Common SEO Mistakes You Should Avoid in 2017 It is this time of the year when expected newer beginnings are planned and dreamed of. Every business is in a fast-action mode to get things done so that biding adieu to the passing year is a happy affair. Digital marketing, too, follows suit. Our team of technical experts and creative geeks decided to find out the probable trends that may bake the fresh business stories to sell like hot cakes. After a great session of brainstorming, we came up with the problem areas that badly affected businesses. The point that we all unanimously agreed on was a simple fifth-grade wisdom that even the biggest of the experts often miss. Like they say, looking forward doesn’t mean forgetting the things we left behind. Lessons from previous experiences should be carried forward so the same mistakes are avoided and resources, better optimized. Before we begin with the trends to be followed, we decided to ponder over the SEO in 2016. Here we are with the mistakes that businesses made in 2016 regarding SEO, the learning that comes with it and the steps to be taken now onwards so the strategies of 2017 are effectively executed. It is learning from history that makes us future-smart. So, let us look into the past and move towards the future to reach people, to connect with them, to be seen and well, all this sums up to efficiently handle the digital marketing business. In this article, we have discussed the reasons why businesses performed badly in SEO in the year that we are leaving behind. After an extensive research, we realized that there are some common concerns related to businesses that affect their SEO performances. Check them so they can be avoided, not repeated and gradually, omitted.
Content mistakes Content is the lifeline as well as the elixir of SEO. It can give SEO its identity and can ruin its reputation.
1. Missing technical content
Companies focused a lot on producing content in large quantities but failed to include technical content. For example, articles talking about including latest technological trends have missed covering topics like AMP, etc.
2. Not paying attention to creative content Some companies conquered the quantity and quality part but missed on giving their articles a creative edge. Readers are no automatons and without a creative edge, things may be technologically sound, but do not appeal everyone for a long time.
3. Plagiarism unhandled The Internet may be a treasure of information, but this information has to be handled well. Content is easiest to duplicate. It spreads faster than a rumour. Copying something, reframing it and presenting differently have become a new practice. Companies failed to keep a check on this. Also, they failed at creating content without plagiarism.
4. Lacking in updated content Going by the current trends has a major drawback – inability to create fresh and engaging content. Everyone follows the suit and misses out on experimenting with updating something that isn’t included in the latest buzz.
5. Poor keyword research Writing without incomplete homework is dangerous. Your content may be appealing and engaging, but, if your keyword research is absent or improper, no one will reach there. Hence, your article remains unnoticed and unattended. Poor research may mislead the content team to write about things people are curious of. For example, many companies missed the user experience part of SEO that is growing with more users of mobile devices.
Design mistakes Design complements content and both co-exist. Most businesses missed out on not being able to handle design properly.
1. Failure to create compelling design Many companies did perform up to the mark in other areas but missed on creating designs that amuse and delight. A good content needs a good design to balance it. Either of it being low in quality may lead to failure of SEO. Like, some companies
created great presence over social media, but their designs didn’t make people come back again and again.
2. No design responsiveness Amazing website design and content failed to reach a segment of people who majorly use mobile devices. Unresponsive design made them choose other available options. This decreased the traffic to the sites by 30-40%.
3. Unmatched content and design The imbalance in content and design lead to the dissatisfaction of readers. Attractive design makers failed to put up equally appealing content and vice versa. If there isn’t a proper balance in the quality of everything that a digital marketer is providing, he/she fails to get more business out of it.
Other mistakes 1. Missing accountability of data access Keeping track of the hits and data access and directing the traffic appropriately on the site have a great position of importance in SEO. Those who failed to keep an account of these details wasted resources and time and got zero results.
2. No practical approach The logical approach does make a sense, but on paper or in presentations. SEO is a process that needs a practical approach towards things. By practical approach, we mean creating a system where everything is streamlined. From research to execution, everything is given due time and efforts and worked on efficiently.
3. Slow page loading time Creating an amazing website with all the current trend features, but failing to make it speedy and user-friendly leads to disaster. No one wants to waste time in waiting. Putting too many things at one place ruins its beauty and hampers the speed of loading pages.
4. No use of appropriate tags We live in the era of tags. Tags are a resource. They should be utilized so as to make data better and more accessible and expand the reach. Be it a social media post, a blog post or an article on the website, a tag leads to getting things connected and getting more hits.
5. Applying every tactic Every solution doesn’t work for every problem. That is why there is something that we call – tailor-made. Customizing helps in creating things that match a particular business in its context and not relying on others’ tactics. Putting all the colors in one creates a hue that neither creates sense nor business.
6. Opting for easy methods Technology is not about easy methods, but about effective results. Easy methods give easy solutions, which are usually ineffective. Say, a digital marketer simply follows the current trends and lacks in research. This easy method will neither attract traffic nor create sales.
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