This post is also available in: Español Italiano

Top 18 SEO Mistakes you should avoid

Common SEO Mistakes

The technique of generating unpaid or organic traffic to a website by raising the visibility of webpages or the website in search engine results pages (SERPs) is known as SEO (search engine results page). You must use SEO to improve your rating for your target keywords in order to reach top rankings.
While there are several internet tools for improving your SEO techniques or the best ways to execute SEO on-page and off-page strategies, typical SEO blunders should not be disregarded. Here are some of the most common SEO mistakes made by pros, as well as how to avoid them.
What are the most frequent on-page SEO mistakes to avoid if you had a million dollars? SEO isn't a precise science, but rather a collection of empirical knowledge that fuels a never-ending cycle of testing, modifications, and tests. It is a proprietary technology and the company's largest competitive edge, aside from the Google algorithm.
However, there are a few things that must be done without fail and that all SEO experts agree on.

Top 18 SEO Mistakes you should avoid
Top 18 SEO Mistakes you should avoid

1- Slow Site Speed

When users try to access material on your page, a slow site might put them off. Slow site performance will inevitably lose you valuable SEO visitors. It's pointless to spend time and effort driving traffic from the SERPs if the website takes too long to load.
The following performance indicators may be used to assess your page speed:
* Page Load Time This is the time it takes for your page to fully load and render after the browser delivers the request to the server. The following factors can be used to evaluate page load time:
* Time to get interactive.
TTI (Time to Interactive) is a statistic that measures how quickly a website loads. To put it another way, TTI is the time it takes for a page to become fully interactive. Data from the HTTP archive is used to calculate the TTI score.
* Time to First Byte (TTFB) is the time between sending a request to the server and receiving the first byte of data in the browser.

It's not only about content and keywords when it comes to SEO.
It's also about the quality of your website, particularly its performance on mobile devices, which are currently the most popular among consumers.
Whether it comes to mobile-first indexing, Google and other search engines can tell when your website isn't mobile-friendly.
Your search engine ranking might be endangered if you haven't considered a smooth mobile experience for your consumers.
The same can be said regarding load speed, as search engines place a premium on it.
It's not surprising if a sluggish website results in lower rankings in the SERPs.
Typically, businesses that make mobile SEO blunders fall into the following categories:
Site loading times are slow.
Files can be blocked.
Images and videos load slowly.
Advertisements in the form of interstitials.
Poor local knowledge.
Web design that is not responsive.

** Fixes that could work:
Run your webpage via Google PageSpeed Insights to see how it performs and learn more about your site's speed. Several variables can contribute to the time it takes for your website to load, including:
Size and format of the image: Set the image size to 72dpi using photo editing software and image formats like JPEG 2000, JPEG XR, and WebP to help reduce the amount of bandwidth consumed by pictures.
Redirects: Although certain redirects are inevitable, eliminating them will speed up serving. Prepare a site audit of any internal URLs that are causing the redirection and make the necessary changes.
Javascript and CSS: To minimize the amount of JavaScript and CSS code, use shorter names for variables. This will increase the loading time.
To avoid users bouncing, make your site's load time a priority.
To make it easier for people to navigate your mobile site, make sure it has a responsive design.
Optimize your local and mobile strategy and make sure they're in sync.
Create mobile content that improves the user's mobile experience.

Top 18 SEO Mistakes you should avoid
Top 18 SEO Mistakes you should avoid

2- Bad Reviews on Google 

When it comes to product or service reviews, one may expect both good and negative feedback. The overall quantity of reviews, on the other hand, boosts your company's social proof and helps with localized search ranking considerations. While favorable evaluations boost your website's trustworthiness, having solely positive ratings makes it appear suspicious. Several customers expressing discontent with your website at the same time might really drive traffic away.

** Fixes that could work:
Negative reviews may be used to create relationships with consumers, allowing you to better understand your audience and, as a result, earn new clients. Posting on social media about the types of challenges you've encountered and the solutions you've come up with can help your website gain credibility.
You may also encourage customers to write evaluations about your services using industry-specific review sites and social media, and publicly recognize their queries to appear sincere.
It's not uncommon to have problems with the verification PIN you receive for your Google My Business account.
Try again after changing your “private” profile to “public.” Request a new PIN if this doesn't work. It's possible that the issue will develop when you update your NAP (Name, Address, and Phone Number) information. To avoid this, double-check that your contact information matches your listing.
Webmasters frequently make the following SEO error of not targeting location-specific sites for their content.

