With every new Google update we have to tweak and accommodate our SEO. Fail to keep up with Google’s latest algorithm update, and see your website drop down in rankings, don’t make the proper tweaks, and your website won’t move up. So what exactly are website owners doing wrong which isn’t in accordance with Google?
Mistake #1 – Technical SEO
Google has been advocating website owners to put an emphasis on their technical SEO (website layout, SEO errors, functionality, user experience, internal links, etc.) since it’s Google panda algorithm inception all the way back in 2011. In the past, you could get away with having poor website functionality and still rank high on Google, in 2020 that is impossible.
When we do site audits for new prospects, we often see broken internal links, 404 pages (not found/dead pages), redirects that don’t work (for example one version of the domain is working, and another is not).
Ensuring you’re staying on top of your technical SEO using proper site audits to locate problems is an absolute must.
Mistake #2 – Not Optimizing Correctly
Using generic SEO advice such as only doing on-page optimization and not utilizing the skills of an SEO specialist or a company to help bridge the gap.
You’ll find thousands of books and websites dishing out general advice such as “use keywords in your meta tags”.
We see many new clients and prospects using what they perceive are the proper keywords in a scrambled manner throughout their titles and descriptions.
Using keyword research (such as the popular Google keyword tool or paid tools such as AHREFS or SEMRush) is one way to find out what keywords you need to target throughout your on-page optimization, but that isn’t enough.
Understanding proper title structure, branding + keyword use/density is a level up from simply placing keywords in a random order.
Descriptions aren’t simply there to act as a keyword stuffing area, describe what you do in a way that naturally reads to a searcher interested in your products and services while plugging in keywords in the right spots.
Mistake #3 – Backlink Quality
Trying to create backlinks by yourself or not asking SEO companies or specialists the appropriate questions in regards to the backlinks they’re creating.
If you’re trying to build links on your own, it is likely you’re lacking the resources available to an agency. You can end up in a situation where you’re creating mostly low quality quantity backlinks on widely available websites where thousands of other websites are also linking (thereby lowering the value of that website and in turn also decreasing the value of your website).
Many SEO companies and specialists use the same method as above. Creating backlinks to low quality websites in high quantities (such as article directories and link farms), it is a very lengthy process to reverse engineer.
Ideally, you want to create backlinks to high quality editorial websites that are relevant to your industry. You want websites that are in a similar field – say you offer F&B services, you’d want restaurants, food publications/magazines, hospitality/tourism type sites to link to you (just make sure you don’t link exchange, but rather have one way backlinks pointing to you without you giving out many links in return).
