Although there are many things that companies should be doing when it comes to SEO, there are also many things they need to avoid. The trouble is, it is a constantly changing field, so what would have been a great technique a few years ago, may not be so good today. The reason for this is Google is constantly updating, and with each update comes changes in SEO practices. There are also people out there that profit from businesses mistakes, so you have to be careful about where you are getting your information from when it comes to SEO.
One of the main things that people get confused about is the use of keywords. How often are you meant to use them, what is the ideal keyword density, how do you know what keywords to use and what do they actually do? These are all the questions that may run through a website owners mind when they are trying to create unique content for their site. It can be very annoying for the site user when they are trying to read the content and find unnatural keywords placed in every other sentence. Not only does it sound forced and unnatural, but it gives a bad user experience and may turn people off visiting the site again. Google does not like sites that give a bad user experience, so this will automatically lower the sites rankings. Google can usually tell if a site has used keyword stuffing and one of Google’s new algorithms look for natural text flow.
What to include on a web page can also be confusing, such as how much to write per page, how to get the right content, what to include and more. In the past, it was possible to hire cheap copy writers to write tonnes of content for you that is hardly legible and only just relating to the site itself. Those days are over, in today’s society the usefulness and quality of the article are deeply taken into consideration regarding ranking. Again, this may be a bit more costly and time-consuming, it will definitely be worth the effort in the long run.
Forgetting to label images is a big error when it comes to SEO. An image file name is a perfect place to add an extra keyword to the site, plus it will also allow Google to work out what the image is about and relate it to search queries accordingly. Sites are often accessed through the image on an image search, so it is important to remember this as a reputable source of traffic. Adding a title to an image will only take a few minutes, so there is no point in missing out on an opportunity for potentially more site visitors. Site owners should also remember to check images regularly to make sure that there are no broken images. If these are found, they should be deleted or replaced immediately.
The hard truth is, when it comes to SEO, there are very little shortcuts for online businesses to take. There are best practices and tips that you can follow, but realistically, it is going to cost you a lot of time and money to get right. The money will not be wasted though because in the long run having a good SEO ranking will encourage more people to click on your site which will lead to more interest and sales. Without SEO, it is very likely that a website will fail, companies just need to ensure that they are on top of the ever-changing language of SEO.
Here is the Infographic – Basic SEO concepts explained in 16 questions:
Presented by SEOjury.co.uk