When we talk about content marketing, SEO is the first thing we need to cover. Optimizing our content for search engines is the basic skill every marketer needs to have under their belt. SEO has been around for years and we’ve learned so much about it in the past decade. But, there are still those who are not quite sure which SEO mistakes to avoid and how.
If you need help in creating your content optimization tactics, just keep reading. This article will break down the most common SEO mistakes and tell you how to avoid making them. Let’s get started and break it down together.
Find The Right Keywords
Keywords are the inevitable topic we need to cover when speaking about SEO. Everybody knows that the best keyword will get you those rankings, but things aren’t as simple as you’d hope.
Here’s the most common keyword mistake you’re probably making:
- You search for keywords
- You find the 3 or 4 best-ranking global keywords
- You go for those
But the problem with these keywords is:
- They’re too general
- There are hundreds of strong SEO specialists working on defending those keywords for the highest rankings
- You’re aiming at a very broad audience
So, if you’re a web designer, instead of going for “web design” you should aim at a more specific keyword more suitable for your target audience. Something like “web design for e-commerce in Chicago” might be a much better choice.
So, instead of choosing the global or generic keywords, aim for something more specific and closer to your specific audience.
Acknowledge Conversion
SEO isn’t just about rankings and traffic. It’s a much more complex notion that you need to look into with more understanding.
Conversions are extremely important but so often ignored.
Conversions tell you:
- What type of content does your audience like
- What makes them stick around or come back for more
- What content might help you turn readers into buyers
The best way to deal with conversions is to track them. Use a conversion tracking tool, data analysis and results comparison to see what works best for your audience.
Optimize For Local Search
The next tactics you have to employ is local SEO.
Local SEO is such a powerful tool that will help you skyrocket your traffic and get more visitors and customers.
This is especially important if your services are location-based. Global SEO won’t take you far in this case, and you’ll end up with poor rankings and low conversion rates.
So, here’s what you need to do:
- Include your address and phone number on all your pages
- Use local and region-specific keywords
- Place them in the titles of your articles
- Use them in meta descriptions
- List yourself on Yelp, Google Places, and other similar sites
Local SEO will also help you optimize for voice searches which is one of the latest content marketing trends. Voice searches are getting more and more popular in 2020 and local SEO will help you nail those searches as well.
Avoid Keyword Stuffing
The next mistake we’re going to cover is a big one. We’ve all thought about it at some point in our SEO journey.
So, let’s make it perfectly clear- SEO stuffing is wrong.
SEO stuffing, that is placing a large number of keywords into a single piece of content, will harm your content the following way:
- The content will be of poor quality
- The readers will be disappointed and bounce immediately
- You’ll lose your credibility
- Algorithms will register your content as spammy
In the battle for rankings, you might get a Google penalty and it’s not worth it.
Nothing good can come out of keyword stuffing so stop using it immediately. Instead, focus on choosing the right keywords and place them in your content naturally.
Use Proper Anchor Text
You have to remember that your number one concern is the people reading your content. You want them to have a pleasant experience with you and come back for more.
Link building is a positive tactic that you should be using, but don’t forget the aesthetics and proper link placement.
Anchor text for the links in your content needs to be:
- naturally connected to the rest of the text
- not in the form of a CTA like “click here” or “check this out”
- potentially containing keyword
So, place the link within your content making it natural for those who may not want to click it. Come up with original anchor text that doesn’t hurt the quality of the entire piece.
Focus on Content Quality
When we’re trying to improve our SEO and make our content rank higher in search results, we sometimes get lost in all the numbers, data, and rankings.
With all the calculations and predictions, we tend to forget just how important the quality of our content is.
You can invest all your efforts into SEO, but what will happen once the readers start reading your content and find it disappointing and low quality?
To avoid having a high bounce rate, make sure that you:
- create quality content
- cover trending topics within your niche
- use reliable and credible sources for references
- provide valid information
- give advice and solve problems
You also have to make sure you proofread everything and edit until it’s perfect. In case you need help with any stage of writing, you can check out Writing Judge or Grammarly.
The quality of your content is essential and without it, your SEO efforts are worthless.
Optimize For Mobile Devices
Mobile devices are taking over dominance and are becoming the primary means of searching the web.
More and more people are using their smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices to surf online and find the information or entertainment they’re looking for.
This is why you have to optimize your content for mobile searches:
- use responsive design
- improve your loading time
- create a mobile app
- compress your images and videos
Do whatever it takes to ensure mobile users find your content conveniently displayed and easy to access.
Final Thoughts
SEO is a complex task but it’s not impossible to master. All it takes is the right guidance and determination to keep improving.
The SEO tactics described above will help you avoid the most common mistakes many people continue to make. Make sure you find out which areas of your SEO strategy are week and need improvement. Start working on your new SEO strategy today.
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Kristin Savage nourishes, sparks and empowers using the magic of a word. She’s a versatile writer and a freelance blogger. She covers various topics, from digital marketing, to launching startups. She works as a writer at Trust My Paper and Grab My Essay. She’s also a skilled editor working for Studicus and Best Essay Education.
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