SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is important, even in 2015 when social media signals are stronger than ever. Why? Because ultimately, people are still going to search online for information and deals regarding any purchase they make. You might think that coming in first in Google is not as important as it was a couple of years ago, and you'd be right. However, search engine optimization is about more than that. This article will show you some of the big mistakes that people are making in SEO in 2015.
These are things that will kill your SEO efforts quicker than you can count to #1 in Google. We will list them here:
Bad back linking
Gone are the days where you could go to a hacker website and buy 10,000 links for $5 and expect to hit the top spot in Google by that night. Now, if you are using a spam-style approach and throwing thousands of low quality links at a website, it’s only going to reflect poorly on your business. You wouldn’t hand out your business flyers in the seediest neighborhoods you could find, so don’t do the same in the web space.
Over-the-top guest posting
Writing guest posts is a technique that black hat Marketers have been using over the past couple of years in order to artificially boost their rankings. The search engine operators have gotten wise to this, and so you can’t really just expect to do thousands of guest posts everywhere and expect your site to rank. However, careful and considered guest posts on relevant sites can help you.
Providing a poor on-site experience
Search engines take into account your site’s user experience. If somebody clicks on your website and spends ten seconds there and hates it, then Google or Microsoft are not going to send them there again. That’s why having a good site that people want to spend time on is important. Using analytic tools, like those provided by Intalyse will help your business improve site’s user experience.
No social media profile (over reliance on SEO)
This is a crucial error that a lot of business owners make. They think that if they hire an SEO company and get to number one in Google, that this problem will be solved; however, Google is not the only search engine in town. People will go to Facebook and they will go to YouTube and other related sites to get people’s opinions. Essentially, people want real opinions from real people. Social networks are a search engine for real people’s opinions. You need to build this into your strategy.
Ignoring Your Brand
Here is one of the key things that many experts still don’t know -- search engines now take into account your brand more than ever before. You might want to be the number one rank for “Plumber in America,” and you might build an SEO campaign that is great for that. Are you going to become the number one ranking site for that? Not if you don’t build a solid brand. The fact is, whatever you do for SEO, people think in terms of brands. People don’t search for “fizzy cola drink,” they search for “Coke.”
Duplicating Content
Not providing original and high quality content is probably the #1 killer of SEO rankings in Google. Copying other’s content is not only plagiarism, but Google will penalize your site for this infraction. Plus, it minimizes your brand. Keep it original and see your rankings soar.
