Using practical search engine optimization tools and tactics improves your ranking on search results pages. Effective SEO involves many components, and it can be overwhelming to choose which methods to try. Assessing the risks helps you identify which options to avoid when getting traffic to your site.
Learn how search engine algorithms work to create strategies that improve your rank. Some techniques are not worth the effort and may even set your marketing back instead of moving it forward.
Deleting Pages
Search engines rank all your pages and URLs for keywords. Those keywords are no longer there when you delete a page, potentially damaging your site’s rank. If you need to remove outdated information or discontinue a product, keep the page active with a redirect message to a new, relevant page instead.
Prioritizing Visuals or Plugins Over Speed
Search engines rank fast web pages higher on results pages. You may want an exciting video or large image file on your site, but if your pages are slow to load, users will leave, and your ranking will fall. Do not add too many software plugins, as it can diminish user experience and cause your site to run slowly or crash.
Making Too Many Changes
While having new content on your site is a good idea, you can take it too far by constantly adjusting the information or look of your pages. Google can penalize you for this activity, resulting in a loss of website credibility.
Using Exact Keywords in Anchor Text
Anchor text refers to the words that link to your site’s content. While it may seem like a good idea to place links only on the targeted keywords, Google considers a high rate of this practice “over-optimizing.” Write your content naturally instead of trying to add as many keywords as possible. Also, ensure your links are relevant and come from reliable sites. Numerous backlinks do not help you if the information is not valuable or the source is undesirable.
Adding Duplicate Content
Publishing content that is too similar to other pages online hurts your ranking. When multiple web pages say the same thing, search engines have trouble determining which one is most relevant to the user. This confusion prevents any of the pages from earning a high ranking.
Creating an effective SEO strategy is essential for the growth of your business. However, you must also avoid making mistakes that can hurt your optimization efforts.