Search engine optimization – better known as SEO – is a bit more complex than a lot of people assume, so you’d be forgiven for not quite getting it right the first time around. But it’s essential that you recognize the errors that are replete in the businesses world.
SEO can be an expensive and time-consuming process, and if you’re not doing it correctly then you’re essentially wasting those resources.
If you’re not doing SEO correctly, then you’re potentially banishing yourself from search engine results altogether. Make sure the ‘O’ in your SEO stands for optimization – not obsolescence.
Here are some common mistakes in this pursuit; if they sound familiar, it’s time to take action.
Doing it all yourself
Technically, you can get SEO done for free, if you don’t count the hours that has to be put into the enterprise. (Which, of course, you do – time is money, after all!)
While this can be an attractive prospect, you must be careful not to let a willingness to spend as little as possible take over. SEO is one of the most powerful Internet marketing tools out there, but it’s only of use to you if it’s done right. There are SEO books out there that span a thousand pages – this isn’t a simple subject! Get expert help if you need it.
Not thinking locally
When people think about SEO, they tend to think about the big picture. After all, you can access Google from most places in the world. But this can lead to another common mistake: a focus on spreading your net as widely as possible.
This might work for some businesses, but most businesses need their hits to be more local; after all, that’s how they’re going to get the vast majority of their business. Resources like Smart Local can help when it comes to tracking and improving local results.
Remember: it’s not all about getting huge amounts of traffic. It’s about getting the right traffic. All those hits from the U.S. won’t help your London-based indie cake store that much.
No analytics
If you don’t know how well your SEO tactics are doing, then how are you going to be able to identify what’s actually working? What isn’t working? What you need to improve, or what you need to jettison?
SEO analytics should be considered an essential part of any SEO campaign. There are resources such as Google Analytics that can help you out in this area, but you may want to consider turning to more specialized assistance.
It’s not enough to simply have the data; you need to know how to read that data and how to implement the right techniques to reverse unwanted trends.
Black hat techniques
Those who are looking for a really quick financial return may be tempted to look into some unsavory SEO techniques – some of which are actually offered by SEO professionals.
Keyword stuffing, doorway pages, invisible text, unrelated keywords, page swapping – these are all dastardly SEO techniques referred to as ‘black hat’ (presumably because the villains in classic Westerns often wore black hats!).
Search engine bots can detect these techniques and penalize you accordingly, undoing all your work – so it’s not worth it.
