Top 10 common SEO Mistakes

Started by YassineSEO, 08-30-2013, 18:59:52

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YassineSEOTopic starter

The time has come to list the top 10 SEO mistakes committed by website owners worldwide.

If you are not too happy about your website's rankings on the search engines, then look through this list and make sure that the website is not committing any of these mistakes.

I've divided up this article into 2 sections: on page SEO and off page SEO mistakes. As you read through this post, you will realise that the mistakes listed here are strongly based on what I've covered in my previous posts about SEO.

On Page SEO Mistakes

This section refers to SEO mistakes made on your actual website.

1. Not Targeting 1 Keyword Per Page

This is the most important facet of on page SEO yet so many people are either unaware of its importance or forget to do it. It's 100 times easier to target just 1 keyword per page than to target 10 keywords per page. At the very maximum, you can target 2 keywords but try to keep it to one. Focusing your efforts on 1 keyword per page will get greater results quicker. I can guarantee it.

2. No Keyword In URL

The URL of each page should have the keyword you are targeting for that page. If it doesn't, then it's just going to be harder for you to get that page ranking for that target keyword. Fix up your URL if you have to because this is crucial to SEO success.

3. No Keyword In Title Tag

I cannot count the number of pages I've been webpages not have their target keyword in the title tag. Just in case you're not aware, the title tag is what appears at the top of your browser when you're on a webpage. This is the one mistake I see the most because it is so obvious when I visit a webpage. It's amazing how many home pages of websites have the word "Home" in their title tags. You MUST have the target keyword in your title tag because it will make a huge difference to your SEO efforts. This is certainly one of the top 10 SEO mistakes out there today.

4. Bad Use Of Meta Description And Meta Keywords

The most common mistake regarding meta description is people not using it at all. Just in case you weren't aware, the meta description is a short description which is used to describe your website in search engine result listings. You might as well use it to entice people to visit your website when they find you on the search engines. It's also doesn't hurt to have your target keyword there.

Regarding meta keywords, the most common mistake people commit is putting too many keywords there. You should restrict yourself to a maximum of 5 to 8 keywords because any more will be seen as keyword spamming by the search engines and this will get you punished.

5. Bad Keyword Density

Unfortunately, many people are still committing this grave SEO mistake. Some are mentioning their target keyword as much as possible on their webpage to try and get it to rank highly. It used to work in the early days of the Internet when search engines were relatively dumb but nowadays it's bound to get you severely punished or even banned.

On the other hand, there are also people who do not use their keyword enough on their webpages. This is also bad because the search engines have no idea what keyword your webpage is trying to rank highly for.

The goal should be a keyword density of 3% which is not too much and just enough for good SEO.

Off Page SEO Mistakes

This section refers to SEO mistakes made outside your website, but which hamper your website's ability to rank highly on the search engines.

6. Bad Keyword Research

Keyword research is the basis for SEO success. If you target keywords which have high competition, then your ability to rank highly and get traffic will be reduced in the short term. On the other hand, you should not simply target keywords because of low competition because there may not be enough people searching for that keyword. It's all about finding a balance between the number of searches and the number of websites competing for that keyword. Use tools such as Google Keyword Tool can help you do that.

7. No Keyword In Anchor Text

Off page SEO is all about building backlinks aka links back to your website. However, in the process of doing that, many people forget to put their keyword in the anchor text of the backlink. For example, if the primary keyword of your website was "computer repairs", then you want to computer repairs in your anchor text, just like in the following:

"Visit the best computer repairs service in town."

Please note that the above is just an example.

This must be one of the most simple top 10 SEO mistakes committed today.

8. No Anchor Text Variety

While it's great to use your target keyword in the anchor text of your backlinks, you must also mix and match with other keywords. In other words, if you have 100 links with the same keyword in your anchor text, then the search engines will get suspicious that a robot is at work and will punish your website. For this reason, you should find about 5 other related keywords and use them in your anchor text too. The greater the variety, the better your SEO results will be.

9. No Link Source Variety

There are plenty of ways to get backlinks, however, one of the top 10 SEO mistakes committed by people too often is by using only a minimal amount of link sources. For example, some people simply use article marketing to get their backlinks. Others just use social media. You need to be using a large range of sources to get your backlinks. This is because the more sources you use, the more natural the backlinks appear to the search engines, and the higher your website will rank.

10. No Natural Build Up Of Links

Building on the previous mistake, you have to make sure that the amount of backlinks your website gets takes place in a natural, human-like manner. For example, getting 300 links in 1 week is almost certainly going to make search engines suspicious about your website and they will punish you accordingly. However, if you get 300 links over the course of a month, then that will appear to be more natural and they will more than likely than not reward you.

Fix Them And Then Avoid Them

I suggest that you go through all of your websites and see whether they are committing the SEO mistakes covered in this post. After fixing them, it's all a case of avoiding the top 10 SEO mistakes so that your websites get the rankings and traffic they need and deserve.

Source : http://th3-seo.blogspot.com/2013/08/top-10-seo-mistakes-seo-errors.html


david543

Hey buddy this post seems to be very useful to make effective backlinks. You are right keyword density in the content is very important to get a better ranking in the search engine result pages. It is good to keep it up 2 to 3%.
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nixdorf12

Some solid points here, but the meta description tip is really outdated, they're completely irrelevant these days, not sure anyone's event using them.
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MallofStyle

Take away for me - target 1 or 2 keywords per page.
I will work toward that ! Thanks for the useful content.
Mall of Style
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anhyeuviolet

Thanks for your Article !!!
Can i copy it to my blog ?

There is some details that I never take care of it before.

But in my case, the keywords variety is not bad. Research to reach a group of keywords and work hard for it is another choice ! :)
QuoteThis is the most important facet of on page SEO yet so many people are either unaware of its importance or forget to do it. It's 100 times easier to target just 1 keyword per page than to target 10 keywords per page. At the very maximum, you can target 2 keywords but try to keep it to one. Focusing your efforts on 1 keyword per page will get greater results quicker. I can guarantee it.
;D Kenny Nguyen. ;D
Just learning How To SEO [nofollow]
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johnnydhepp

I am beginner in SEO field. So your information is very helpful for me. Thanks for sharing wonderful information to us.
Our company aims for perfection. We deliver solutions which are artistic, well-designed, robust and profitable. We are the best in the market which you can choose for your web design.
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jassieelbert

Some of the SEO mistakes are-

If targeting wrong keywords.
When there is lack of keywords in the content.
When ignoring title tag.
Using only images for headings.
Ignoring URL's.
newbielink:http://www.topchurchsuits.com/ [nonactive]
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stonewood

Nice Points. I was not aware of all the mistakes, but now I will keep in mind.


jaysh4922

Thanks...Nice informative Thread..301 Redirection is common mistake in seo domain running at www and not www both and also index page with .com and .com/index.htm


Hemanth malli

Hi,

I will share few more drawbacks, if we rectify these drawbacks definitely we will get good rankings for our website,

1.   Poor or Duplicate Content
2.   Targeting the Wrong Keywords
3.   Keyword Stuffing
4.   Not Cross Linking
5.   Using the Same Title on Multiple Pages
6.   The Lack of Authority
7.   Backlinks with Little or No Value
8.   Buying BackLinks
9.   Importance of the URL Structure
10.   Not Using the Alt Tag
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