SEO Content Mistakes

If you build it, they will come...
or maybe not when it comes to websites.

Getting your site found on the Internet can be a huge boost to your business, but it’s not always as easy as one would hope. If at all possible you want to be found above the fold (above the scroll line) on the first page of results.

There are several factors that can affect the difficulty of search engine optimization (SEO) success. Such as the market area you serve. If your business serves a local area, then it is fortunate that most experienced searchers will include the city name with the search phrase.

Here are the six biggest content mistakes or missing SEO elements I see far too often:

1. Trying to make one page rank high on a wide variety of phrases. Instead pick one primary phrase with one or two related secondary phrases per page.
2. The desired search phrases to be found by are nowhere on the page or site. This includes the name of cities in your area. Can’t be found by a phrase is it doesn't exist on your site.
3. Generic titles in the title tags. Title tags are one of if not the most important places the search engines look. You must have your primary keyword phrase there.
4. Not using keyword phrases enough times on an individual page (or repeating them too many times.) You need to achieve a certain keyword to total word ratio.
5. Not placing keyword phrases in headlines or high in the web page content.
6. Not enough content on a given page to allow it to be a credible source of information. You need enough content to justify repeating keyword phrases several times.

There are probably at least 25 different elements that the search engine algorithms are evaluating. I’m not going to go into detail about all of them, as it gets quite technical. However nothing is more important than to make sure your web page truly represents the keyword phrase you want to be found by and is reflected in the content on the page.

The search engines goal is simple. They want their users to be happy with the search results so they trust and become loyal users. The job of SEO these days is to make sure your web pages truly deserves the high rank above others.