When it comes to SEO, there are some common mistakes that webmasters make which could be detrimental to actually getting a website to secure a good place in rankings on Google as well as other search engines. However, it should be known that these common mistakes are things that could be easily avoided by just following some simple pieces of advice. Here are the most common errors and ways that you can avoid them:

Focusing too Much on Length of Content

While you may have read that Google prefers content that is longer, this really depends on the context and doesn’t automatically mean that longer articles, blog posts, etc. will give you a magic ticket to a number one spot on Google for your chosen keywords. Remember that the reason why you’re writing the content in the first place is for the readers on your website and not for search engines. If you have a topic that you could comfortably write an 800 word article on, then you can do that. However, there are cases where a shorter post could be just as good. For example, if you’re writing about a specific model of decorative mailbox, it’s going to be pointless to try to force a 1000 word article on it, as there’s just a limited amount of things that you can say about a mailbox without going off topic or repeating the same things over and over with different words. Remember, if somebody came to your site, it’s because they’re interested in knowing more about this mailbox, what it’s made of, how does it look, etc. They’re probably not interested in reading a 2000 word essay about the history of the international postal system.

Using Keyword Stuffing

Keywords in articles should appear naturally. If you write an article that is about a specific topic, then there shouldn’t be any problem getting a keyword density of 1 to 3% in the article. Forcing in a large amount of keywords will not be helpful with regards to SEO. This is for 2 reasons: it makes the text harder to read and makes it look not natural. Also, search engines penalize pages that were clearly designed with nothing but SEO in mind, such as those which contain keywords that are deliberately overused.

Adding New Content to Your Website or Blog Every Single Day

If your site deals with certain topics that change daily, such as news, this could be necessary and very useful. But otherwise, there’s no need to keep posting new things every single day. This is especially if the new content doesn’t actually bring anything useful or informative to your readers but is just a repeat of what you’ve said the days before. Regular site visitors who see this will find your site boring rather quickly and stop visiting it. It also puts you at risk of getting penalized as your site will start having more and more duplicate content posted on it within a short amount of time. Updating your site is good, but don’t do it just for the sake of updating either.

One of the most overlooked aspects of working online is hiring a contractor.

Let’s face it, not everyone can do everything online, and if they think they can they are joking themselves or they are taking way to much time to get work done because they are having to learn/struggle with every single aspect of web design, article writing, SEO, or some other area that is outside their expertise and they are spending way to much time on tasks that they are having to learn as they go or just take them a long time because of inexperience.

My niche is article writing. I was never found of writing in school, but I learned very quickly online that I was meant for it. I can write decently fast, not 90 words per minute, but I am able to get my ideas down on the “paper” as fast as I can think of them. I learned that when writing about subjects I enjoy I can write almost all day about them, hence why I write only on my niches I like to work on.

It could be different for you, maybe you love SEO, and playing the search engine game. That’s fine, it’s great even. Or maybe you are an awesome designer and just love creating useful art for websites, etc.

Whatever you do almost can be utilized online, however trying to learn everything else can be a mistake.

If you are a great web designer, why not hire a great copywriter to help you sell your services to potential clients instead of struggling to create website content to showcase your work?

If you are an SEO expert throw up a WordPress blog and hire a designer to create you a temple to showcase your SEO skills.

For me, as an article writer I am a bit SEO (but not all the way) with my keyword density, but I could hire both an SEO expert to get my on page SEO down and a designer to create my website for which I write.

Instead of trying to do things halfway, it is a lot easier and will save you a lot of time by simply hiring an outsourcer to do the work for you. Don’t be afraid to spend a little bit of money, because if the contractor is worth their weight, they will provide you with returns long after the work is completed.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a group of techniques to make any sort of content on your website appear higher on search engines such as Google or Bing, meaning more towards the first page of search results.  There are many different ways to achieve higher search engine rankings.  First off, the text of your webpage as well as your title will both bring your page into the search engine database.  Using a keyword or phrase multiple times on that webpage will easily boost the ranking of said page.  Usually, about an overall 4-6% keyword phrase density is recommended in the text of the page to receive maximum results of this technique.

Linking is another very popular SEO technique that is easy, yet effective.  All three types of links (inbound, outbound, and internal) can help boost your page rankings.  Links from sites that also specialize in the same keywords, as well as links from .gov and .edu websites are especially beneficial as far as links of the inbound type are concerned.  Your internal links’ anchor text can also make a huge difference.  Instead of using the word “here” as many webmasters tend to do, try using your keyword instead, as it can really make a difference, especially down the road.

While many argue that meta tags are one of the most important factors in SEO, they are still secondary to content.  Remember, content is king!  Sure, meta tags can help you out initially, but keeping your pages updated with fresh content and proper keyword density will help you out much more in the long run.  Unique content that is updated frequently, combined with the proper meta tags, will be able to outs higher ranking sites that never have their content updated, no matter how well the meta tags are done for the previously higher ranked website.

Finally, file names as well as URLs are also fairly important.  Using key words in both of these will also easily boost your SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).  This might seem like common sense, but think about how many broken links you encounter when browsing, or how many pages are simply named “1” or “2”, and think about how search engines index websites.  They go through every page and file, and record what it’s called.  If a page is called “2” it won’t be entered for the keyword that it is aimed at, same with broken links.  So, remember to name your pages and files appropriately, and to double check all of your links.