Top 3 SEO Mistakes that Can Lower Your Rankings

March 9, 2010 - Search engine optimization (SEO), especially SEO content, is a great way to improve the quality and value of your website by combining the information your target audience is looking for with the keywords and Meta tags the search engines are looking for when ranking your website. There are however, some pretty big SEO mistakes that you may be using that can actually damage your website and lower your search engine rankings.

1. Duplicating - Whether you are duplicating entire pieces of  Web content, Page titles, or even article headings, creating several versions of the exact same thing on your website is frustrating for your readers and very frustrating for search engines who will assume you are keyword stuffing and actually penalize your site. Never duplicate a Page title on your website! Each page must have a very unique title which should specifically detail the type of information found on that Web page.  For example, if you post an article on your website about buying a home, don't include "Filing for bankruptcy" in your Page title. Stick to your subject and the keywords related to that subject only. Even if you have more than 1 article on your website on the same subject, the Page titles, article headings, and actual content should all be unique. Anything else can and will be used against you by search engines who will in turn lower the ranking of your site.

2. Overusing Keywords - Keyword density is an art. Too few keywords and the search engines won't notice, too many and they will penalize you for keyword stuffing. The most important part of your SEO content is your reader. Dropping keywords in every sentence throughout your text can make reading that article difficult, which makes it an unsuccessful article. Keywords should be chosen based on the subject of your article/blog and the type of business you run. They should also be used purposely and flow naturally within your text. To avoid keyword stuffing, you should also refrain from using the same keyword or keyword phrase over a 2-4% density ratio. That means if your content is 300 words, your keyword should appear about 6-8 times. If that phrase appears 27 times, the search engines will most likely flag your content as spam and your readers will most likely not read the article anyway due to the awkward wording style.

3. Too Many Pictures, Too Little Text - We love images, however when the image completely takes over the Web page and the actual text is hidden down below, your SEO efforts suffer. Your Web content needs to be edited for the Internet and appear at the top of the Web page, this not only helps the search engines scan your site, but heightens your user's experience of your content. Having long blocks of text shoved under a flash image is no way to get high search engine rankings or new readers.

The job of a search engine crawler is to determine your Web page's relevance for a human reader, so the main goal of your Web content should always be to satisfy a human reader. Creating valuable and well written Web content that incorporates SEO practices is much more effective than over thinking your content to satisfy search engines and leave your actual readers confused. After all, creating SEO content with only search engines in mind doesn't even increase your website's reputation with search engines! People are your customers, so your SEO content should always be written with your customer in mind...not a Google bot!

Having search engine optimized copy makes it easy for search engines to find your Web pages. If your website doesn't have the top search engine ranking on Google, We Do Web Content can help boost your web marketing goals. We Do Web Content takes pride in producing high-quality and affordable SEO web copy that is clean, consistent, and formatted for Internet marketing. We get excited when your website's search engine ranking climbs and YOU ARE FOUND. Get started today - 1-888-521-3880.