Don't Make These 10 SEO Mistakes

SEO Experts UK

Introduction

SEO is a very complex area. Not least of which because there’s a lot of conflicting information about what to do and what not to do. White Hat and Black Hat battles prevail regarding which is more effective.


Frustration also abounds at how long it actually takes to achieve a decent ranking, which often leads to taking the wrong “get rich quick” advice. In the early days, we learned by trial and error the SEO mistakes to avoid.

Our top 10 are listed below…

1. Flash Only Websites
Flash only websites we hope are behind us now. Having said this, as a web development company it’s surprising how often we’re asked, ‘Is that done using Flash?’
The problem with Flash is that search engines cannot read embedded content so it shouldn’t be used to build websites. It’s fine to have a flash banner or slideshow for example, just so long as the rest of your site is built with HTML.





2. Hiden Content in Images
Hidden image content is another sin of the past, although we do still see it occasionally. If you embed your navigation and page copy in images, search engines will not be able to identify this content. Use text-based navigation and semantic mark-up instead.

3. Excessive Use of JavaScript & AJAX
Search Engines, including the all important one from Google, do not understand JavaScript and Ajax. Used excessively, particularly in website navigation, will prevent your content from being indexed. Use text-based HTML/CSS navigation instead.

4. Copying Other People’s Content
Ok, so you’re not much of a writer, copying other peoples content is therefore ok, right? Definitely not! Duplicating content is one of the biggest sins you can commit as far as search engines are concerned. the practice will not prevent your site from ranking, but you also impact the site you copied the material from.

Content writing may seem daunting but once you get in to it, the words start flowing. The moral therefore of this story is either write all content yourself or hire someone to do it for you.

5. Excessive Use of Keywords
Using the same keyword phrase in the Page Title, the Heading, six times in the copy, in a link and in an image alt tag is an example of what is known as keyword stuffing. This is like telling the search engines, ‘I’m trying to manipulate you into ranking me higher’. They won’t rank you higher, they’ll penalise you instead.

By all means include your keyword phrase, but do it naturally. Write primarily for human consumption, not search engine optimisation.

6. Automated Directory Submission Software
Google the term “directory submission” and you’ll find thousands of software programs that automate the directory submission process. Great news, right? Nope, don’t use them.
Firstly, directory submissions are not that valuable in terms of PageRank anymore. Secondly, you’ll end up with thousands of similar Titles and Descriptions that do one thing, highlight you’re try to cheat the search engines!

Only submit to well-established directories, write unique Titles and Descriptions and try to focus on local and niche directories wherever possible.

7. Using the same Page Title, Description & Keywords Across Your Entire Site
If you do this, you are basically saying that all your webpages are the same. Search engines index webpages and not websites; this is why you should have a unique, accurate Page Title and Meta Description for every page. Include your keywords in the Page Title in particular but don’t go crazy with the Meta Description.

8. Link Exchange Programs
Often you see websites with a ‘Links’ or ‘Resources’ page with a list of links a mile long. Often these have no relevance to the content of the site and have been reciprocated on an identical page on the corresponding site.

There are a number of problems with this:
* Reciprocal links are less valuable than one way links.
* Links from pages containing hundreds have no value.
* It looks like you are trying to cheat the search engines.
* It looks unprofessional to users.

Reciprocal links are fine in moderation. Try to only swap links with relevant organizations and try to link from, and get links from inside paragraphs of related text in articles or blogposts.

9. Using Non-descriptive URLs
A SEF (Search Engine Friendly) URL is really a human friendly URL. What we mean by this is one that contains actual words and not a list of numbers and symbols.

SEF URL: http://www.perceptant101.com/our_seo_services_uk.php
Non SEF URL: http://www.perceptant101.com/1234_DfXu.php

The first example contains words that relate to the content of the page as well as what category the page is in. The next example contains the article id which is of little use to anyone.

10. Focusing on Highly Competitive Keywords
Often when companies hire an SEO expert they’ll tell them they want to rank number one in Google for a short, highly competitive keyword phrase. For instance an builder might want to rank for the term ‘builder.’

We’re afraid it doesn’t really work like that. It takes a while for any site to get off the ground and this is why it is important to focus on longer keyword phrases. This is achieved by adding words to the original phrase like ‘house builder’ or ‘house builder sheffield.’

By focusing on less competitive phrases you can get instant traffic while setting yourself up to compete for more competitive phrases in the future.

About Perceptant101

Perceptant101 has been developing, designing and promoting websites for over 10 years. You can visit them at http://www.perceptant101.com

Based near Sheffield in the UK, the company currently employs 12 full time staff including web designers, Drupal developers, Joomla experts, WordPress professionals and PHP development specialists.