile users
More and more people are searching the internet on mobile devices.
In fact, chances are you’re reading this post on your mobile right now.
This is why it’s crucial that your business realises that SEO optimisations isn’t only about content and keywords, but also about optimising for a range of different platforms from desktops through to smart phones.
Is your site mobile friendly? Is it responsive? Does it load quickly? If you haven’t considered a user-friendly mobile experience, your rankings within search engines could take a hit as search engines start to prioritise user experience when deciding which results to display on that all important first page.
7You’re not taking advantage of local SEO
When it comes to optimising your site?
It’s all too easy to forget to think local.
You see, Google is placing more and more importance on ‘Near Me’ searches, which is giving businesses like yours an opportunity to take advantage of free visibility within local search engines results.
That is, if you’re managing your Google My Business listing!
Local searchers are users who search using local, location-based phrases and keywords. They’re some of the most valuable traffic your website can gain, but many businesses miss out on this search traffic through oversight alone.
Increasing your visibility within local searches can be a lucrative source of traffic for your business and quickly boost your visibility within those all-important local search engine results.
Why wouldn’t you take advantage of that?
Improve your SEO the easy way
Removing any Search Engine Optimisation mistakes your business may be making is not hard to do, and is a cost-effective way to improve your leads, sales, and revenue. With these hurdles out of your way, the path to better visibility within search engine results is far more straightforward.
Need a hand with your SEO? Check out our FREE guide here. Or book a strategy call with FOUND and see if you qualify to become one of our valued clients.
