5 SEO Mistakes That Are Hurting Your Rankings and How to Fix Them

SEO can be hard to navigate and figure out, especially when you are a new business trying to get your name out there and attract new customers. Or even if you are an established business, you may wonder what you can be doing better in SEO.

1. Ignoring Mobile SEO

• We are a society that relies on phones and mobile devices. Most people do quick searches on their phones, rather than getting their computers out. Due to this fact, a website must be accessible on a mobile device and the optimization should be prominent there. Additionally, a website must also work well on mobile. It must be able to do things like load well and fit on the page properly.

2. Overlooking On-Page SEO

• When someone searches for you or something related to you, they will see your title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, and image alt text before they decide to go on your website. These concepts are crucial in order to rank high in the SERP. You must have good descriptions that are not too long, accurate titles that are eye catching, and beneficial alt text.

3. Weak or Duplicate Content

• Content on a website must be original and well put organized in order to rank better. A boring website with duplicate content does not catch a user’s attention and does not keep them wanting to be on your website. Your content should be relevant and unique in order to keep people looking.

4. Keyword Stuffing

• Keywords are very important for SEO, but they can be overused. Google actually penalizes keyword stuffing (overusing keywords). You must do research on keywords before you use them and place them in a way that is natural and not too obvious or overbearing. You need to use words that people are searching for and will attract a target market of people. Keywords are a good thing, but too much of a good thing can hurt anything. Make sure that the keywords flow and are not overbearing.

5. Not Focusing on User Experience (UX)

• The user experience is everything. How the website functions, the navigation of it, loading speed, and overall usability is what makes or breaks the success of a website. Google wants usable websites and will not rank unusable websites high. If you have the best SEO practices, but not a usable website, then everything you are doing does not make a huge difference. What a user experiences when using your site determines if they will stay on it or not.

Hurting your website by using bad SEO practices or none of these important ones is something that can be easily avoided with some research and attentiveness. Decide to make a change today about what can truly help your business stand out.