There is no doubt that SEO remains just as important – or even more important – than it was when it initially sprung up as an area of focus many years ago. While a huge number of businesses that want to achieve success are all fighting it out with one another in an SEO arms race, there are also plenty of common mistakes that keep on being made time and time again. As a direct result of this, it inevitably leads to a situation where, if these errors are avoided, an SEO strategy can play a central role in the success of a business. So, here are just a few common mistakes in a modern SEO strategy, so you can be aware of what they are and learn how to avoid making them in the future.
Not Having a Plan in the First Place
The first mistake that you need to avoid in terms of an SEO strategy is simply not having one in the first place! This can easily lead to a situation where you are not targeting your approach properly and you are simply using different SEO techniques without any sense of consistency or a clear direction in which you are going. If you have an in-house team, they should be driving your strategy in the first place, but another potential option is to have this managed by an external SEO software and agency such as clickintelligence.co.uk.
Not Knowing Your Audience
While this may not seem like a point directly related to SEO, it certainly does play a major role in whether or not you will be successful in this field. To begin with, this is a matter of making sure that you are using the right keywords that your audience is seeking out. At the same time, you also need to produce the type of content people are interested in. You will also be able to have a link-building strategy that easily engages with your audience in the places that they are visiting in the first place. Ultimately, so much of this can end up informing the overall strategy.
Failing to Produce Original Content
There is no doubt that content is the lifeblood of any SEO strategy, which certainly means that you need to be doing as much as possible in terms of producing the type of interesting material that is shareable and attracts a great deal of engagement. At the same time, you also need to make sure that you are putting this out consistently, as this is a central tenant in attracting the type of positive reputation from search engines that you are looking for. Ideally, you are going to have a content plan in place, as this means that you always have something that is ready and waiting to go.
Not Optimizing Your Imagery
While there is a great deal of focus placed on the words you are putting out there (and rightly), it should also be the case that you are optimizing your imagery and ensuring that these can all be linked and sought out easily. For example, the creation of proper title tags and descriptions is important. Ultimately, it is this type of attention to detail that can help your company to stand out from the crowd that may only be focused on one specific area.
Missing Internal and External Links
There is also the clear sense that the links that you are putting out there need to be both external and internal. At the same time, you need to check all of these to ensure that each and every one of them is working properly, as you do not want to suffer as a result of any of them not reaching the right place. It would be best if you also aimed to get links back to your pages from other authoritative sites, as this means that you have a clear link-building strategy, which is also a central component of a modern SEO strategy.
Not Making Your Site Mobile Friendly
While this is a problem you see less and less, it is still the case that many people are not focusing heavily enough on the mobile-friendly experience they are producing. As a direct result of this, it can lead to a situation in which you are alienating a big proportion of the people visiting your site – and the search engines. Therefore, if you have not taken proper steps to make your site mobile-friendly, now is certainly going to be the time to change all of this.
Failing to Keep Up with Changes
While an SEO strategy can be working in an excellent manner for some time, it can suddenly reach a situation in which everything changes, and there are different rules involved in the game. If you do not keep up with these changes as and when they are happening, this can easily lead to a situation in which you are getting left behind by the crowd. As a direct result of this, you need to keep one eye on your SEO strategy at all times and focus on what can be amended within it to make it even stronger, ensuring that the crowd is not leaving you behind.
Using the Wrong Tools
Unless you have externalized your SEO strategy to another agency, there are bound to be certain tools you will need to use. However, it is important to remember that these should be chosen according to how well they will work for your specific business. Of course, there are some that are used on more of a universal basis, but others may require you to make a judgment call to one extent or another.
Avoiding this range of common mistakes is not always going to be an easy task, as these are common traps that can cause a problem time and time again. However, if you focus on avoiding them, it can put you in a stronger overall situation with your SEO strategy, and improve your business.
