Navigating SEO while trying to be a business owner can be frustrating. Honestly, between customer service, social media marketing, content creation, fulfillment, and other business obligations, it's easy to lose sight of where's the best place to start with optimization. It's easy to fall into traps and ideologies that will keep your website from ranking then converting. Keep reading to learn more about what pitfalls you should avoid while working on building your digital footprint.
It's easy to fall into traps that stunt a website's rankings, Traffic, and conversions.
This post aims to clarify some of these common SEO mistakes, how to avoid them and provide actionable advice on removing them.
One of the biggest SEO mistakes
Search queries, aka Keywords, are the cornerstone of any successful search engine optimization strategy... They are how customers find your website or social media profile. So, let's get into some common SEO mistakes when leveraging keywords.
Anything you type into your web browser can be considered a search term. If you have given ZERO thought to your keyword strategy, you 1. Don't know how your customers are finding you online 2. I don't see what other search terms you should target to expand your digital reach. Without optimizing your website for the target audience, Your customers may never see you without optimizing your website for search terms.
Solution:
To resolve this issue, you need to develop a keyword strategy specifically designed for your target audience. A tool I love and recommend for this problem is the Google Search Console tool.
SEO tools cost $100+ monthly, but Google provides this powerful tool for free.
All you have to do is set up your account, give it 30 days, and watch the magic happen. As your GSC dashboard starts to populate, you'll be able to get a better picture of how you're showing up on the search engine results page (SERP).
Overusing target keywords is a common SEO mistake to make. After you know what search terms to target, it's easy to overdo it.
Unfortunately, overusing keywords disrupts readability and can result in some of the following problems.
Solution:
Don't overlook the value of long-tail term terms. While the monthly search volume for these terms can be low, you are more likely to attract more qualified business leads and customers.
Solution:
Find long-tail search queries for your business niche. These will feature 3-6 words. Use these along with your target search terms.
Another SEO mistake is ignoring mobile optimization. In the current digital landscape, search traffic from mobile devices dominates.
Here are more mobile-friendly facts to keep in mind:
Solution:
When hiring a web designer, ensure they can design a mobile-optimized website. If you already have a website built, hire a designer to help you make the proper changes. Businesses must start their web design with cellphone users in mind.
Mobile optimizations will include
It's a mistake to not monitor your SEO. You can do this with a variety of tools.
To know where you are on your search engine optimization journey it’s important to track metrics. Starting your monitoring journey will help you understand if the changes you're making are having an impact.
Solution:
You can set up tracking using the following tools:
In the future I will outline how to track clicks, impressions, and traffic on each of these platforms.
I will continue to update this blog as I identify other common mistakes. So bookmark this for later! By recognizing and correcting these SEO problems, businesses can enhance their digital real estate. So don’t forget to be mindful of your keywords, optimize for mobile, and monitor your traffic.