As much as good search engine optimization (SEO) can help your website, bad SEO can actually damage it. When it comes to your site’s SEO, don’t get caught up in old trends. Find out what not to do, before it is too late!
Take a look at our Top 6 mistakes that lead to bad SEO:
Duplicate Content
Just as wearing the same outfit as everyone else won’t get you noticed, adding the same content on your website will have the same effect. It will be much harder to get noticed on the Internet if you are posting similar information as your competitors because it doesn’t provide a reason for search engines to link your webpage. Therefore, if you want positive SEO results, be unique! Make sure your content is original and reflects the company’s vision and expertise.
Keyword Overdose
In the ‘90s, getting good SEO results use to be as easy as copying and pasting keywords to increase your rankings. It’s not that way anymore. Repeating keywords that are not relevant to your content will actually hurt you in today’s SEO world. Google has outsmarted keyword manipulation and will punish websites that attempt to manipulate the algorithms. Not to mention how redundant it is to read the same keywords over and over again in the same post.
Slow Website
We live in a generation where patience is at an all-time low … especially when it comes to the Internet. Users don’t have the time or energy to wait while the Spinning Pinwheel reminds them that the page is still loading. Not only will a slow website aggravate your viewers, but it will also decrease your SEO rankings. A webpage should take no longer than 3-5 seconds to load, and should be available any time of the day.
Paid Links
After so much hard work increasing your SEO, we understand you want to take some shortcuts … but they will only provide temporary success. If you are buying links, Google will find out one way or another, and your website will suffer the consequences. Don’t give into the seemingly easy way out, because in the long-run, you will end up back where you started.
Low Quality Post
You’re probably heard it a million times: adding a blog to your website is crucial. But that doesn’t mean you can post just anything. Quality content is more important than the quantity. Posting poorly written or useless content can backfire and have a negative impact on your SEO. Although there’s no doubt that new and consistent content is important, if it is low quality, then it would be better to not post it at all.
Cloaking
Cloaking is a sneaky practice that shows different content to the crawlers than to the readers. Cloaking is an illegal technique, and Google could potentially ban your website. Don’t think you can outsmart Google by cloaking, because not only will you will risk your company’s reputation, you’ll be stuck without a website.
Would you like to learn more? Check out ways to increase your SEO.
