Where is your SEO going wrong?
We all know the Google algorithm is a constantly evolving system that takes no prisoners. The major sins did involve finding these loopholes that would enable you to rank #1 with no problems. For example:
- Buying links to increase the external links to your website
- Article marketing which involved tweaking a composed article several times and sending it to various websites that collect free articles in exchange for a link back to your site
- Unnatural anchor text which is known as the text inside of a link
Keyword Stuffing
This is what Google defines keyword stuffing as-
“Filling pages with keywords or numbers results in a negative user experience, and can harm your site’s ranking.” – Google
Anyone familiar with SEO will tell you the importance of user experience. If the whole article Is densely populated with keywords nobody will read it. In fact, SEO experts believe that Google will actually penalize a site stuffed with keywords.
Be logical, make your blog sound natural and don’t try and force keywords in places where they are out of context.
Dodgy link directories
Link directories are by far, one of the most misunderstood parts of SEO. Once upon a time you could submit your blog/website to DMOZ.org and other industry-specific link directories and this would guarantee a boost in search rankings. However, the issue lies with where your links come from, and who is mentioning your site whether they are authority sites or dodgy sites. Ultimately, because anyone can submit their site most link directories become nothing more than a repository for junk. By all means this does not mean all link directories are disastrous. Try to ensure you’re submitting your website/blog to a highly targeted directory that will boost your search rankings performance.
Incorrect use of page titles
The titles on your landing page is what makes or breaks your sites performance and can heavily influence your SEO rank. If the landing page is non-responsive and the 10-15 titles across the top of the page include irrelevant keywords, what does this do to your user experience? Keep your titles as condensed as possible to avoid navigating to a page with little or no content on!
‘Tatty’ Tags
Title tags and meta descriptions seems to be the one thing that people take for granted. Title tags have to be unique on every page and around 60 characters. Do not include your website name in all your title tags it will make them look duplicate. Only include your website name for the contact page, about and your homepage. Lastly, the meta description needs to be distinctive, to the point and represent the content on the page.
Here are some examples I found from Searchenginewatch
Searching ‘best burgers in london’
Ranked far down on page four due to the brand name and the most important keywords are opposite of where they should be. The headline also lacks description and fails to entice people to click.
Searching 'nike trainers'
The keyword is probably at the end of the title tag, due to it being so long it has been cut out by Google. The strange misplaced capitals make the description look spammy.
SEO is to an extent about being logical and combining all the factors of social media and valuable content and not over complicating the key elements of SEO. At Studio44, we provide SEO guidance for all our clients highlighting areas in which their SEO can be improved. So, if you are struggling with SEO and need some support then let’s have a chat and see if we can help!