Top 18 SEO Mistakes you should avoid
Top 18 SEO Mistakes you should avoid

3- Not knowing who you're talking to

Understanding your target audience is one of the most important aspects of SEO.
This necessitates a thorough understanding of your target market.
The voice of the consumer is SEO.
While many marketers believe they understand their target demographic, they frequently fall into the trap of failing to comprehend how customers behave in their market and then at a granular level.
Consumers, on the other hand, demand immediate replies and outcomes to their inquiries. They frequently want this in real time.
While historical data continues to provide SEO with valuable insights into seasonal trends, marketers must use a holistic approach to understand their clients.

** Fixes that could work:
Investigate the market in which your customers purchase – what are the macro trends?
To understand how behavior is evolving, use both historical and real-time data.
Match your keyword picks and strategy to what you learn about customer intent.
Make use of the Google keyword planner and vendor tools available to you.

16 tips to learn What is the best way to write a unique and valuable article 1
Top 18 SEO Mistakes you should avoid

4- Poor quality content

You've invested time and money in developing the site, treating the design, improving usability, and optimizing pages for search engines, but the content is shoddy, consisting of formulaic formulae and annoying language. The traditional mountain giving birth to a mouse. “Content is the king,” as the saying goes. Even more so now that Google Panda and Knowledge Graph have been implemented.
Your website's authority might be harmed by outdated material. For a given query, the SERP yields a large number of search results, but not all of them are useful to the readers. Your site will be blocked out if the search engine determines that your material is obsolete or irrelevant. In a sense, you'll be squandering your crawl budget by crawling and indexing pages that are no longer relevant. It may potentially cost you visitors because the bounce rate for such sites will likely climb dramatically.
** Fixes that could work:
To avoid this SEO blunder, make sure the material you publish is of good quality and contains useful information. Always provide the most relevant, well-optimized, and valuable information to search engines.
Not having a mobile-friendly site is the next most obvious SEO error.

16 tips to learn What is the best way to write a unique and valuable article 1 1
Top 18 SEO Mistakes you should avoid

5- Duplicate content

Material that is similar to or identical to other content on your site is referred to as duplicate content.
Although duplicate material does not result in a penalty from Google, it is quite likely to damage a webpage's ranking.
Because search engines seldom display the identical version of two pieces of material in the SERPs, the one that appears to be more relevant to readers is chosen.
** Fixes that could work:
Because content is king on any website, having unique material that allows visitors to learn all they need to know about your products or services may help you establish yourself as a reliable player in the market. To avoid this SEO blunder, make sure that any material you publish on your website is not duplicated elsewhere. You may, for example, use Copyscape to search the web for duplicates of your page and delete the duplicate material.
The next SEO blunder is failing to restore damaged pictures as soon as possible.

Top 18 SEO Mistakes you should avoid
Top 18 SEO Mistakes you should avoid

6- Creating Inappropriate Content

Another typical SEO blunder is creating content that isn't focused on your target audience.
The issue is that you want to rank for a specific term, but you don't focus the text on the topic you want to rank for.
Google and other search engines seek to provide the most relevant material for their consumers' search keywords.
As a result, if your material does not meet the demands of users, it will not rank well.
This error is frequently caused by:
Trying to cram a few distinct themes into a single article.
Creating low-quality work just for the purpose of including keywords.
In one post, you may optimize for numerous keywords.
Your main objective should be to create content that actually answers your target audience's problems and requirements, including employing the proper search phrases.
Then search engines will be able to identify your material as being relevant to the term you've chosen to optimize for.
Marketers may make two major content mistakes:
They aren't concentrating on creating material for the appropriate audience.
Producing material that isn't based on knowledge, isn't authoritative, or isn't reliable.
As a result, it's critical to generate Google-friendly content.
** Fixes that could work:
As part of your SEO plan and roadmap, make sure your content and SEO techniques are in sync.
Make sure your content responds to what consumers are looking for.
Create a variety of content formats for various purposes and SERP layouts — video, images, and text.
Follow Google's search quality and E-A-T best practices.

