Another Top 10 SEO mistakes to Avoid post
The beauty of Google AdWords is their ability to put your brand and your offering in front of an audience right at the instant they’re interested. Remember, it takes thought, effort and intent to go to a search engine and type in a search query.
It’s a bit of a no-brainer to say that if your Google Ad is positioned on the results page when someone does that search, you have a good a chance to secure a visit from a strong prospect.
This is called ‘pull advertising’ – targeting people who show intent; and targeting them at the moment they’re expressing interest. More traditional forms of advertising use ‘push advertising’ or ‘broadcast advertising’ – TV, Radio, Print, Outdoor, and to some extent Banner Ad’s. Broadcast advertising models are based on a shotgun approach.
You reach more people, but your audience of likely customers may be quite small. In other words, your message can reach many people, but perhaps a just handful will act on your offering.
If you’re not aware, Google AdWords is essentially a perpetual online auction, where advertisers bid for positions on the page. The higher your Google Ad appears on the Google results page, the more chance you have of receiving a click.
Advertisers who create quality Ad’s and pay Google more money (than other advertisers) will rank higher and receive more targeted clicks. Aside from the positives, there are problems associated with Google AdWords.
Google AdWords is gradually becoming more expensive due to more and more competitors driving up the costs of each click in their efforts to be ‘seen’. The other problem is the complexity of the Google AdWords environment.
Google is adding new rules and features to AdWords almost weekly, and trying to keep up is becoming a full time occupation in itself.
Thankfully there is another way you can get your Brand and its offering in front of people online which is sometimes overlooked.
A great Search Engine ranking at Google will achieve the same result. And the good news is that the fundamentals of Search Engine Optimisation (or SEO) haven’t changed much for quite a few years now.
It’s certainly not as hard to learn as Google AdWords!
The great aspect of SEO is the ability for you to DIY. If you have the time and the inclination to learn about it, there’s nothing to stop you doing it yourself.
Ultimately, this can save you a bundle on ongoing AdWords costs because once you’re ranking well, you can wind back your AdWords spend and rely on free, organic traffic from the search engines. But it does take time and patience, so be prepared for results to happen gradually.
Think of it this way,
• Google AdWords = one day cricket,
• SEO = a test match.
The fundamentals of ethical Search Engine Optimisation need to be followed if you want long term success. Don’t be tempted by the Dark Side, commonly referred to as Black Hat SEO. Keep it clean, play by the Search Engine rules, be patient and you will succeed.
So here is a top 10 list of the mistakes people make, and what you need to be aware of to avoid them.
1. Little or no idea how a search engine actually works
You simply must understand how a search engine works so you know what to do to work with one! Search Engines like Google work automatically. There is no human influence on Google’s results at all (except when a website has been naughty, and is physically removed from Google results).
Search engines are typically made up of three parts.
a. Robots, crawlers, spiders or ‘bots’
Robots are essentially automated information collectors. Like humans, they ‘surf’ the internet, following links, finding web pages and sending information back to a central storage computer (the index – see below). It’s important to ensure that robots have full access to your website and there are no technical issues preventing robots from crawling (accessing) all pages of your website. For instance, robots are unable to follow JavaScript navigation systems, where as humans can.
b. The Index
The Index is an enormous storage system which stores and continuously updates all the information the robots have collected. The index is simply a slightly outdated ‘copy’ of the internet. In SEO terms, it’s important to ensure all pages of your website are included in the index.
c. The Algorithm
The Algorithm is the third part of a search engine. This is a program that sifts through the millions of pages recorded in the index to find matches to a search and rank them in order of what it believes is most relevant. Each search engine’s algorithm is slightly different in the way it works, which is why results for the same key phrase at different search engines will often provide a different set of results.
2. No SEO strategy in place
Very few people do this, but you should have a strategy before you begin your optimisation endeavours. Your SEO strategy is just as important as your website design and development strategy.
You need to create a check-list of pages to target (don’t waste time optimising your privacy page – unless there’s a really good reason!), decide the keywords you need to target, then create measurement systems to track the success (or otherwise) of your optimisation.
At the very least you should be looking at your ranking position(s) for your targeted key phrases (against your competition) and how much traffic is coming to the site using by analysing your web metrics package.
3. Website technology issues
Many owners have their website built using non-search engine friendly technology. Search Engine Robots are still very primitive, so you need a web design company to design you a site which is great for humans, and accessible to robots.
4. Improper or non existent keyword selection
This is one of the most common SEO mistakes. Even today it’s quite stunning that many web developers and website owners make no effort to perform keyword research at all.
The ones that do often pick key phrases which are far too competitive, such as single words, which are notoriously difficult to rank well for. Inexperienced SEO practitioners will also try and place lots of keywords and key phrases all on one page in an attempt to rank highly for all of them.
This completely dilutes the thematic relevance of the page. Of course, website owners then wonder why they don’t rank well for any of the key phrases they’ve selected. Limit each page to one or two targeted “on theme” key phrases to make them highly relevant.
This leads us to…
5. Site Structure
Break out your content, so that each page has it’s own highly relevant theme. Remember, search engines want to return the most relevant web page to a users query. So if you have a single page all about lots of topics, chop it up into pages dedicated to each topic.
6. Poor or non existent meta data and on-page optimisation
This is another astoundingly common problem. There are countless websites which have no Title Tag information and No Meta Content description. If you’re interested in DIY SEO but you’re not sure what this means, you need to learn some basic HTML. Thankfully, it’s not that hard to get your head around.
7. Using Black Hat SEO techniques
Here’s another tactic many inexperienced DIY SEO folk try on, thinking no-one will ever notice. Remember this. Google and other search engines employ the greatest minds in the world to develop their search engines. Every deceptive trick you employ has been thought of long before you came on the scene.
If you use unethical techniques to trick a search engine into ranking you higher than you deserve, you will get found out. It might take a few weeks or a few months, but it will happen. Yes, it’s frustrating waiting for your website to climb the rankings. Yes, sometimes it’s a one step back, two step forward process. But don’t ever resort to Black hat SEO techniques if you’re in it for the long haul.
End of sermon.
8. Website design and development issues
Search engines typically need at least 250-300 words (minimum) to get a clear relevance picture of the thematic topic of a web page. So when you design a page, you should allow enough space on the page for textual content. If the page is filled with images, you’re just not giving the search engines enough to hang their hat on in terms of page relevance. And you won’t get around the problem using Image ‘Alt’ tags.
Developers live deep in code, and (strangely!) most of them love it. They love solving programming problems. Inexperienced developers solve problems for humans on your website but can unwittingly create problems for search engine robots. Experienced developers solve problems with humans and search engine robots in mind.
9. Poor or non existent external link strategy
This is a really tough topic because it is the misery of many smaller website owners.
There’s a lot of excitement building a new website. You’d be hard pressed to find a website owner uninterested in the design, development and launch of a website. They just can’t stop talking about it. It’s a wonderfully stressful time.
It’s a different story when it comes to link building. Getting quality links to your site is a slog and anybody who tells you different is lying. You certainly won’t hear website owners boasting about the new link they just got from so and so’s home page.
The quickest way to get quality links to your site is by opening your wallet. Go to Yahoo and fork over $US299 (for one year) to be included in their directory. By the way, that’s without any guarantee of inclusion; if a Yahoo editor doesn’t like your site, or if you have the hint of a “site under construction” message, you’ve done your dough. No refunds.
Google’s recently clamped down websites buying links from other websites, but for some reason, buying a link in a paid directory is ok.
The secret to encouraging people to link to you is to have great content. Sounds great in theory, but sadly, that’s not always easy when you’re in a dull industry, or if you’ve got a dull website.
10. Poor internal link strategy
Links are the arteries, veins and the capillaries of the internet. Links are the connections between websites and allow the flow of traffic. The internet would be a boring place without them. Same goes for your website.
Search Engines place a LOT of weight on links, and the words which are used in the link text (also referred to as anchor text).
Many webmasters use words in internal links like “click here” and “learn more”. Don’t make this mistake; use descriptive words in your link text which describes what the target page is about. If it’s good enough for wikipedia – (defined as “the site which has a licence to rank 1st at Google for every key phrase imaginable”) then it’s good enough for you.
This list is by no means definitive, but it should act as good guide of things to look out for when your re-building or optimising your exiting site.
Duplicate content and domain name handling issues probably could have made it into the list, but then, a ‘Top 12 SEO mistakes to avoid’ article doesn’t quite have the same ring to it.
It’s a bit of a no-brainer to say that if your Google Ad is positioned on the results page when someone does that search, you have a good a chance to secure a visit from a strong prospect.
This is called ‘pull advertising’ – targeting people who show intent; and targeting them at the moment they’re expressing interest. More traditional forms of advertising use ‘push advertising’ or ‘broadcast advertising’ – TV, Radio, Print, Outdoor, and to some extent Banner Ad’s. Broadcast advertising models are based on a shotgun approach.
You reach more people, but your audience of likely customers may be quite small. In other words, your message can reach many people, but perhaps a just handful will act on your offering.
If you’re not aware, Google AdWords is essentially a perpetual online auction, where advertisers bid for positions on the page. The higher your Google Ad appears on the Google results page, the more chance you have of receiving a click.
Advertisers who create quality Ad’s and pay Google more money (than other advertisers) will rank higher and receive more targeted clicks. Aside from the positives, there are problems associated with Google AdWords.
Google AdWords is gradually becoming more expensive due to more and more competitors driving up the costs of each click in their efforts to be ‘seen’. The other problem is the complexity of the Google AdWords environment.
Google is adding new rules and features to AdWords almost weekly, and trying to keep up is becoming a full time occupation in itself.
Thankfully there is another way you can get your Brand and its offering in front of people online which is sometimes overlooked.
A great Search Engine ranking at Google will achieve the same result. And the good news is that the fundamentals of Search Engine Optimisation (or SEO) haven’t changed much for quite a few years now.
It’s certainly not as hard to learn as Google AdWords!
The great aspect of SEO is the ability for you to DIY. If you have the time and the inclination to learn about it, there’s nothing to stop you doing it yourself.
Ultimately, this can save you a bundle on ongoing AdWords costs because once you’re ranking well, you can wind back your AdWords spend and rely on free, organic traffic from the search engines. But it does take time and patience, so be prepared for results to happen gradually.
Think of it this way,
• Google AdWords = one day cricket,
• SEO = a test match.
The fundamentals of ethical Search Engine Optimisation need to be followed if you want long term success. Don’t be tempted by the Dark Side, commonly referred to as Black Hat SEO. Keep it clean, play by the Search Engine rules, be patient and you will succeed.
So here is a top 10 list of the mistakes people make, and what you need to be aware of to avoid them.
1. Little or no idea how a search engine actually works
You simply must understand how a search engine works so you know what to do to work with one! Search Engines like Google work automatically. There is no human influence on Google’s results at all (except when a website has been naughty, and is physically removed from Google results).
Search engines are typically made up of three parts.
a. Robots, crawlers, spiders or ‘bots’
Robots are essentially automated information collectors. Like humans, they ‘surf’ the internet, following links, finding web pages and sending information back to a central storage computer (the index – see below). It’s important to ensure that robots have full access to your website and there are no technical issues preventing robots from crawling (accessing) all pages of your website. For instance, robots are unable to follow JavaScript navigation systems, where as humans can.
b. The Index
The Index is an enormous storage system which stores and continuously updates all the information the robots have collected. The index is simply a slightly outdated ‘copy’ of the internet. In SEO terms, it’s important to ensure all pages of your website are included in the index.
c. The Algorithm
The Algorithm is the third part of a search engine. This is a program that sifts through the millions of pages recorded in the index to find matches to a search and rank them in order of what it believes is most relevant. Each search engine’s algorithm is slightly different in the way it works, which is why results for the same key phrase at different search engines will often provide a different set of results.
2. No SEO strategy in place
Very few people do this, but you should have a strategy before you begin your optimisation endeavours. Your SEO strategy is just as important as your website design and development strategy.
You need to create a check-list of pages to target (don’t waste time optimising your privacy page – unless there’s a really good reason!), decide the keywords you need to target, then create measurement systems to track the success (or otherwise) of your optimisation.
At the very least you should be looking at your ranking position(s) for your targeted key phrases (against your competition) and how much traffic is coming to the site using by analysing your web metrics package.
3. Website technology issues
Many owners have their website built using non-search engine friendly technology. Search Engine Robots are still very primitive, so you need a web design company to design you a site which is great for humans, and accessible to robots.
4. Improper or non existent keyword selection
This is one of the most common SEO mistakes. Even today it’s quite stunning that many web developers and website owners make no effort to perform keyword research at all.
The ones that do often pick key phrases which are far too competitive, such as single words, which are notoriously difficult to rank well for. Inexperienced SEO practitioners will also try and place lots of keywords and key phrases all on one page in an attempt to rank highly for all of them.
This completely dilutes the thematic relevance of the page. Of course, website owners then wonder why they don’t rank well for any of the key phrases they’ve selected. Limit each page to one or two targeted “on theme” key phrases to make them highly relevant.
This leads us to…
5. Site Structure
Break out your content, so that each page has it’s own highly relevant theme. Remember, search engines want to return the most relevant web page to a users query. So if you have a single page all about lots of topics, chop it up into pages dedicated to each topic.
6. Poor or non existent meta data and on-page optimisation
This is another astoundingly common problem. There are countless websites which have no Title Tag information and No Meta Content description. If you’re interested in DIY SEO but you’re not sure what this means, you need to learn some basic HTML. Thankfully, it’s not that hard to get your head around.
7. Using Black Hat SEO techniques
Here’s another tactic many inexperienced DIY SEO folk try on, thinking no-one will ever notice. Remember this. Google and other search engines employ the greatest minds in the world to develop their search engines. Every deceptive trick you employ has been thought of long before you came on the scene.
If you use unethical techniques to trick a search engine into ranking you higher than you deserve, you will get found out. It might take a few weeks or a few months, but it will happen. Yes, it’s frustrating waiting for your website to climb the rankings. Yes, sometimes it’s a one step back, two step forward process. But don’t ever resort to Black hat SEO techniques if you’re in it for the long haul.
End of sermon.
8. Website design and development issues
Search engines typically need at least 250-300 words (minimum) to get a clear relevance picture of the thematic topic of a web page. So when you design a page, you should allow enough space on the page for textual content. If the page is filled with images, you’re just not giving the search engines enough to hang their hat on in terms of page relevance. And you won’t get around the problem using Image ‘Alt’ tags.
Developers live deep in code, and (strangely!) most of them love it. They love solving programming problems. Inexperienced developers solve problems for humans on your website but can unwittingly create problems for search engine robots. Experienced developers solve problems with humans and search engine robots in mind.
9. Poor or non existent external link strategy
This is a really tough topic because it is the misery of many smaller website owners.
There’s a lot of excitement building a new website. You’d be hard pressed to find a website owner uninterested in the design, development and launch of a website. They just can’t stop talking about it. It’s a wonderfully stressful time.
It’s a different story when it comes to link building. Getting quality links to your site is a slog and anybody who tells you different is lying. You certainly won’t hear website owners boasting about the new link they just got from so and so’s home page.
The quickest way to get quality links to your site is by opening your wallet. Go to Yahoo and fork over $US299 (for one year) to be included in their directory. By the way, that’s without any guarantee of inclusion; if a Yahoo editor doesn’t like your site, or if you have the hint of a “site under construction” message, you’ve done your dough. No refunds.
Google’s recently clamped down websites buying links from other websites, but for some reason, buying a link in a paid directory is ok.
The secret to encouraging people to link to you is to have great content. Sounds great in theory, but sadly, that’s not always easy when you’re in a dull industry, or if you’ve got a dull website.
10. Poor internal link strategy
Links are the arteries, veins and the capillaries of the internet. Links are the connections between websites and allow the flow of traffic. The internet would be a boring place without them. Same goes for your website.
Search Engines place a LOT of weight on links, and the words which are used in the link text (also referred to as anchor text).
Many webmasters use words in internal links like “click here” and “learn more”. Don’t make this mistake; use descriptive words in your link text which describes what the target page is about. If it’s good enough for wikipedia – (defined as “the site which has a licence to rank 1st at Google for every key phrase imaginable”) then it’s good enough for you.
This list is by no means definitive, but it should act as good guide of things to look out for when your re-building or optimising your exiting site.
Duplicate content and domain name handling issues probably could have made it into the list, but then, a ‘Top 12 SEO mistakes to avoid’ article doesn’t quite have the same ring to it.
posted by Chris Thomas - Reseo at
12:21 PM
2 Comments:
-
Web Success Diva said...
-
- 25 April 2008 3:56 AM
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Fred Schebesta said...
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- 1 May 2008 9:30 PM
Post a Comment Create a Link HomeThis is a great, complete post. We've seen these "biggest mistakes" all over online, but few actually delve in and explain it.
Sharing with my newbie audience :-)
Maria Reyes-McDavis
Great article!
11. Ensure you have setup your robots.txt file to point search engines around your website and point them away from pages you dont want indexed.
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