I recently read an article called “5 SEO Pitfalls to Avoid” and came away with a warm glow, bordering on inner pride. It was a good feeling and I’m going to share it. If you don’t get that glow, get in contact and we can try and get you feeling good.
I’ll kick off quite early by apologising for my pride, it’s not intended to be patronising, just a great feeling of getting things right.
Back to the article which dealt with 5 of the most common search engine optimisation (SEO) mistakes as below:-
- Design more important than optimisation
Let’s face it, we all want a fantastic looking website that gives the visitor a visual feast and blows them away. When starting out many people are driven by design, setting this as the most important aspect. They hand the brief over to experienced web design gurus who deliver the goods. No disrespect to designers, they do a brilliant job but rarely have much search engine optimisation (SEO) experience, nor interest.
Unless you have a hugely prominent high street brand that needs little optimisation as your brand is ubiquitous, SEO needs to be bolted on right from the start. Your designers and development team need to be working hand in hand with your SEO managers, working collaboratively so that on launch all is in place.
Web design + SEO = path to success
- Content Writing
The second common pitfall is to assume that you once have designed and built your website that the job at that point is complete. I’ll roll out the trusty saying that “Content is King”, I’ll highlight, make it bold and say it again “Content is King”.
It is imperative to keep writing compelling, attractive and fresh content that is rich with keywords and relevance. Search engines live of currency and relevance and failing to write content will have a huge impact on your web presence.
Web design + SEO + continued content writing = path to success
- Keep analytics simple
A fundamental part of SEO is making sure you can track success and limitations using analytics packages. Analytics measure key metrics such as inbound links, keyword positioning, traffic, referrers, bounce rates, exit pages etc. Without analytics you cannot measure ROI.
A mistake here would be to fail to identify one analytics package. Find the one that works for you and stick with it, do not be tempted to use different packages as this will require more time management and as they are likely to return different results and formats, significant more ‘braining’ things out will be needed.
Web design + SEO + continued content writing + simplify analytics = path to success
- Drop “vanity” phrases
As search queries are getting longer and searchers are getting smarter, make sure you tap into this opportunity. Move away from using highly competitive “vanity” phrases that you believe you need to rank on. If you are using PPC this will not only drive any advertising costs down, but will also capture other less fought over search engine positions.
Look to implement long tail SEO which determines which less competitive keywords to work with.
Web design + SEO + continued content writing + simplify analytics + long tail SEO = path to success
- Share the knowledge
Make sure that your SEO teams, web designer, PPC manager, marketing & sales people and web audience are all communicating. Don’t leave SEO knowledge locked away with one person as you place all your success on one person (people leave) and sometimes individuals can become too close to look at things objectively.
Most importantly, if you are following points 2, 3 an4 above make sure that your PPC and SEO people are communicating. New content, changes to keywords and a full understanding of analytics is a must
Web design + SEO + continued content writing + simplify analytics + long tail SEO + share the knowledge = path to success
Back to that proud feeling
I have to have a final mention about my proud feeling.
When I first saw the article “5 SEO Pitfalls to Avoid” there was an initial feeling of dread. What if I’ve not kept up to date with something, what if there are key components missing in our SEO approach?
Dread turned to that inner glow. Here at The WebMarketing Group we’re right ahead of the ever changing SEO world and techniques. Whether the list contained many more pitfalls we’re confident we’ve got it covered.
However it’s always good to read those kind of articles. I’ll finish with one final equation that pretty much summarises it all for me:-
Web design + SEO + continued content writing + simplify analytics + long tail SEO + share the knowledge + keep learning = path to success
Overwhelmed? Here at The WebMarketing Group we’ve got all of the above cracked. Contact us now or call 0845 555 5040 to discuss your SEO requirements.
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