SEO and SEM: The Fundamentals of Digital Marketing
SEO and SEM: The Fundamentals of Digital Marketing

7- Missing Alternative Texts and Broken Images

Alternative tags, often known as alt tags, are HTML characteristics that assist convey the content of pictures. Alt tags must be addressed when it comes to on-page SEO issues. There are times when the picture component on your website fails to render properly owing to an erroneous filename, file location, or extension. In certain circumstances, the image's alt tag will convey the image's content and role on the page. It also helps crawlers grasp the material on the page, reinforcing the intended term. Broken pictures and missing alt tags are also typical blunders.
** Fixes that could work:
The use of alt tags is quite straightforward. Find the image component in your HTML code and add an alt tag to it. Here's an example of an image source like this:
img src=”image.jpg”>img src=”image.jpg”>img src=”image. title=”image tooltip” alt=”image description”>
If you have a WordPress blog, you can easily add them to your photographs.
Let's take a look at yet another typical SEO content mistake: having obsolete or irrelevant material on the website.

How to Calculate SEO Performance 1 3
Top 18 SEO Mistakes you should avoid

8- Your Website Isn't Mobile-Friendly

Many people increasingly rely on mobile devices rather than PCs since they live in a mobile-first environment.
Because mobile-friendly websites account for more than half of Google's search results, there are various advantages to having one.
At the same time, if your page isn't mobile-friendly, you'll likely lose visitors.
If you haven't used this function, your site is losing out on some of the most advanced design options.
** Fixes that could work:
You can rank better on SERPs if your site is mobile-friendly. The most sophisticated sort of design is a mobile-optimized website. The site will reformat itself fully for different devices because it is mobile oriented. When you optimize your website for mobile, it improves the performance and structure of your site.
You may use the Mobile-Friendly Test tool to see whether or not your page is mobile-friendly.
Choose a reputable web host, improve your site's loading time, activate Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), and adapt your pop-ups for mobile devices if your site isn't mobile-friendly.

SEO Trends 1 1
Top 18 SEO Mistakes you should avoid

9- Not having an SEO strategy and road map

It's pointless to know everything there is to know about your audience and then take little or no action to capitalize on that knowledge.
From huge corporations to small and medium-sized firms, many organizations struggle to develop or implement strategy.
Only 36% of small firms had an SEO plan last year.
It's vital to develop an SEO strategy and plan if you want to be successful.
Many strategies fail, however, since they rely on several stakeholders — the website, PR, content, product, IT, and engineering – to create a sustainable and efficient approach.
There's also the matter of getting leadership buy-in and ensuring that employees understand the value of SEO and are taught on SEO best practices.
You should create a roadmap – a plan for your success – right now if you don't already have one.
Examine where your site and results are today vs where you want them to go in the future.
Goals should be set and workflows should be agreed upon.
** Fixes that could work:
As part of your strategy, you should:
Assess and comprehend your competitors in terms of rankings, keywords, content, and performance.
Break activities down into tasks and come to an agreement on goals and key stakeholders.
Agree on who will be in charge of content, site upgrades, digital alignment, and SEO outreach.
Look for technology that will aid your workflow and strategy, such as tools and platforms.

SEO KPIs
SEO KPIs

10- Why Isn't My Contact Form Converting?

Only 49% of the 1.5 million visitors who see a form complete it, according to Formisimo. Furthermore, just 16% of those that watch it finish it. There are a number of reasons why contact forms fail to convert, including:
There are much too many form fields.
Submit button is unclear or not working.
In the dropdowns, there are either too few or too many possibilities.
** Fixes that could work:
Make your contact form fascinating and straightforward to fill out to get the most out of it. Provide fewer form fields to assist enhance conversions as a cure for this SEO problem.
Maintain a basic contact form with little more than five needed fields.
Concentrate on the form's alignment.
Use a snappy, one-of-a-kind CTA.
A/B test design elements such as color, location, size, and necessary fields on your form.
With the Google autocomplete plugin, you may enable auto-fill for your form.
Make sure your form is mobile-friendly.
Use CAPTCHA sparingly.

