SEO is an often misunderstood term, thrown around by a lot of bloggers and marketers but often poorly utilized when it comes to actually creating content. If you’re reading this then you likely have an understanding of what search engine optimization entails, but are you aware of some of the most common pitfalls when it comes to pushing your site to the top of Google’s rankings?
1. Spamming Keywords
Without a doubt, keywords are important, no, vital in making sure your content reaches the right people. If you had a blog about mobile games in the summer of 2016, for example, you pretty missed if you have not written a few posts that mentioned Pokémon Go. That said, shoehorning it into every sentence of every paragraph would ultimately turn off your readers, and click-throughs that don’t lead to many repeat readers is not a good long-term strategy. Yola talks about how unnatural this practice looks to your audience.
2. Using a Flash background
This one may surprise many, but Flash is actually on the way out. It certainly enjoyed a lot of popularity around 10 years ago for browser-based video games, and it can definitely make an otherwise boring website look quite, well, flashy. The problem is that it hasn’t really evolved with contemporary technology. Search Engine Land announced two years ago that more Google searches are completed on mobiles than desktop computers. Tablet sales are also on the rise, and the hardware simply often struggles to deal with elaborate flash backgrounds. That’s bad news for keeping eyeballs on your webpage.
3. Misdirecting Your Backlinks
Simply put, backlinks are links on another person’s blog or website which link back to your own. Blogger A may, for example, agree to write a post for Blogger B if they can backlink to their own blog, which means more content for Blogger B and more clicks to Blogger A. Yet, many people think any backlink is a good backlink. Consider spending time establishing contact with an IT consultancy to write a piece on their website blog, researching and writing it, and then backlinking to your fashion website. It may sound silly, but the best SEO companies list ill-directed backlinks as one of the things Google cracks down on when deciding who is favored and who isn’t in SEO.
4. Hidden Text
Like a sneaky landlord including that clause about an extra charge in size 2 font on the contract, those looking to fill their site with great keywords may be tempted to opt for hidden text. This is essentially writing a normal article for your site but then having white text on a white background which just spams those precious keywords in an effort to get more search engine traffic. Google, being the omniscient collective mind it is, is certainly aware of this practice and will penalize website authors for doing it. Stick to creating interesting content that places keywords in the right places and in the appropriate amounts to be sure of staying on their good side. Google Support itself explicitly states that they do not treat the practice favorably at all, so you’ve heard it right from the horse’s mouth.
SEO is a multi-faceted practice which has given rise to a whole new niche of experts in the IT field. By avoiding a few common mistakes such as these, you can be confident you’re giving your site the best shot at ranking high on Google’s coveted rankings.
