13/09/2024 | SEO
The common SEO mistakes damaging your search rankings
To achieve and maintain top search engine rankings for your website, you need to be consistently working at your search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy. SEO is not a one-time fix; it requires ongoing monitoring, updates, and optimisation to stay competitive.
While many SEO tactics get results, outdated or poor SEO practices can severely damage your website’s visibility. SEO constantly evolves alongside Google’s algorithm, and things that previously worked become obsolete, with new ranking factors replacing them.
Most people, unless they are fulltime SEO specialists, are not up to speed with the intricate web of ranking factors Google uses. Without regular optimisation, websites can fall foul of the same SEO mistakes, making them less visible and attracting fewer users from search engines.
Common SEO mistakes – and how to fix them:
1. Avoid keyword stuffing – it hurts your visibility and credibility
Keyword stuffing is the OG of bad SEO practices. It was once a go-to tactic, but today, it’s one of the fastest ways to earn penalties from Google.
In the early days of search engines, people would overload website pages with repeated keywords as a quick fix to rank first. Search engines became wise to this and now flag any content that’s deemed artificially keyword-heavy.
Google and other search engines crack down on keyword stuffing because it’s seen as manipulative and unnatural. It can lead to poor readability and user experience, making it more difficult for people to find useful, relevant answers to their search queries.
2. Thin or low-quality content will not suffice
Thin content – or pages that lack depth, originality, or relevance – are flagged by search engines as low-quality. Google’s algorithm asks websites to demonstrate Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T), meaning informative content is non-negotiable.
If your website content is thin, your search rankings will suffer, because search engines prioritise other more useful sources. Websites with sparse content run the risk of not being indexed for search results, or ranking lower than the competition.
3. Not being mobile friendly will loose you traffic
A large portion of web traffic comes from mobile devices. To make browsing easier, Google prioritises ‘mobile friendly’ content, which means website pages designed mobile-first. With mobile-first indexing, your website’s mobile version is what determines your rankings. Failing to optimise your website for mobile means losing visibility to the growing mobile audience.
4. Slow page loading costs you users
Page speed is an important ranking factor for Google. Slow load times frustrate people, and they leave these pages quickly. This indicates to search engines that the page was not useful, causing it to rank lower. Improve page speed by compressing images, optimising server performance, and minimising unnecessary CSS or JavaScript files.
5. Incomplete page titles and descriptions are a missed opportunity
Optimising your website for search is about making the purpose of each page obvious. Page titles and descriptions are an important factor for this reason. The title and description you add play a role in click-through rates (CTR), by indicating what the page is about to a user. When incomplete, you miss an opportunity to grab users’ attention in the search results.
6. Avoid duplicate content – be original
Using unoriginal content on your website is a dangerous game. Search engines may struggle to determine which page is the most relevant, limiting the page’s ranking potential and even potentially triggering penalties for plagiarism.
Scraping content directly from other websites should always be avoided, and apply caution when using AI to generate website content. You need to be certain the content is accurate, original, and not lifted from elsewhere on the internet.
There will, of course, be instances where you need to replicate your own content in different places around your website. If you need multiple pages with similar content, use canonical tags to the original URL, or the page you’d prefer people to land on.
7. No internal links leads to lower rankings
Failing to link to webpages together can cause pages to become ‘orphaned’ which hurts your rankings. Without links, your site structure is less clear and not as easy to navigate. Internal links help search engines understand the hierarchy and importance of different pages. Make sure the text you link (anchor text) is relevant to the page it’s linking to, as unclear or disingenuous link anchor text is a common mistake.
8. Broken links damage user experience
This one is pretty self-explanatory, but broken links are no good and search engines don’t like them. They lead to 404 error pages, creating a poor user experience and indicating to search engines that your site may not be well-built or maintained.
9. No alt text for images is unclear
Don’t skip adding alt text descriptions for images, because it helps search engines understand what an image is about. Make sure your alt text describes the image clearly and concisely, using keywords where relevant – but avoid stuffing. Alt text is a good SEO practice and enhances website accessibility for people who use screen readers or those with slow connections.
10. Ignoring analytics and data leaves you in the dark
Monitoring your website’s performance using tools like Google Analytics is how you see what’s working and what’s not. Track metrics like bounce rates, page views, time on page, and conversion rates. By doing so, you can quickly address issues and spot opportunities to improve your site.
To get the best results, your search strategy should be managed by a qualified SEO specialist. Anyone can learn Google Analytics, but it’s hard to master if it’s not your day job!
Are you underwhelmed with your website rankings? Want advice on how to improve them? An SEO audit helps identify errors and gives you clear steps on what to tackle.
11. Poor URLs are less understandable
Using lengthy, unclear, or irrelevant URLs damages your search optimisation. URLs should be clean, descriptive, and easy to read, both for search engines and people. Complex or random strings of characters in URLs make it harder for search engines to understand the content.
12. Overlooking local SEO is a miss
If your business is visited by customers, or you serve customers within a certain area, you need local SEO as part of your strategy. This includes setting up a Google Business Profile and targeting local key terms within your website content. For businesses operating within a specific area, optimising for local SEO is essential to look professional and appear on maps.
13. Ignoring schema markup reduces visibility
Structured data or ‘schema’ improves how your content appears in search results (e.g. FAQs or product listings). Failing to mark it results in missed opportunities for increased visibility. Structured data helps search engines and users understand your business better.
14. Lack of secure (HTTPS) sends the wrong message
Not having an SSL certificate or using an insecure HTTP site is a basic error. It makes sense that Google prioritises secure sites (HTTPS) over non-secure ones, and not having HTTPS can hurt your rankings and even put people off from visiting your website.
15. Neglecting user experience causes rankings to slip
This one is a biggie. There’s no point in getting people to your website if they have a rubbish time browsing on it. Poor user experience = people leaving without converting.
Search engines value user satisfaction, which means people getting what they need with minimal hassle. If your site ranks well but provides a poor experience (due to things like slow speeds, bad navigation, or excessive pop-ups), it will likely drop in rankings over time.
We hope you’ve found this whistlestop tour of common SEO mistakes useful, and have come away with some ways to improve your website. The SEO landscape is vast and everchanging, and we couldn’t cover it all in one article. To get it right, SEO requires specialised expertise and consistent management.
Want to improve your SEO?
Our SEO specialist, Sean, can help you develop a tailored SEO strategy that boosts your search rankings and drives results. Get in touch today to find out how to start optimising your website for success.