Top 7 Most Common Mistakes with Do-It-Yourself SEO

Top 7 Most Common Mistakes with Do-It-Yourself SEO

Most people today seem to understand that they need to optimize their website for search engines. However, with the vast amount of conflicting information on the internet today, many people are still getting it wrong. In recent investigations, it has been found that one out of three websites has at least one of the following seven issues on their website.

Check your website for the following seven mistakes:

1.  Description Tag – The description tag is supposed to describe the page on your website. It should not be used to stuff keywords for search engines. This tag should be about 25 words long and it should include your keywords as part of the normal sentence structure. You also shouldn’t overdo it; a whole paragraph is not going to improve your results.

2.  Keyword Tag – The keyword tag is meant to hold the keywords you want your site listed for. The tags should represent the things visitors can find on that particular page. Do not use things from other pages on your site or keywords that you think people might search for if they are not part of your site. The keyword tag should only contain twenty words or less; do not go over. You also shouldn’t repeat the keywords more than three times. For example, if you sell shoes, you shouldn’t put red shoes, blue shoes, black shoes, tennis shoes, and basketball shoes. You should only use the word shoes three times and each of the descriptions three times.

3.  Anchor Text – Many people think that they should use the name of the link they are providing on their webpage. This could not be further than the truth. Search engines want to see your keywords used as anchor text whenever possible.

4.  Title Tag – This is one of the most important aspects of your website. It is the very first thing a search engine will see when it comes to your page and this is what the engine will look at to decide what your page is about. Don’t include your url in your title tag and your company name should not be in the beginning of the description either. Don’t go over 60 words.

5.  Keywords In Your Text – Your keywords should be included within the text of your page. They should flow as a part of the normal sentence structure, and should not be stuffed into sentences that don’t make sense. The keywords used on your page should be the same ones you used in your title and description.

6.  Abstract Tag – many people are now using abstract tags within their sites. Some are replacing the description tag with an abstract and stuffing it full of unnecessary keywords. This should never be done. Most experts agree that an abstract tag is just that abstract. Leave it out.

7.  Image Tags – While Google and other search engines rarely look at image tags, they do hold value. Many sites like Google Images or Flicker spend their time searching sites for pictures. When they find a picture, they don’t want to see “jpg123,” they want to see “shoes worn at the Grammy’s”.

If you are one of these people, don’t get discouraged.  You might consider hiring a professional SEO expert to give you some advice. The rules of SEO change on a regular basis; you just have to stay ahead of the curve.