Common Mistakes In SEO

Making mistakes in SEO is something that is both common and can affect the results a lot. In this post, we go through some common mistakes and what you can do to fix them.

If you have experience working with SEO, you probably recognize many of them. However, if you have not worked very much with search engine optimization, it is good to make sure that you do not make any of these mistakes in SEO.

• Missing measurable goals
• Miss the search behavior – another common mistake in SEO
• Duplicate content
• Common Mistake In SEO – Forget about prioritizing
• No SSL certificate
• Images have not been search engine optimized
• Not to mobile adapt the website
• Mistakes in SEO – Summary

Missing measurable goals

One mistake in SEO is that there are no measurable goals set. No matter what marketing you are working on, it is important to set goals. In digital marketing like SEO, it is extra important. In order to be able to evaluate and optimize, it is a must that you have measurable factors that you can then evaluate against.

Miss the search behavior – another common mistake in SEO

It is not uncommon for companies to start from their own conceptual world instead of starting from the potential customers and how they actually name things. Finding the right keywords and doing a good keyword analysis can be one of the more difficult things in SEO.

Companies can name a product or service in a specific and industry-specific way. The problem with this is that the potential customers search for a different concept and that the search volume differs a lot between the different names. Sometimes, for example, there may be 100 times more searches on a keyword compared to another that means the same thing.

To find the right keyword, there are several tools. One tip is to use the Keyword Planner in Google Ads. It’s also good if the account is active and you advertise on Google in order to get complete data. Other slightly more expensive options are also Ahrefs which are used in so many other aspects as well, when it comes to SEO.

Duplicate content

Google downgrades a website if there is duplicate content. This means that there are several pages (URLs) that have the same body text. This can be a common problem, especially with e-retailers, as retailers may simply take product texts straight off. Another problem for e-retailers in particular is that duplicates are created through filters or sorts.

One tip I have mentioned in previous posts is to use the Copyscape tool to ensure that texts are completely unique and not duplicated in any way. The tool costs little but is definitely worth the money to avoid duplicate content.

Common Mistake In SEO – Forget about prioritizing

From an SEO perspective, you need to choose what content on the site is important. This can usually be a common mistake in SEO. Simply put, the more clicks it takes to get to the important page, the fewer “SEO points” it will get from the Google perspective. With the help of the navigation and the internal structure of the website, you create the priority.

No SSL certificate

For many, SSL certificates are a matter of course, but not for everyone! SSL certificate is what makes your site secure, shows a lock and https instead of http. Many people still do not implement this and it can damage SEO which leads to you getting fewer visitors.

Images have not been search engine optimized

Images on your site are also an important part, even for search. Today, it is possible to perform image searches to a large extent. If you do not optimize your images, there is a risk that your SEO work will deteriorate or that you will miss out on a great visual search result. Here’s how to optimize your photos:

• Make sure the images have appropriate file names (describe the image and include your keyword)
• That the images have the correct format
• That the pictures are of high quality
• That the images have been compressed
• That all images have a suitable alt text

Not to mobile adapt the website

Today, more and more people are surfing on their mobile phones instead of computers. As many as 87% of internet users in Sweden use the internet on their mobile phones daily. Google has also turned to mobile phones and will only index mobile phones since March 2018. Therefore, it is very important to adapt their website to mobile phones.

In the Google Search Console you can see if your website is mobile friendly or not. There are also many other ways to mobile customize your website. We use WordPress and Elementor for this page and then it is easy to switch to a mobile view to see and adapt to make it look good on mobile phones. Of course, you can also go to your page on your mobile to see what it looks like!

Mistakes in SEO – Summary

There were some mistakes in SEO that are good to avoid. Of course there are more but it can be a good start to review so you do not make any of these mistakes. Contact us at GK Web Agency if you have any questions and we will be happy to help.