Search Engine Optimization (commonly referred to as SEO) is one of the most effective ways to market your business online by ensuring that your website ranks highly on search engines when specific keywords are typed in. In today’s competitive online market, SEO is completely necessary to visibility of your business. However, SEO is one of the most confusing and tedious things a business owner can try to do on their own. At Buer Interactive, our Houston web design and SEO team sees common mistakes in SEO every day. Making SEO mistakes can be extremely detrimental to your business, so we’ve compiled the below list of common SEO mistakes you want to avoid as a business owner. If you have any questions about the below content or wish to speak with one of our Houston web design and SEO professionals, get in touch with us using the contact information at the bottom of this article. Now, continue reading and learn!
SEO the process of optimizing your website and all the content you produce online to ensure that your domain ranks in good positions on search engines like Google, Bing, or Yahoo when potential customers enter specific keywords or phrases. SEO is highly important to you as a business owner and a very common practice, however the internet is filled with misinformation about SEO and best practices. There is what is known as ‘white hat’ and ‘black hat’ SEO, and the latter can actually get your website blacklisted by Google, which prevents your website from ranking at all. Here are the most common SEO mistakes that someone trying to rank their website can make, as put together by your Houston web developer team, Buer Interactive.
Not Choosing The Right Keywords Choosing keywords can be a painstaking process. You want your website to rank in keywords that get a lot of search traffic, but common keywords are very, very, very difficult to rank in. SEO is highly competitive, and everyone is competing for the front page of search engines. Focusing on one or two of these keywords while you get your bearings in SEO is a good idea, but it’s also a smart idea to focus on less specific or long-tailed keywords to start ranking your website. For example, if you operate a construction company in Austin, Texas, you would want a higher-volume keyword phrase like “Construction Company Austin Texas,” but so many other businesses are trying to rank in that keyword, so it will be harder to achieve if you are an SEO novice or don’t have time to perform your own SEO regularly. Trying to rank in “Austin construction company bathroom remodel” might be an easier way for you to go. (If you need help with your SEO, contact one of the SEO professionals or Houston web developers at Buer Interactive. SEO can be hard to accomplish and very easy to mess up.)
Keyword Stuffing Keyword stuffing is one of the most detrimental things you can do in your SEO efforts. While it may seem like a good idea to fill pages on your website with pertinent keywords over and over again, it is well known that Google penalizes you for this practice. If you aren’t sure how to properly saturate your keywords within the content of your website’s pages or blog post, Buer Interactive’s web development Houston team is happy to be of assistance. We answer SEO questions all the time and are happy to get you on the right track.
Expecting Instant Results SEO is not an instant gratification type of marketing. SEO is tedious, time-consuming, and constantly changing. It is important to realize you will not see results in SEO immediately. Track your progress over the course of a couple of months before deciding to throw in the towel. Remember that many, many people are competing for the top spots on search engines and most times have the work of professionals on their side. Persist in your efforts and you will see returns.
Not Having Enough Relevant Content On Your Website Your website is the base of your SEO strategy, so make sure that when web crawlers visit your site, they’re picking up pertinent keywords for your business! If you are a hairdresser and the front page of your website has only pictures without the word “hairdresser” seen anywhere on the page, you will have a harder time ranking, if you rank at all. Google and other search engines want to know that your website is relevant to the people searching for your keywords. Describe your business, products, and services in detail and incorporate your keywords where applicable – but remember not to keyword stuff!
Not Having a Site Map While your content is the base of your website and is a huge factor on where your website will rank on Google and other search engines. Having the correct type of content strategically laid out and correctly formatted has an enormous impact on how Google and other search engines view your website, but having a sitemap is one of the things that is simply overlooked in SEO. Having a sitemap helps web crawlers easily navigate your website which will help your overall placement on search engines. Make sure your sitemap is done correctly – you can contact your Houston web developer for assistance with this project.
In our digital age, SEO is of extremely high importance when it comes to marketing a business online. Without the right SEO (or doing too much of the wrong SEO) your website becomes invisible to people on the web. By creating a good SEO strategy, keywords turn into website clicks which turn into conversions for your business. If you would like to learn more about SEO or discuss your business goals with a company who can help you achieve them, contact Buer Interactive Houston Web Design below.
Buer Interactive – Houston Website Design, Web Development, and Search Engine Optimization
5850 San Felipe Street
Suite 500
Houston, TX 77057
(832) 699-3631