The Top Ten Search engine optimisation Mistakes

Posted by admin

May 21, 2008

The video above discusses some of the common search engine optimisation mistakes made by businesses.

1. Not targeting the right keywords

Some people make the mistake of targeting keywords purely based on search volumes, which have nothing to do with the content on their website. Although search volumes should have some influence on keyword selection it should nevertheless be related to your business and website content. Competition is tough and businesses that target the wrong keywords form the start may not get the opportunity to set things right in future.

2. Ignoring the Title and description tags

Businesses often make the mistake of using only their company name and not keywords in the title tag of a website. Search engines like Google pay a lot of emphasis on the title tag when searching for a keyword. Hence is important to use the main keywords in the title tag and not just your company name.

3. Not optimising individual pages of the website:

This includes having the same title and description for all pages. A common mistake is only optimising the home page of your website and not others. A good search engine optimisation campaign should focus on optimising each page independently. Each page should ideally target a different keyword and be optimised accordingly.

4. Lack of an ongoing strategy:

Some people make the mistake of thinking that once a website has been optimised for search engines and will remain forever. Organic Search engine optimisation is an on going process that needs to be carried out on a daily, weekly or at least monthly basis. Certain tasks and techniques need to be performed periodically. Search engine optimisation is a highly competitive field and businesses that succeed often have an ongoing strategy.

5. Lack of keyword density

It is important that the main keywords being targeted appear within the text of a website a reasonable amount of times. A keyword density of 3% to 5% is ideal. Keyword density plays an important role in ensuring a websites ranking within search results.

6. Trying to trick search engines:

Search engines are much smarter than we might think and are constantly evolving to make searching as fair as possible. It is common for websites to be penalised and loose their listing if a website is stuffed with keywords, headings, etc not to assist the user but to trick search engines.

7. Link spamming or linking to bad neighbourhood websites:

Website owners are often lead to believe that all type of links back to a website will be good for ranking in search engines. Although it is true that the number of link backs to a website plays a very crucial role in determining a websites rank in a search engine, the quality of links are also important. It is advisable to get link backs from related websites or business directories. However linking back from or linking to banned websites, link farms (websites set up purely to exchange links) or paid link websites can lead to your website being penalised.

8. Using only flash on the website:

Although search engines are constantly evolving, they are still unable to read the content of flash files. While it is ok to use some flash animation, header images in flash or some flash component within a website; it is not advisable to have a website made entirely in flash or be largely flash based. Flash based websites often rank poorly on search engines.

9. Having too many images and less text on a website

Websites that use too many images and less text often rank poorly on search engines. Search engines cannot read the actual image so it is advice to have a largely text based content. Websites that use images (with text as a part of image) as titles and headings on the WebPages also rank poorly. Having too little text i.e. less than 200 words on a web page also reduces chances.

10. Duplicate content

Websites that repeat the same content on multiple pages or who copy content from other websites are often penalised by search engines like Google and often rank poorly. It is important to have original content on the website as search engine are designed to pick up duplicated content and penalise the duplicating website.

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