Top 5 SEO Mistakes
According to Matt Cutts Google’s Head of Search Spam. (The good news is that they are all easy to get to grips with.)
As they are mistakes he is seeing most often it is well worth thinking about them and reviewing how you measure up.
1. Not having a site or having one where the good content is hard to find and Google finds it hard to crawl.
If Google’s robots find it hard to get around your site so will you visitors. Check your links. Go to your site and test your architecture and navigation. Don’t bury key content.
2. Include the right word on the page. Think about what the user is going to type and match the phrase or keyword.
Make sure that the content you create is what you intended audience is looking for. Research your keywords and look at how often they are used. (you can do this with Google Adwords). Also try and craft your content to match the visitors intent – most people are looking for information not sales copy. Matt Cutts gives us an example “don’t just write, “Mt. Everest Height” but write, “How high is Mt. Everest?” because that is how people search”. Match their interest and you will get found and have the opportunity to engage with a potential customer.
3. Don’t just think about link building think about compelling content and marketing.
Link building is not the Holy Grail, concentrate too much in this one area and you might be ignoring the wider marketing picture. Matt Cutts suggests better engagement with your local community, business community and other forms of media. This sound like a social signal point; get connected with local press and blogs and use social media platforms rather than random inbound links. Good content gets shared and reported.
4. Page descriptions and titles
What do your page titles say about you? untitled? Think how your page will appear if its bookmarked – will the visitor recognise who you are or what the page is about from that title? Make each page different and include a keyword for that page. Don’t just repeat your company name. Page titles do contribute to how your page ranks in the search results.
Page descriptions appear in the search results so make sure what you add will encourage the viewer to click through to your page. Let them know you have the information they are looking for and that your page is a good resource.
5. Not using Webmaster Tools
This is a free resource provided by Google. Webmaster Tools. Not only are there lots of useful tools to analyse you site the forums and supporting documentation can provide a wealth of very helpful support to keep your site on track. They will help you understand how Google works and what SEO is all about.
Watch the video here: