The search landscape is always evolving and so are SEO strategies because Google doesn’t care if your site ever gets found.
Google is constantly changing their algorithm to help users more easily and more accurately find what they’re looking for.
81% of people between 16 and 64 used a search engine to find a product or service to buy.
This reality makes life difficult for marketers. Keeping up with the search engine algorithm changes and the shifting customer priorities and market conditions, marketers find it challenging to stay on top of successful optimization techniques. It’s difficult to keep pace with the search engines’ continuous algorithm updates and technical site issues.
But the truth is, SEO takes time. Part of effective SEO is not just doing the right things, but having a firm grasp on the most common (and potentially harmful) SEO mistakes. If you can keep technical issues to a minimum, you can give your website a fighting chance to rise up the rankings in search engine results.
Here are a few of the most common SEO mistakes that can hurt your search engine presence and keep visitors from converting into prospects:
Remember, your SEO strategy is only as good as your target keywords. So, be sure to pay special attention to the keyword research process.
The first step when choosing the right keywords is knowing the user’s intention behind them. Determine not only how you want to position your product but what your potential audience might be searching for—their search intent. This means you need to know your target audience at the most minute and granular level.
Moreover, determine the search volume and keyword difficulty score of the keywords you choose. Ideally, go for keywords with low keyword difficulty but tons of traffic (AKA high search volume).
Trust us when we say that there is gold in long-tail keywords. These are keywords used by smaller, more specific audiences and usually convert exceptionally well. Plus, they’re great for voice searches. These are great opportunities that a lot of marketers avoid because of their small search volume. But ignoring them is a huge mistake.
Another common SEO pitfall is creating content that doesn’t resonate with your readers or address their pain points. You can actually have content that looks “right” from an SEO standpoint, but is completely irrelevant when it comes to providing real, credible information.
Don’t:
Your primary goal with content creation should be to create original content that genuinely addresses your target audience’s needs while incorporating the right search terms.
Make sure it follows the principles of E-A-T (Expertise, Authority, and Trust) and is optimized for user intent. To earn your reader’s trust, take advantage of long-form blogs. This blog is a good example of this technique.
Remember, SEO isn’t just about keywords and content; it’s also about your website’s user experience, particularly on mobile devices.
Google shifted to mobile-first indexing a while ago, so if your website isn’t optimized for mobile users, your ranking on search engines won’t be nearly as high.
The same is the case for slow-loading sites and non-responsive web design. According to Google, with every second that a website user waits around for your site to load and fully format, you lose readers, and your bounce rate increases
As one of the leading digital marketing companies in Houston, Texas, we have years of experience helping businesses improve their on-site organic search rankings with top SEO strategies and relentless execution.
We start by conducting a comprehensive website audit to determine areas of improvement on your site and then use proven SEO practices to target the right audience based upon their search intent.
Get in touch with us to learn more about our wide-ranging SEO services Houston TX.
