The SEO Naughty List
The 13 biggest SEO mistakes. This is your SEO not-to-do list.
When it comes to SEO marketing, there are some fundamental no-nos you should know about. SEO mistakes or issues that stop your website ranking in search engines such as Google, Bing and Safari.
Knowing what-not-to-do can be just as powerful as knowing what to do. So, I've pulled together an SEO naughty list for you. Simply because I don't want you to get coal under your tree. I want you to get lots and lots of SEO presents in the form of organic click to your website.
Your SEO Naughty List - What Not To Do
1. Don't Publish Shit Content
This is first because it’s the single most important thing for SEO. You can implement the best technical SEO tricks in the book, but if your content is crap your SEO ranking will be crap. There is no way around it! So get off your arse and start creating. You need good content that your customer/audience values and lots of it. If you do nothing else, do this.
2. Don't (ever) Duplicate Content
SEO hates plagiarism. Big time. Needless to say, you should not copy other people's content and use it on your website, but you also need to take care with your own content. You can't duplicate your content across your site. Big no-no.
3. Don't Skimp on Word Quantity or Quality
I understand great content isn't always written. Video and images are valuable and powerful - YouTube is actually the second largest search engine in the world. But to rank well on YouTube the words you use to describe each video matter. SEO needs words. So if your site barely has any copy on it, you're screwed. SEO needs words to find and measure content for their user. If your site doesn't have good copy on it, then SEO assumes it's not good content. In terms of quantity, 300-1000 is a good number to aim for. For quality, keywords and keyword phrases are essential. Take the time to research what keywords and phrases your ideal audience/customers use when they're using search engines, and make sure you use them on your website.
4. Don't Stuff Keywords
The people who build search engines are clever. Very very clever. You're not going to be able to "trick them" and stuff your website with keywords to get a better SEO ranking. They outsmarted that trick ages ago, so bother. Not only will they know what you're up to, but they'll penalise you for your dodgy behaviour.
5. Don't Let Broken Links Lie
Links are essential to SEO, as they indicate quality and trust. When I say links, I mean links both on your site (image and text) and from third-party websites to your site. Broken links on your website create a lousy user experience and limit the SEO analysis process. Broken links from third-parties cost you potential traffic and impact your SEO ranking. So make sure you're checking your links regularly - there are cool tools out there that can help you do that.
The SEO mistakes most people make.
6. Don't Be Slow
Speed matters. People expect a website landing page to load quickly. If it takes too long (over 5 seconds) most people will simply back click and move on. SEO monitors this behaviour. So you need to take website, and landing page, speed seriously. Optimise your page in every way you can to get the fastest speed available to you. Aim for two seconds; don't go over five. You can easily measure your site speed with tools like Google's PageSpeed Insights.
7. Don't Treat Mobile As an After Thought
Over half of worldwide traffic happens on mobile. SEO knows this and makes sure the content they recommend is mobile friendly. This means your website MUST be mobile-friendly if you want to rank on SEO. Honestly, in this day and age, you should be building and managing your site for mobile-first and foremost. If you don't have a mobile optimised website, you don't have a website.
8. Don't Forget Image Tags (also known as Alt Attributes)
An alt attribute is a short description of each image you have on your website - when you upload an image ALWAYS add a description of what that image is about the through alt attribute field/HTML. At this stage, search engines can't read images, so they rely on alt attributes to explain what the image is about. So take the time to add an alt attribute. Ensure your alt attribute talks to how the image relates to the page and include keyword/s. The right alt attribute gives you extra SEO cred.
9. Don't Duplicate Meta Descriptions
Remember when I said SEO hates plagiarism, this counts for meta descriptions too. Meta descriptions describe the content of your page for users and SEO. Where alt attributes describe images, meta descriptions describe pages. As all pages of your website should be unique, so too are your meta descriptions. Never use the identical meta description across multiple pages.
10. Don't Forget The Title Tags
A title tag describes the purpose of your page. It's important because it's the text that appears when someone searches for you in a search engine (the big blue font), so you need to make it compelling. It's also the text that displays in the title bar at the top of the browser and is the name that appears if some bookmarks your page. But title tags don't appear on the page itself. If you don't bother to put in a title tag, not only do you confuse SEO, but you also confuse potential visitors to your website. As a rule, I suggest you keep your title tags under 60 characters (I know, that's not a lot). Google only shows 60 characters, so you want to make sure you pack a punch with the 60. And ensure your title tag has the right keyword/s included.
11. Don't Duplicate Title Tags
Can you see the theme here? Don't duplicate! This also extends to title tags. Given title tags tell SEO what your page is all about, they should always be unique - because each page is unique.
12. Don't overlook H1 Tags
Now an H1 tag (or heading tag) is used to identify the headline of your page. There is debate around the importance of H1 but I'll tell you this... a lot of SEO experts tested optimising their H1 tag and saw an immediate and notable improvement. So why wouldn't we do what the SEO experts do? As a rule:
a) make sure you have an H1 tag on your page
b) make sure there is only one, not multiple
c) make them 20-70 characters long
d) don't duplicate H1 tags across pages.
Your H1 tag should match/fit your title tag. If you have trouble coming up with an H1 tag you can use the title tag copy, it's not the end of the world. You just want to make sure you have your H1 tag in order.
13. Don't Be Impatient
All good things come to those who wait. SEO is a marketing strategy that demands patience. There is no quick fix for SEO, and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying. You must be consistent and committed to creating high-quality content and keeping your site SEO friendly. Your consistency, commitment and patience will pay off ten-fold.
There you have it, the naughty list. If you avoid these mistakes, you'll enjoy all the spoils of SEO and organic traffic.