How to develop more SEO friendly site content
Top 18 SEO Mistakes you should avoid

11- Skipping Title Tags and Meta Descriptions and Forgetting to Provide Schema Context

Once you've included a target term in your post, you're not done optimizing it.
The importance of title tags and meta descriptions in SEO should not be overlooked.
If you ignore them, you're ignoring a great opportunity for your material.
When search engines scan your website, these optimizing variables are taken into account, and if done correctly, they can boost the performance of your content.
Some marketers also overlook the usage of schema to mark up their content and inform search engines about the purpose of their website.
* The title is not unique.
The title tag contains text that will appear in the SERP and in the browser's top bar as the title. If each page of your site has the same title, you'll never be able to climb the Google rankings. Remember that the title should tell something about the page's content and, of course, include your website's keyword strategy.
The following is the best structure for composing the meta title: Primary Keyword | Secondary Keyword | Brand Name
The ideal meta title length is 50-60 characters, or depending on the width of the letters (Google displays titles that are around 600 pixels).
Meta titles are shown in the web browser and on social media in addition to the SERPs.
* Too long title
Each search engine has a restriction on how long a title may be before it gets shortened. Why would you overlook vital information that may persuade the user to click on the link?
Many SEO experts suggest staying under 70 characters, however search engines look at pixels rather than characters to determine where to cut. So it's best to stay under the 65-character limit, rather than cutting your title at the climax.
If you have the Yoast SEO plugin installed on your WordPress site, you may get a preview of the meta tag in the SERP.
* The meta description isn't unique.
The meta description is not only a crucial aspect in SEO ranking, but it is also a great tool for increasing CTR.
A compelling and informative description may be the deciding factor in whether or not a person would click on a website. Then, in a clear and direct manner, write an appealing meta description and begin with the term vital.
* Too long meta description
The description's length is just as crucial as the title's length. To avoid running into the cleaver Google, try to stay inside the 50-160 character range.
A meta description should be between 50 and 160 characters long.
Although meta descriptions have no direct impact on SEO, they do have an impact on CTR and, as a result, ranks.
In other words, meta descriptions may have an indirect influence on SEO.
Some of the issues that might emerge with meta descriptions are as follows:
Meta description tags that are duplicated
Long meta descriptions result in the omission of desired keywords.
In your meta description, use alphanumeric values.
* No H1 tags.
A decent page hierarchy is important for both information organization and SEO positioning. The H1 element is the page's header; it informs the search engine about the page's topic. As a result, we must be succinct while while being thorough. It appears to be simple, but it is not.
* There is no hierarchy with the tags h2-h6.
What are your feelings on titles, subtitles, paragraph titles, and the like? They are important for readability because they break up the monotony of the text, but they are also important for search engines since they allow them to assess the significance of the content. Then, in numerous titles, input the keyword strategy and their own synonyms, formatting them with tags ranging from H2 to H6.
An SEO specialist's job also include prioritizing information.
** Fixes that could work:
Create distinct title tags for each page that are succinct yet descriptive — not ambiguous.
Make sure your keyword is relevant to the goal, and be careful where you position it.
Long title tags should be avoided, and each page's title tag should be unique.
Follow Google's guidelines for writing effective titles and snippets.
Include unambiguous call-to-actions in your meta description. To avoid keyword loss due to truncation by Google, use your desired keywords and ensure that the meta description and title tags are well inside the recommended length.
Don't over-optimize your SEO keywords in title tags. To divide your terms in the title tag, use pipes (or vertical bars). Make sure your titles are easy for people to understand and aren't just a collection of keywords that don't make sense.
Even if you do not include the meta description element, social sharing services may record the first text seen on your page, which may not provide a satisfactory user experience. Also, ensure that your meta descriptions and title tags are distinct for each of your pages.

