Your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy can make or break your business. A well-
executed SEO strategy can transform your site into an authority figure, increasing traffic
and improving conversions. However, an SEO mistake can have detrimental
consequences, causing your website to be penalised or its indexed pages removed.

Here, we take a look at three SEO mistakes that you cannot afford to make.

1. Using duplicate or low-quality content

Content is the heart and soul of any SEO strategy. If you want to rank high on search
engine result pages (SERP), you must create quality content for your website. Google is
very keen on ensuring that they provide their users with quality information which is why
they introduced the E-A-T ranking factor. EAT is an acronym for expertise, authority, and
trustworthiness, and it is used to assess the quality of your website, especially your
content.

Google looks at a number of things to evaluate trustworthiness, one of which is whether
the website states who is responsible for the published content. Duplicating or spinning
content diminishes the trustworthiness of your website, resulting in lower ranks on SERPs.
Using poorly written content can also affect your E-A-T score, so ensure that you only
publish well-researched articles.

2. Not optimizing for the right keywords

Failure to optimize your content for the right keywords is one of the biggest mistakes that
you can make. Generic keywords only bring in visitors looking for free information, and not
prospective customers interested in your products or services. As a result, these keywords
also have a lot of competition, making it harder for you to rank high on SERPs.

If you want to improve your ranking and attract more qualified traffic, it’s best to be as
specific as possible. For the best results, you or your SEO specialist should conduct keyword research to find out which search terms your target audience is using in their
search queries. Tools such as Google Search Console and Google Trends will help you to
find the right long-tail keywords, improving your chances of success.

3. Buying backlinks

Backlinks are, without a doubt, one of the most important elements of SEO. They are an
important ranking factor because they represent a vote of confidence that your site has
high-quality information on a topic.

However, buying backlinks in order to improve SEO can negatively affect your website.
Bought links usually come from low-quality websites that have been flagged as spam.
Google considers the quantity and the quality of websites linked to and from your website,
so when low-value websites link to your page, Google automatically lowers its ranking.

Buying backlinks will do more harm than good for your SEO, so to avoid falling into this
trap, you should have a strong strategy that focuses on building links with high-authority
websites. A high-quality website should be relevant to your industry or niche.

5 Ways to Improve your SEO Strategy

Now that we’ve covered 3 SEO mistakes to avoid, here are some great ways to improve your website SEO.

1. Improve Your Blog’s SEO by correctly using categories and tags —Quality content is the key to success in building an audience, and when Google must decide between your blog and a competitor’s blog, categories and tags in WordPress can be the deciding factor.
2. Use SEO Evergreen Content to Increase Blog Traffic —Search engines are more likely to pull up evergreen content in response to a general query. In response to a search query, search engines crawl millions of websites for specific keywords and then index the web pages accordingly. Pages with expired or outdated content that haven’t gotten a lot of recent traffic won’t show up high in the search results for specific search queries.
3. Write SEO-Optimized Articles —The world of SEO continually changes as Google finds better ways to provide relevant searches. These SEO tips for beginners are a few actions that you can take to start getting the results that you want quickly.
4. Find the Best SEO Keyword Research Tool —Choosing the best SEO tool can be a daunting task for many with all of the options out there. It seems like SEOs and content marketers have participated in the Ahrefs vs Semrush vs Moz debate since SEO became a thing. With multiple features, amazing premium packages, and perks, each tool comes with a set of advantages and disadvantages.
5. Aesthetics Matter: Optimize Your Blog Through Visual Content —Visual content can help your blog rank higher on search engine ranking as Google pays attention to visual content. With the right image SEO practices, you can bring your blog in the first few search results, ensuring you get a lot of traffic and views. Optimize your images with SEO-friendly captions and ensure that they are sized properly so that the loading speed of your blog is not affected.

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