Search engine optimisation is so important to any web enterprise these days that many people choose to use the services of a reputable search engine optimisation agency. Other people who’ve read some of the conflicting information available online try to go it alone, and attempt to tackle this major task without the help of SEO experts. While you may think you have the time to do this yourself, there are things that can easily go wrong. Here are some common mistakes when attempting DIY SEO.
Over Emphasis of Keywords in the Description Tag
As anyone involved or interested in search engine optimisation knows keywords form a vital part of ensuring good search engine rankings, which are crucial when it comes to promoting your business or service. What some people fail to understand is that they need to be seen in the wider context of off page optimisation coupled with high quality content. Forcing keywords into a description tag at the cost of fluency and meaning is one common mistake that’s made when people try to do SEO themselves.
Poorly Constructed Keyword Tags
In the rush to include keywords and generate higher search engine rankings many people forget the proper way to do things. A keyword tag is there to hold the keywords you want your site listed for. It should not feature the keyword more than three times and it should not attract visitors who’ve searched for something that isn’t on your site. It might be tempting to increase ranking by attracting unwitting visitors, but it makes for a poor quality site that won’t make many friends.
Misunderstanding the Issues Surrounding Anchor Text
Many people seem to think that anchor text (the highlighted text that links to another page on the web) should contain the actual name of the link provided. This is not true. It’s not necessary for it to contain all words from the link in order to maximise offpage SEO, but it should feature keywords with a view to improving search engine rank.
Cluttering a Site with Clumsy Inclusion of Keywords
Keywords are, of course, very important in terms of search engine optimisation, but some people attempting DIY SEO can get it badly wrong when it comes to their inclusion in text. They should always feature it as a part of the normal flow of a well-constructed sentence, and should never be included incongruously and at the expense of meaning and fluency. Overuse can simply make a text unreadable, and it will be obvious to a reader that they’re not getting what they want from a text. Overuse of keywords makes for a poor quality site and can even detract from search engine rankings as overuse is increasingly monitored on the web.
Using Abstract Tags
The census of opinion among search engine optimisation experts is that these aren’t as effective as more conventional description tags, and shouldn’t be considered as a viable alternative these days. Remember that abstract tags were abused in past years (particularly by adult-themed sites) in order to attract hits from unwitting members of the public. It used to be the case that a search for a simple cooking recipe, for example, could yield very unexpected results in an Internet search. While this may still be the case to a certain degree, bear in mind that modern search engines no longer take as much notice of abstract tags as they once did. There are other methods of offpage optimisation that you can consider instead.
Picture Tags
Many people undertaking ‘do it yourself’ search engine optimisation forget that search engines looking at picture files will not recognise, for example, jpg259 as anything other than a random picture. If this picture is called, instead, brown shoes from Gucci, then it’s useful in an image search and can bring useful hits to a site, thus increasing the ranking. So bear in mind that pictures need useful titles.
Many people decide that search engine optimisation is too important for anything to be left to chance, and use reputable – or ‘white hat’ – search engine optimization specialists. Many people discover that after deciding to consult a search engine optimisation company their Internet traffic increases dramatically, even if they’d previously thought it to be at a reasonable level. Whatever you decide, you should keep SEO in mind at all times and at all stages of the game. And remember that it’s not something to be done once and forgotten; it’s an ongoing process.