Backlinks 2
Top 18 SEO Mistakes you should avoid

12- Broken Links 

One of the SEO specialist's responsibilities is to search the site for broken links. “Error page not found” is not just a source of aggravation for the user, but it is also a major oversight. SEO
When a 404 spider examines the site, it becomes idle. Too many problems like those persuade Google that your site does not provide a pleasant surfing experience.
Clearly, voluntary blind linkages do not suit. However, because everything changes, and the web is no exception, it is not uncommon for the page to which the pointing link points to to be relocated or destroyed. In this case, you must point the new link to the proper page and make a good 301 redirect from the no longer-existing page to the correct page. That concludes our discussion.
To get the most out of SEO, today's content marketers must understand that the quality of external links in content is more significant than the number.
That's why you should only connect to relevant, high-ranking websites with a good reputation, not just any website.
It's also beneficial to link back to sites that have linked to you, since this generates future traffic.
When it comes to links, another bad habit is employing ineffective anchor text.
This loses valuable SEO chances, as anchor text informs readers and search engines about the link and how it may benefit users.
As a result, avoid using “click here” as an anchor text and make sure to use a diversity of anchor texts, as utilizing the same word again might be perceived as spammy.
** Fixes that could work:
You can detect which pages on your site are giving 404 errors using Google Search Console's crawl metrics tool.
You may even use Ahrefs to look for broken links. Using Ahrefs, you may discover broken links by following the steps below:
Add a “404 not found” to yourdomain.com's Pages -> Best by Links -> Site Explorer -> yourdomain.com -> Pages -> Best by Links -> add a “404 not found” to yourdomain.com's Pages -> Filtering of HTTP responses
Broken web pages must be fixed as soon as possible in order to boost your SEO. To fix broken links, do the following:
Replace or rebuild the content on the page as needed.
Use 301 redirects to link your visitors to a related piece of information on your website.
Contact the website for a fast correction on external connections. You may simply delete the domain or replace it with a new source if it is no longer functioning.
Don't purchase links; instead, develop a link-building campaign based on quality and best practices.
Keep an eye out for broken links and make sure they're fixed.
Create material that follows the E-A-T formula — high-quality content will organically attract links.
Monitor and create with the support of technology and tools.
Internal links are used to group topically similar webpages.
Internal links should be checked for concerns such as broken links, sluggish pages, and important vs. non-important pages.
The amount of internal connections you employ should be balanced.
Any links from unrelated pages should be avoided.

How to Calculate SEO Performance 1
Top 18 SEO Mistakes you should avoid

13- Low Text to HTML Ratio

This is another another SEO blunder that will go unnoticed because it is more technical in nature. Although the material on your website seems textual, it is actually HTML code (such as headers, links, JavaScript, graphics, and so on) that underpins it. Text to HTML compares the percentage of text content to HTML code discovered by the search engine on the same page.
A decent text-to-HTML ratio, according to woorank, is between 25 and 70%. A low text to HTML ratio suggests serious issues with your website's on-page technical SEO, especially because Google employs this measure to determine the relevance of a web page.
Low ratios might imply one of the following:
Excessive coding causes websites to load slowly.
For search bots, hidden text is a red indicator.
Use of Flash, inline style, and JavaScript in excess
** Fixes that could work:
A low text to HTML ratio is a key indicator for improving page load speeds, since an HTML-heavy webpage can slow down download times and degrade user experience. Add pertinent on-page content when applicable, relocate inline scripts to other files, and delete extraneous code to address this SEO error. Make careful to utilize basic language on your webpage to keep the size as little as feasible.
One of the most common SEO mistakes is failing to check whether your pages are being indexed by Google.

Top 18 SEO Mistakes you should avoid
Top 18 SEO Mistakes you should avoid

14- Pages Not Indexed 

Indexing is the process of adding your webpages to the Google searchable index. What isn't crawled by Google's bots can't be ranked. The following are some valid reasons why your pages are not indexed:
Error 404
When your pages include meta tags like this: META NAME=” ROBOTS” CONTENT=” NOINDEX, NOFOLLOW”> will not be included in the index
Your sitemap hasn't been updated in a while.
Content that is duplicated
Low authority or popularity
Yes, search engine crawlers are so eager for material that Scan will scan your site even if you have an XML sitemap at the site's root. But why not make their job easier by ensuring that the crawler sees every page of the site? There are several internet applications that can generate an XML sitemap like this in a matter of minutes.
** Fixes that could work:
Google Search Console is the finest tool for resolving indexing difficulties with Google. When you submit a URL inspection, you will be able to discover if the URL of the webpage is indexed or not.
You can replicate how search engine bots explore your website with the Deepcrawl tool, a sophisticated website crawler. You may go into the details without hurting website performance and obtain a detailed report on each URL.
In robots.txt, pages are allowed. Wait a bit for Google bots to re-crawl your sites after you've finished this.
With the user-agent configured to “Googlebot,” “Bingbot,” “Slurp,” “DuckDuckBot,” “Baiduspider,” and “YandexBot,” use the Screaming Frog tool to crawl your website. Check the “Indexability” column to see whether any pages that are now not indexed may be indexed.
Make sure your XML sitemaps aren't crowded with several misdirected or broken pages by optimizing them.

