Avoiding SEO Mistakes – Class Notes

My class topic (HWCOC Class) for today covered SEO mistakes. I see them so often that I thought it would be a good idea to put them out in a way that people can use them and start to avoid issues.

1. Website and Navigation Errors –

• People are using a subdomain of a big corporation and that doesn’t work well ever.
• Pages with great content can’t be navigated to.
• Robots files are blocked and/or the site can’t be spidered right

2. Words

• Not using the right words on the page for the page to rank
• Not identifying the proper keyword for the page to rank

3. Link Building vs. Marketing

• Forcing link building and ending up with a bad link profile
• Not using good Marketing Techniques and Channels to build links
• Not posting good content
• Be more brand-minded and not just link minded
• Interact more in your community

4. Titles and Descriptions

• Don’t forget to put a title on every page
• Make titles compelling (sorta like a headline)
• Write strong descriptions so Google may pick it up and improve your click-through

5.  Use Webmaster Tools etal

• Learn about the tools that keep your site in good health
  • Webmaster Tools
  • Screaming Frog
• Stay up-to-date with Google Guidelines

6. Avoid Gimmicks

• Don’t spin content
• Don’t Steal Content
• Don’t Register 50 domains with keywords
• Don’t Create Microsites, (which was a gimmick)
• Don’t Cloak your page, or whats on your page
• Don’t go all-in on a trend (infinite scroll sites)

7. Keyword Stuffing and Anchor Text

• Don’t stuff keywords into your content
• Don’t over optimize a page adding anchor text on keywords everywhere
  • Do this where it makes sense or it helps the reader
  • There is no longer a formula like the old days

This is just the highlight reel of what to do and not to do. SEO mistakes are very common and some can be quite costly. Link Schemes, Bad content and bad execution on running the website can be lethal to having a good SEO presence.