We know how tempting SEO can be for businesses. Well, why not; is there any business which would not like to be the first result of Search engines? Website wants traffic, and this may lead some of us to look for shortcuts. It is not necessary that all shortcuts in the process of SEO are against the policies and guidelines of Search Engines. But there are many which are practiced as a source to achieve shorter gains and can be against the policies and guidelines of Search Engines. These are mostly considered unethical, because they ignore the fact of human nature and user experience. The other aspect is using outdated methods, as we know SEO is a rapidly changing process find unique, many SEO processes which were considered breakthroughs in the past are more or less irrelevant and have no significance in the ranking process on the current scenario. Most of them are based on tricking the machine process of ranking each websites. Although these processes are dying fast with more screening and strict measures taken by the Search Engines, one may still fall prey to such methods.
Here are some of the outdated and unethical SEO processes you should avoid.
Choosing the keywords
Choosing right keyword is the core of your SEO process, around which the rest of your SEO campaign orbits. But exactly what type of mistake can you make regarding a keyword?
You designed, created or manufactured the product. Who else can understand the better keywords associated with your products than you?
Take a deep breath, because being the designer, creator and manufacturer of your product doesnt necessarily means you know the best keywords associated with them in terms of SEO. Keywords in terms of SEO refer to how people use certain keyword to search a product, not you.
So before you are finalizing your keywords, its important to do some research. You can look for Google tools which will help you with the trends associated with your specific keywords. Look for the best keywords; dont shy off from using long-tail keywords. People may use detailed long sentences to search a specific type of product.
Adding unnecessary pages for each keyword
Many websites add up pages for each keyword they are competing for, even if its not necessary. This can make your website look a bit annoying and leave a negative user experience on your visitors. The pages added for each keyword displays more or less the same content, or could have been convenient and more useful for visitors if they were displayed in one page rather than visiting another page.
So this is another mistake which should be avoided, always keep in mind that your website should look natural and attracting to visitors. Optimize your website for best user experience.
Compromising quality of content
Are you in a rush to publish more and more content on your website, keeping quality out of equation?
Quality of your websites content plays a major role in your SEO ranking. Every Search Engine looks to provide the best possible results to their users. Always post quality and well researched content on your website. Make sure it is natural, error free and easy to understand. Dont focus on keywords unnecessarily in your content, use them when required. You can hire a permanent writer for your website, if you dont feel comfortable righting yourself. Regularly update your content with the new marketing trends. Your content should address the current problems/information/queries relating to the keyword.
Not focusing on page titles and Meta description
Page titles and Meta description are also an important aspect of a successful SEO process. Stuffing your page title and Meta description with only your keywords can be another mistake you should avoid. Although page titles are used as a mean through which Search engines find relevancy to the keyword searched. You still need to come with attractive titles keeping in mind the human audience. Your Meta description should be precise and unique.
It should tempt the user to click on the link of your page from all the results the Search engine showed up on that page. Imagine you land in top of the first page of Google and there are 9 more links of your competitor on that same page. But your page titles and Meta tags are not unique and interesting enough to catch that users attention. So he might open the second or third search result because they have a well written page title and Meta description.
No or minimal social media presence
Since social medias ever increasing popularity, its important you should not ignore social medias significance in your SEO campaign. Although it is believed that social media have no direct effect on your SEO, but you can never ignore the fact that Search Engines might come up with some policies regarding it in the future.
Social media interaction helps you to engage with audience which can result in an increase to the traffic of your website. You can share your website links, products and updates regarding your business.
Not optimizing your websites for mobile phones
We know the importance of mobile phones in present days. With the increase in usage of internet on mobile phones, it is indispensable to optimize your website for the best user experience. Your website should be designed to be responsive to all platforms. Make sure your websites fonts and structure are optimized for mobile phone users.
Focusing on quantity of external links
External links is another pivotal factor to your SEO process. Avoid going for too many external links, rather than that focus on the quality of the links. You need to have high quality and impeccable content, before reaching out to well reputed and high ranking websites for linking.
Reading search engine policy and guidelines on SEO can also help in avoiding the practices which are not encouraged or irrelevant to the modern SEO rankings. To run an effective SEO campaign, you need to always have an update on the factors involving the evaluation of SEO ranking, by Search engines.
