SiteLab’s Top Ten SEO No-No’s
August 15th, 2008No business with a web presence can afford to ignore the benefits of search engine optimization (SEO). Even at the most elementary level, the cost-to-benefit ratio of SEO rivals that of any other single marketing technique.
That said, with a few small mistakes, sites can see strong, long-established search rankings suddenly vanish very quickly. With the stakes this high, it becomes essential to consult an SEO professional before implementing any optimization techniques or any other major site modifications.
So, be sure to avoid the following common pitfalls of SEO before starting your campaign:
1. Using Black Hat SEO techniques or vendors – Tactics known as “black hat” are those that attempt extreme manipulation of known SEO techniques. Explicitly frowned upon in the industry, tactics include keyword stuffing, using link farms, and hidden text.
2. Designing a site in Flash - Flash design can engage users however, it can also hinder the ability of search engines to index the content found on that site. A site developed entirely of Flash web pages has no guarantee for search engines to “crawl” the site therefore eliminating the ability to appear in top search engine listings.
3. Not Researching Keyword Traffic – If you never research the keywords searchers are using, how do you know what keywords to put on your page? Often time’s companies ignore the language that searchers are using, instead focusing on marketing phrases or internal jargon used commonly in the company. The problem with this is that your customers don’t work for your company and they don’t use your marketing slogans.
4. Changing URLs/Domain without using 301 redirects – The domain of any site is like its address. What happens when someone changes their address, but doesn’t leave a forwarding address? The same thing that happens when a website changes its domain or URLs without leaving 301 re-directs. Establishing 301 re-directs whenever any URLs or domains change will give your site the best opportunity to maintain its SEO reputation.
5. Duplicate Content – Search engines work by exploring the Internet and copying everything to their own servers. Make sure content is not duplicated elsewhere or else that content runs the risk of being ignored by the search engines. Once ignored by the search engines, it will be especially difficult to regain their attention.
6. Repeating the same Title tag on multiple pages – Imagine browsing a library where the titles of all the books were identical! The title tag describes what’s on any individual page in your site. To give different pages the best chance to be found by different searchers, title tags must be uniquely crafted to suit the content on each individual page.
7. Ignoring Best Practices – There are a number of low effort SEO tactics that are generally just good habits of web design in general. An example of good practice: Put keywords in ALT tags, page file names, headlines, title tags and link anchor text. Never over stuff these elements with keywords, but it is acceptable and important to describe whenever possible.
8. Reciprocal Linking/Linking to Bad Neighborhoods – Earn PageRank by getting as many links from other sites as possible. However, there are sites with a reputation for using “black hat” tactics. Linking to one of these sites could potentially damage a site’s reputation since it indicates support for an illegitimate practice. Do not attempt to gain quick PageRank by linking to a site that promises quick gains with little effort.
9. Poor “Non-descriptive” Link Anchor Text – Anchor text or text link tells the search engines what the linked site is about. Using non-descriptive anchor text such as “Click here”, “More Information”, or “Find Out More” really misses an SEO opportunity to give make the search engines align a keyword with that linked page.
10. Server is often Inaccessible to Search Bots – If your site is often down or can’t be crawled by search bots, then there’s no reason for your site to rank highly. When a site goes down for more than 48 hours, search bots have a tendency to not come back and drop the site from rankings dramatically.
If this is Greek to you or you don’t have the internal resources or talent to develop and manage your SEO strategy, SiteLab can help. Our goal is to build your brand and drive qualified traffic to your online door step. Help is just a click away! Contact Us today at info@sitelab.com or call 858 456-4720.
