5 SEO Mistakes to Avoid in 2019  

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Almost all of us believe that we are search engine optimization specialists. This is because we have been following the trends and concepts for years now. And, with experience, we have also mastered some of these.

But, we must remember that we cannot go overboard with anything in marketing! Whatever concepts, techniques, and tactics that we are using will stop being effective at some point in time. And, some of these might even prove to be detrimental after a certain stage.

So, it’s time that we must stop using these to prevent shattering our prospects to SEO. Or refine them with better SEO practices.

But to prevent them we must know our mistakes. I have listed some here.

 

  1. Outdated Content

Outdated content doesn’t necessarily have to be 5 years old. It could also mean content which was written recently but is not useful anymore.

What does outdated content do to your website? It does have keywords and it would bring traffic. So, where’s the problem?

Outdated content never has the right and relevant keywords. And, what has been conveyed through this content would not even be applicable to the changing times.

Outdated content might even be successful in bringing traffic to your website. But, it will increase the bounce rate and reduce the session time. When the user sees that the content is not useful, he will not continue reading it. And, higher bounce rates with lower session times will penalize your website.

  1. Copied Content

We are all aware that Google hates copied content. But, you can still see so much content spinning on the internet. Copied content is the worst that you could do to your website; and to your SEO.

Writing informative and original content is the only option. Else, your content marketing efforts can backfire.

Whether you are getting your content written in-house or sourcing it from an external agency, always make sure that the plagiarism check is done before you put this content on your website.

 

  1. Bad Links

All of us have links as a part of our website content. We link to statistics, research data, relevant articles, and interesting images.

Like outdated content, the links which do not open to any pages penalize your attempts to SEO. These links lead to a “404” error message. This leads the user nowhere and is a disaster for SEO.

It is important to regularly check your site for broken links and replace them with relevant ones. There are tools available for identifying the broken links and so this is usually not very difficult.

Poor quality links are another bad factor for SEO of your website. These could be referring to spam or irrelevant sites. Google can detect all such attempts of junk link building. And, this pushes your content lower in the search results.

So, do you want to risk your SEO with dangerous link building? Then stop it as early as you can!

 

  1. Emphasis on Title Tag

Whether or not title tags are important is sure to raise a big debate here! No, title tags do not contribute to SEO. And, whether you believe it or not, this is the fact.

So, what must you do? Instead of focusing too much on the title tag, it is better to concentrate on the content itself. Write naturally and include proper keyword optimization.

And, it is always good to have a mix of keywords, and not just one. The plurality of keywords always helps. This avoids unnecessary keyword repetition and makes sure that the variety takes care of the different keyword combination searches for your content. Long form keywords are advisable as voice search is trending now.

The key is to design content specifically integrating the keywords. And, the integration has to be natural and effective. This comes automatically when you are writing informative and useful content. So, this is rather a norm and may not be construed as a tactic.

  1. Visuals Without Optimization

All of us love visual content. This is why images and videos drive more traffic and engagement from the viewers. Whether it is website content or social media, visuals are popular everywhere. This is the reason we have platforms centered on visuals now. And, these platforms invite maximum user engagement.

But, when it comes to SEO, we must know how Google recognizes these images. Some people, despite using high-quality visuals, are not able to achieve the desired levels of engagement. This is because their visuals are not found in Google search.

The solution lies in properly optimizing the visuals. Visuals alone aren’t effective if they are not optimized efficiently.

For best results, you must optimize the title, description, and tags. Make the text relevant to the context so that the search engine can interpret what you are trying to be searched for.

And, some platforms, like YouTube, even allow you to upload a transcript of your video. It will automatically create a transcript for your video. But, to ensure the accuracy of the script, it is better to make a more accurate one yourself and upload it.

 

Conclusion

Digital marketers know the importance of SEO. And, to grow our business, we want to make sure that we don’t go wrong with these.

Most of us are also doing our best to achieve the SEO of our content. But, not all of us are getting it right as we are not doing it right!

So, why not get rid of the age-old practices of search engine optimization? It is important to replace these with the ones that work. So, instead of working more, we’d better work smart.

All of us would have made mistakes in the past and gained some valuable learning from these. Do share, if you have made some SEO mistakes. And, the ways to correct these, obviously!

 

Author Bio

Jin Markov is a Content Writer with GoodFirms.co, a research firm in the USA. He has an experience of 6 years and has been writing on areas related to SEO and digital marketing.