Getting your website to rank on the top of the most well known search engines is the greatest thing for your internet marketing. That alone will increase you websites visibility, but the hardest question is, HOW?
The process of Search Engine Optimization is complex and it raises many questions on how to properly optimize your own website or hire a specialist SEO agency. Fact of the matter, SEO is hard work and a very difficult process that takes time and a lot of analysis.
Here are 7 things you should not do when building your SEO campaign
1) Putting search engines before users
First off, Search Engine Optimization is the process your website undergoes to help it obtain the best possible listings. You want to be at the highest ranking you can possible be to attract traffic from your target audience. But a main concern to remember is not to forget about the needs of the end-user when modifying your website for SEO. Is your website still visual appealing, use-able, and functional for the needs of your viewers. So when taking up an SEO campaign, remember to produce well-written and designed content to sell your website. Because at the end of the day, your website carries the image of what you do and is your 24 hour salesman.
2) Link spamming
Another main issue of bad SEO is link spamming. You don’t want your website chasing after as many links as possible that have no relevant use or value to the user. And more specifically, search engines now rank links based on the authority of the sites they come from. So spamming your links like all forms of spamming reduces the value of your websites presence. So Quality over Quantity is the idea here. Focus on link-building efforts on relevant websites so you can increase your ranking in the Search Engine Optimization game.
3) Disregarding link text
Anchor text of a link should be written very precisely. Search engines now use anchor text as an indicator of internal links (links from 1 page to another). Search Engines like Google want to list the best websites up top. So your user experience needs to be amazing. An example of what not to do would be using an anchor text like “click here”. It adds little information and value to where it’s going.
4) Not tracking progress
The best way to measure if your Search Engine Optimization is working for your website is to track progress from the beginning. This is probably the most crucial element of seeing what works and what does not. Adding collecting proper statistics can help you decide on what new changes to make, pointing you in the right direction.
5) Choosing the wrong keywords
Choosing the right keywords for your website is important. Finding keywords takes a lot of time and analysis to get the best keywords that people are using in search engines. It’s best to choose a few precise keywords that the content of your website targets than to overload your website with every keyword you can think of.
6) Overlooking accessibility
Accessibility is an important element of Search Engine Optimization. Crawlers look to see how accessible your website is to all users regardless of disability and impairments. The ADA stress on creating websites that are helpful for disabled people. Allowing a visually impaired person the opportunity to access your website by having it use-able for them now helps your SEO results too. But not only that, the screen readers they use to view sites can only read words so making a link text as descriptive as possible helps dramatically. It goes a long way to help someone these days.
7) Not planning your SEO strategy
Last, but not least…you can’t have an effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) campaign without plan or direction. Plan for a useful strategy and map out the points of interest. Set short term objectives that move you towards the number 1 ranking.