5 of the Most Common Mistakes Made in SEO

SEO is really more complicated than just tossing in a few keywords here and there.

08:42 28 February 2022

Many people just assume that SEO and keywords are easy and all you need for success. But SEO is really more complicated than just tossing in a few keywords here and there. In fact, there are a lot of mistakes that are common when it comes to SEO. If you learn the mistakes to avoid, you will have far better success overall. 

 

Check out these 5 most common mistakes made in SEO and then work to avoid them. 

 

1. Keyword Overuse

Have you heard of keyword stuffing? This is when you take an article or content and you make keywords the focus. Then it becomes all about using keywords and not about creating quality content. 

 

Yes, keywords are important but using them should be strategic. There are keyword density trackers and ideally, you want to use your keyword just enough. The rule of thumb is to use it 2-5 times for every thousand words. 

 

To really make the most out of your keywords, try using it in your title and perhaps in one heading. But don’t use the same keyword over and over again. Instead of forcing a ton of keyword usage, try just incorporating it naturally a couple of times in the article and focus on quality content overall. 

 

It’s a much better approach and a better experience for your reader as well. 

 

1. Failure to Understand the Audience

SEO is about catering to a target audience. You’re trying to optimize your searchability for a certain audience. Before you can do that, you need to understand that audience and what they are looking for. 

 

You can use a marketing company like GR0 to help with this part of the process. Marketing agencies will have the tools and knowledge for a little bit of SEO research. It would also be a good idea for you to do some research on your audience and try to get to know them. 

 

What does your industry look for? What are things the audience appreciates or perhaps even dislikes? These are important questions to ask in understanding your audience. You want to effectively connect with the audience in a positive way. 

 

Make your content valuable for your audience. Answer questions they are asking and provide relatable content. Know the industry and work from there with your approach. 

 

1. Website Speed

There is nothing worse than finding a website you think will answer your questions or provide your solution only to have terrible speed. That’s right, that site that is taking forever to load is probably not your internet’s fault. It’s most likely the fault of the website. 

 

To be fair, it’s not always the website but it commonly can be. People are incredibly impatient. If your website is slow to load and slow to move when they click, they are turned off by this. It will hurt your SEO success. 

 

Use a reliable website provider with good speed. Your SEO success is only as good as the website that potential customers are led to when you show up in their search. 

 

This is one area that SEO goes beyond just being searchable and catering to the entire experience from the search to the completion of business. Make it worth the audience’s time to visit your site! 

 

1. Avoid Bad Reviews

While you can’t necessarily satisfy every single person out there, you need to do your best. Encourage customers that are happy to leave you reviews on Google. This is another area that SEO is outside of just being seen in a search. 

 

Think about this for just a moment. When you show up in a search, you want to have a good reputation. If multiple businesses show up, how will they narrow them down? Customers will look at reviews and choose based on their perception of those reviews. 

 

You want to build the number of reviews that you have on Google specifically. A lot of reviews will help your search rankings. However, you also want to be careful because it’s far better if the reviews are mostly positive. Bad reviews can turn people away, even if you ranked high on a search. 

 

You get great reviews by providing great service to your customers. 

 

1. Location, Location, Location

If you want to rank with SEO, you need to have location specifics on your website. Even if you have multiple location capabilities, you have to tie this in. How often do people search for a business near them? Or they might search for a business in a specific city. 

 

This type of search is becoming more and more popular. That’s because it provides the searchers with solutions that are close to them. People like to find local solutions. Even an e-commerce business needs to provide locations for search triggers. 

 

If you show up in a search near someone when they are looking, you’re likely to get more traffic in that capacity. 

 

Potential customers are turned off by businesses that have no known location. It seems generic and there are always questions as to whether or not they will end up scammed by an illegitimate business. 

 

Locational association makes you more desirable in more ways than one. It makes you relatable but it also makes you more available to specific locational searches. Surely you don’t want to miss out on that opportunity! 

 

You can really take advantage of this by having a locations page or some keywords on the website that pulls in locations as well. 

 

Don’t Make Common SEO Mistakes

When it comes to SEO, there are many things that you can do right but also many things that you can do wrong. Understanding common mistakes and how to avoid them is the best way to make sure your SEO approach is going to work. 

 

Most SEO agencies will be familiar with these mistakes but it’s a good idea for business owners to be aware as well. Avoid common mistakes like these to make your business far more SEO-friendly. It’s worth understanding what to avoid and how to work around it.