SEO has changed radically in the last few years, but many businesses are still inadvertently limiting their ranking potential by relying on ineffective, outdated techniques that at best do nothing, and at worst, are actively penalised by Google.
Here are 5 of the most common SEO mistakes to look out for. Are you guilty of any?
1. Slacking on Quality Content Creation
Top-notch content is one of the core ingredients of any successful SEO campaign. Why? Because interesting, engaging content gets shared on social media. It generates links. It keeps your audience on your website for longer, and it keeps them coming back for more. And happily, all these things send a clear signal to Google and the other search engines that your website is high value and worth ranking highly in the search results pages.
If you can get into the routine of producing high quality, keyword-friendly content on a consistent basis, you’ll see your resort’s page start to slowly climb the SERPs.
2. Failing to Adapt For Algorithm Updates
Google has made some pretty major changes to the way it ranks the search results this year, and it seems likely we can expect even more change in 2014 as search continues to evolve. If you haven’t been paying attention to Hummingbird and Google’s other most recent algorithm adjustments, it’s time to catch up so you can be sure you’re not inadvertently shooting yourself in the foot with obsolete techniques.
3. Not Sharing Regularly on Social Media
With each Google algorithm update, social signals are becoming more and more important. The more your content gets Shared and Liked on social media, the more important it becomes in Google’s eyes. Think of a social media share as a ‘vote’ for your content. The more votes it collects, the greater it’s social value and the higher its search ranking.
4. Keyword Stuffing
The days of cramming as many keywords as possible into every page of content are long gone. Nowadays, Google is all about pushing useful, relevant and interesting content to the top of the SERPs to make sure its users can easily access the best quality information out there. For this reason, it’s time to let keywords take a backseat and concentrate instead on the topics your guests would most like to read about. Make your core aim creating user-friendly, rather than search-engine friendly content, and the keywords and higher rankings will begin to naturally fall into place.
5. Trying To Do Too Much
When it comes to SEO campaigns, less is more. Do you really have the time and resources to track the success of say, 100 keywords? Can you really fit all these words into your content? Don’t spread your efforts too thin to make any real impact. Instead, opt for a more sustainable approach to SEO focused on a far smaller selection of keywords, including a nice spattering of long tail terms to target your niche guest groups.
Are you guilty of any of these SEO sins? Let us know in the comments below!
