Hard-pressed for time and money? That doesn’t excuse you from doing SEO. Now that small and medium businesses all over the world are learning the nuances of search engine optimization and paying greater attention to search marketing, you can’t let yourself fall behind. You’ve got to work hard – and work smart. Don’t make these common SEO mistakes that usually cost a lot of time and money.
Image via SEO Tips
Targeting Too Many Keywords in One Page
SEO is not about stuffing; it’s about sharpening your focus. When creating new pages or publishing new content, remember that – while targeting a lot of keywords is a noble intention – targeting a lot of keywords and trying to hit them all with a single dart is not necessary. Create unique content-rich pages, and make each of them target unique keywords. That way, you consolidate the focus of your SEO efforts. And you build the foundation of an optimized site whose rich content can bring in targeted traffic.
Hiding Secret Keywords
By “in secret” we mean stuffing keywords in meta tags, image alt tags, and page footers, or hiding keywords in lightly-colored or hidden text. That won’t work, and should be just as useless as “buying” 5,000 links or submitting to 10,000 search engines and directories. This isn’t SEO. You know what it’s called? Spam.
Forgetting the Basics
Some businesses, Internet marketers, and SEO specialists think they can get away with the basics. But things like bolding your keywords, using them in block quotes or bullets, building internal links, and other techniques taught in SEO 101: their effects might not be drastic, but taken collectively, they contribute to increasing and reinforcing the keyword relevance of your website.
Geo Target Your Website
The world is flat and on the web you have can have a reach across the globe, but in small businesses like yours will inevitably be part of a locale. So when optimizing, target keywords that aren’t too general; look for words of phrases that use local or regional references. The person Googling “rent apartment” is different from the person looking for “budget apartment rentals in Chicago”. Go for the latter.
Ignore Usability
Yes, as long as search engines can crawl your site, you will be OK, right? Perhaps. But search engines won’t bring you closer to conversion. Usability will. Again, we’re talking about SEO fundamentals. Proper site structures, easy navigation, and descriptive, persuasive content: these are all elements that are good not only for search engines, but also for individual users.