Are you making these 4 common SEO mistakes?

Everybody makes mistakes. But are you making these 4 common SEO mistakes with your online marketing?

Chances are that you will, too — whether you have years of experience in search engine optimisation or if you are just starting out.

There is a lot of misinformation about SEO on the internet, which makes it all the more common to get sucked into it and start doing things that you probably shouldn’t.

It’s okay if you make some mistakes. The more important part is to quickly identify those SEO mistakes and put a stop to them.

Because the SEO world can be tough and demanding. Repeated mistakes will cost you money and time, and, in some cases, will even lead to search engine penalties.

In this blog post, we highlight a few common SEO mistakes that hold many SEO professionals and online businessmen from achieving better results and success.

Are you making any of these common SEO mistakes? Let’s find out.

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Mistake #1 — No real strategy

SEO is actually rather simple: you pick a solid strategy that represents the goals you want to achieve. Then you apply proven tactics (take action) that help you with the strategy you devised.

The problem occurs when people mix up strategies with tactics.

Too many people jump on every new and shiny SEO tactic they come across.

While there’s nothing wrong with keeping an eye on out what’s trending and what’s not, it’s more important to keep everything in line with your business and SEO strategy.

Before applying any new SEO tactic, ask yourself:

Will following this tactic — spending time and money on this new method — will help me achieve my goal faster, in accordance with the strategy I set? How?

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Mistake #2 — Useless KPIs

How do you expect to achieve any meaningful success with SEO without setting any proper KPIs?

KPIs or Key Performance Indicators tell you exactly what you should be tracking. These KPIs inform you whether or not you are moving in the right direction.

However, setting KPIs isn’t enough.

You must also make sure to set meaningful KPIs.

Many SEO professionals and e-business owners feel satisfied tracking vanity metrics and useless KPIs. For example, the number of likes you have, follower count, the total number of inbound links you have, etc.

It’s crucial to put everything — every metric and KPI — into its proper context.

For instance, backlinks may or may not be a worthwhile key performance indicator (KPI) for your SEO goals.

Why?

Because what if you get 50 backlinks to your site? Will you count that as a win?

No. Not yet. You have to put that “win” into context.

How did you get those 50 backlinks? Are those backlinks from high-quality websites? Are those 50 backlinks from a relevant industry?

What if those backlinks are from PBNs or comment spams?

Tracking meaningful KPIs is important. Based on your strategy, set key performance indicators that will help you achieve your business and SEO goals.

Then use free tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console to track performance accurately. If your budget allows, you can also opt for more advanced and specialized SEO tools, such as Ahrefs, Moz, and SEMRush.

Using these tools will help you avoid making these common seo mistakes.

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Mistake #3 — Optimizing for search engines

Well, it is search engine optimisation … doesn’t it mean that you should optimise your website and content for search engines?

Nope.

It is a common mistake to prioritise search engines and bots over human visitors. Moreover, it is something that you will have to constantly remind yourself, or you will unwillingly slide down that path.

Here is the truth.

You cannot optimise for search engine algorithms and bots because they are constantly changing.

Instead, optimise for human readers and your website visitors. Make your website user-friendly, create the best, most useful content that you can for them and make that content easily accessible to your readers by using a great website design, a fast-loading website, and the most appropriate set of keywords.

This is the basic premise of a high-quality website, which Google and other search engines will automatically come to love — even if you don’t optimize it for search engine bots.

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Mistake #4 — Believing everything

As mentioned earlier, there are questionable resources on the web that you shouldn’t trust at all.

Don’t believe everything that you see on the web.

Shortlist a few credible sources and follow them. There are plenty that you will find. Just be wary and use your best judgement.

There is often a fine line between white-hat SEO and black-hat SEO, which you wouldn’t want to cross because of ill-advised guidance.

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What’s next? Avoiding these 4 common SEO mistakes…

Focus on creating your website the best possible source of information on the web for your customers and target audience.

If you have any questions or need any help, feel free to contact us. We’d be happy to help you.