expired domains
expired domains

15- Long URLs 

A URL, or universal resource locator, is a web address that indicates where a web page on the internet may be found. To prevent truncation by Google and to appear correctly in all browsers, URLs should preferably be fewer than 2083 characters—or 512 pixels—in terms of character restrictions.
URLs may help SEO by improving user experience and increasing search visibility.
Here are a few significant reasons that make your URLs less legible and, as a result, cause your readers to lose interest in clicking on your link:
Using an excessive number of connections or stoppers
Including special characters such as a space, a percentage, or a number
Using HTTP rather than HTTPS in your URLs Including more than two directories in your URLs
** Fixes that could work:
A well-crafted URL, as Moz points out, benefits both readers and search engines.
Your links will be more clickable on social networks if they have readable URLs.
Shorter URLs tend to rank higher than larger ones, resulting in more direct traffic.
The secure version of HTTP is HTTPS (HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure). This implies that information on a website is encrypted, considerably increasing security.
Keywords must be included in URLs.
Hyphens, not spaces, must be used to separate terms in the URL.
Lowercase letters are required in the URL.

How to Calculate SEO Performance
Top 18 SEO Mistakes you should avoid

16- Not knowing how SEO works across different digital channels

SEO includes both a social and a digital component.
Because SEO has now become a fundamental aspect of digital marketing, it's critical not to neglect how it interacts with other channels in order to maximize its potential.
You won't be able to measure the entire impact of your SEO if you don't integrate it with other marketing channels.
Internally and internationally, you and your firm will fight to achieve SEO success.
SEO necessitates the assistance of various important marketing channels while also having a favorable impact on all of them.
Building a symbiotic connection and agreeing on goals and performance metrics across channels — social, email, paid, and PR – are all part of modern-day SEO.
** Fixes that could work:
Ensure that your SEO tactics take into consideration all digital channels' inputs and outputs.
Promote SEO success throughout your business and demonstrate how it benefits other channels.
Maintain continual communication with digital equivalents — both inside and externally.
Ensure that your whole digital staff is on board with your SEO strategy and roadmap.

search engine
Top 18 SEO Mistakes you should avoid

17- Social sharing button

Your website is divided into sections: the aesthetics are appealing, the contents are engaging, the surfing experience is gratifying, everything is simple and straightforward, and no time is wasted. And what are you going to do? Forget to provide your users the option to share this finding with the rest of the world on a silver platter? Enter the social media sharing buttons now.

Top 18 SEO Mistakes you should avoid
Top 18 SEO Mistakes you should avoid

18- Using the Wrong Tools and Technology and Not Using Analytics

Tracking your SEO and content initiatives is the only way to know whether they're working.
Many marketers would ignore the data, but this would be a huge mistake.
It's critical to set up and check your analytics on a frequent basis if you want to improve your optimization outcomes.
You may use Google's tools, such as Google Analytics and Google Search Console, to track and analyze the performance of your website.
You may observe how your optimization works for different types of content and how various tactics you're experimenting with with their support.
Furthermore, the SEO technology field has grown significantly over time.
There are now various tools and platforms available to assist you in avoiding all of the blunders detailed in this article.
** Fixes that could work:
Solutions include:
Do some keyword research.
Management and process for SEO.
Management, reporting, and measurement should all be linked.
Analysis of the competition.
Automation.
And there's more.
Look for a technology or platform that prioritizes your and your company's needs.
Tools may frequently assist with certain aspects of your SEO strategy – on chores and are quite inexpensive.
Platforms are more expensive and may handle a wide range of demands – largely enterprise.
Tools and tools will assist you in increasing your efficiency and executing your SEO plan.