Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has become a crucial instrument for bloggers to attract a crowd to the web pages and websites they work for. It is a method of optimizing pages on the internet to make them more visible to the search engines by editing the content, adding more content or by modifying the HTML or any other associated coding language. This technique helps in organically increasing the traffic on the page. With the increase in popularity of this method of obtaining unpaid traffic on websites, many people have begun following the system outlaid by it. Here are, however, a few common mistakes rookies to SEO make because either they don’t fully understand the best practices or are unaware of them. But before you move ahead and a take a look the big mistakes, if you happen to be from New York, you can check the best SEO service in New York City.
Absence Of An Organized Link Structure
It is crucial for writers to ensure that the pages are properly linked and orderly structure. It is always wise to create an architectural layout of the website’s content and resubmit the XML file with updates and corrections to the server. Another important aspect is to ensure wise use of the index keyword and the robots.txt file of the website. Faulty practices may leave redundancies in the structure of the website and make it inaccessible to search engines for indexing.
Erratic Choice Of Keywords
This is one of the most basic mistakes made by rookies. It is important to select the correct keyword which is optimized for the search engine to locate. A good way to prevent this is by using a keyword research tool. A widespread belief is that using a keyword research tool is cheating, however, this is far from the truth. Optimizing the correct keyword makes it easier for the browser to understand the content.
Flash Compatibility And Missing Alternatives
This hinders one of the most important and attractive portions of a website- the graphics. Web pages using the only flash cannot be read by browsers, even though they are very attractive. This can be tackled by creating an HTML alternative for the flash based content on the website so that the search engine can read it and make it easily available for users.
Graphic Headings And Lack Of Textual Sections
Search engines cannot identify the content on images, and hence the same content cannot be indexed on their directories. The use of image files for headings, though increases the scope of creative headings and banners beyond that provided by the markup languages, makes it impossible for the keywords mentioned in the very title of the web pages to be read by the search engine.
Unfriendly Titles And Unattractive Content
On one hand, a writer cannot use graphics for the keywords which need to be present in textual forms for indexing of the web page, while on the other it is extremely important to produce attractive content which encourages increasing traffic on the page. Creating a traffic attracting title can be achieved by keeping short and simple titles which can be read entirely on the results of the search engines and are unique for each page.
Lack of social media presence
This is very important for a website to fare well on the internet. A strong presence of a website on social media platforms ensures that traffic can also be directed to the website through the platforms themselves, rather than through algorithmic indexing of pages through search engines. Paid advertisements on social media are also a way to boost the social media presence of a website.
Improper Use Of Google Search Console Or Other Equivalent Tools
These tools provide extensive information about the kind of traffic a website draws and thus helps creators identify the changes needed in their current system in order to generate better results. They provide conclusive proof of the mistakes being made by the writers, thus making room for improvement.
Improper Of The <H1> Tag In The Code Of The Page
The <H1> tag helps the search engine bots identify keywords by making them more visible. Many writers use multiple <H1> tags in a single page, which confuses the search engine bots. The excessive tags can be removed by reprogramming the page and reformatting the content so that it can utilize other lower level tags.
Slow Server
The speed of the server on which the website is based also influences the ranking of the indexed pages of the search results. A slow server means lower rank on the results and hence lower traffic. Slow speed also harms the user experience of the website. Websites should be migrated to servers with faster speeds to prevent lower ranking and bad user experience.
Unhealthy Internal Linking
Internal linking helps search engines discover more pages of a website, and increases the importance of the parent page in the index ranking of the engine. It also enables neat and wide-spread distribution of information on multiple pages, thereby making the website more organized. Unhealthy or dysfunctional internal links can cause internet errors on the page. Best internal practices include using more than five internal links per page, using descriptive anchor text for the link, avoiding tag clouds or clusters, and so on.
Most of these mistakes can be avoided easily. Avoiding them would ensure that a web page has the best possible ranking on a search index. A well-optimized website would have no difficulty in faring well n terms of organically generated traffic.