Search engine optimization is something you can do alone. So If you do decide you will have you seo done in-house here are a few mistakes you should avoid. The fewer you do the more of a gurantee you have of establishing a ranking and presence on all three major search engines.
1) Uncrawlable
Your robots.txt file missing or incorrect is just one small thing that can completely destroy the crawalability of your site. Others potential uncrawalable factors are full-blown flash site, no sitemap, and session-IDs.
2) Terrible Usability & Design
Your site architecture should mimic real life. You wouldn’t walk into an unstable building would you? The same goes for a user or search engine spider. If a search engine spider visits your website and links are broken it will make it even more difficult to rank and categorize. A user may just stumble around and eventually leave your site. In fact, if your navigation is horrible you can expect visitors to leave quickly.
Do Check: SEO Essentials for Web Designers
3) Poor URL Structure
There are just too many good CMS (content management systems) available for you to have faulty URL structures. Here is an example:
- example.com/23243kjop.php (This is what you DO NOT want!)
- example.com/this-is-what-you-want (This is what YOU WANT!)
Now if you have example number one you need to fix that as soon as possible. You could be missing out on a lot of visitors, search engine rankings, and of course possible clients.
4) Duplicate Content
Some companies are just too lazy to actually hire a freelance writer for unique content. If you can’t afford a few articles at 5$ a pop you probably shouldn’t be running a business anyway. Duplicate content will not get you into the search engine rankings. No rankings beats the entire point of actually having a website in the first place. Do yourself a favor and hire a writer that will write you up some unique content. I am sure you users and the search engines will appreciate it.
5) Keyword Research
This really can be tagged alone with duplicate content. You don’t just want any random content do you? Learn to do some keyword research so you know what you are actually trying to rank for. If you are a dentist in Alabama then you obviously want to target the “Alabama dentist” keyword, along with its long-tail partners.
Do Check: Strategies Which Help Your Keyword Research To Drive More Sales
I am one of those people who believe you should outsource what you don’t know how to do. So if you are truly thinking about doing your own in-house search engine optimization, think twice!
Johanna is a freelance writer that writes on a variety of topics such as technology and internet marketing. She also works for wish.co.uk where you can get some useful gift ideas.
