Keywords are very important for SEO and are integral part of every Internet marketing strategy. Most SEO and online marketing campaigns start with keyword research and the success of your business online depends on it.

Improper keyword analysis and incorrect use of keywords can be detrimental effect to your online presence and can be very difficult to recover from. Making basic mistakes with how you use keywords can be detrimental to your efforts and very difficult to recover from.

I have identified the 7 most common keyword mistakes below that can cost your business dearly. I hope you will find these useful. You should avoid these basic mistakes at all cost if you want your website to be successful on the Internet.

1. Not Conducting Proper Keyword Research

Often the keywords prospective customers are searching for are different what we think are relevant for our business. Many businesses make the mistake of guessing keywords which can make that can seal the fate of your website from the start. There are many free tools like Google Keyword Tool at your disposal that can help you to make the right decision and identify keywords that customers are actually searching for. A simple 10 minute research can be sufficient for identifying the right keywords for your website.

2. Choosing Keywords Purely on the Basis of Popularity

There is no doubt that it is important to choose popular keywords i.e. keywords with high search volumes. However there are other factors to consider in good keyword research.

Not taking competition into account can be a big mistake and should be avoideded. Most professional keyword analysis tools including Google Keyword Tool show how competitive keywords are in addition to monthly search volumes. It is best to strike a balance between popularity and competition. Choosing keywords with very high competition may offer good potential, but are very difficult to rank for, particularly if your website is new.

3. Excessive Use of Keywords in Content

Excessive optimisation is another mistake made by many websites. Search engine algorithms, particularly

Google, have become very good at recognising this and can penalise your website for excessive keyword usage.  Although it is important to use keywords in your content, keyword density of over 4% can be detrimental to your efforts. Try to use synonyms where possible and scatter your keywords around in content rather than repeating the same keyword excessively on the page.

4. Repetition of Keywords in Anchor Text of Links

Use of keywords in anchor text of inbound links is an effective link building technique to improve the search engine ranking of a website and is very popular among marketers and webmasters. However, recently

Google has started to take notice of this and has started penalising websites for excessive use of the same keywords. It is thus recommended to diversify keyword usage within anchor text and use variations as far as possible to avoid hurting your ranking.

5. Ignoring Long Tail Keywords

Long tail keywords are a term used to describe search terms with three or more words. Targeting long tail keywords for your website makes it easier to rank favourably on search engines. It also makes your campaign more relevant and produces better results. It lets you drive targeted traffic to your site that results in better conversion rates. E.g. let’s say your business sells Website Templates and you specialise primarily on the real estate industry. You will receive better results by targeting long terms such as “Real Estate Website templates” than say “Web Design” or “Website Templates” even though the latter may be searched many more times.

6. Neglecting Geographic Targeting

Not focusing on geographical targeting when conducting keyword research is another common mistake especially if your website targets customers from specific regions. Geographical targeting can be applied at several levels starting with choosing keywords to target for your website. You can choose regions when analysing search volumes for potential keywords in Google keyword tool. To improve your chances of ranking favourably on search results, you can also consider including location in keywords

e.g. if you business provides web design services in UK, targeting search terms that include UK  such as “Web Design UK” stand a better chance of ranking than say “Web Design”.

7. Not Refining Your Strategy Based on Statistics

Many businesses make the mistake of conducting keyword research only at the start.  Keyword process does not stop at identifying the right keywords or even achieving a favourable rank on Google.

Good SEO strategy requires constant monitoring and analysis of various statistics and metrics related to your website and refining your strategy based on results.

The main objective of keyword optimisation and SEO is not simply to drive traffic to your website, but to generate sales and leads for your business i.e. conversion rate. It is essential to monitor your performance regularly and see what works best. If certain keywords are not producing the desired results or are resulting in high bounce rates, it is important to refine and adjust your strategy. This will allow you to improve conversion rates and achieve better results.

 Conclusion:

Given above are some basic keyword mistakes that should be avoided at all cost.  Are there any other keyword mistakes that you would like to suggest? Please add your response by leaving a comment below.