14 SEO Mistakes To Avoid In 2022

Intro

SEO is an ever-changing field, and if you're not up to date on the latest changes, you could make some big mistakes without even realizing it! This blog post will discuss some of the most common SEO mistakes you must avoid. These mistakes could seriously hurt your website's ranking and visibility online. So if you want to stay ahead of the competition, avoid these pitfalls!

Slow Site Speed

In today's fast-paced world, people expect websites to load quickly and efficiently. If your website takes too long to load, visitors will likely click away before they even have a chance to see your offer. There are several ways to improve your site speed, so ensure you're doing everything you can to ensure that your pages load quickly.

• Use a content delivery network (CDN)
• Optimize your images
• Minimize your code
• Use caching
• Enable browser caching

Ignoring Mobile Users

With more and more people using smartphones and tablets to access the internet, your website must be optimized for mobile devices. If your website isn't mobile-friendly, you could miss a lot of traffic and potential customers.

You can do several things to make sure your site is mobile-friendly:

Using a responsive design

Responsive design is a website design that adapts to fit any screen size, whether it's a desktop computer, a tablet, or a smartphone. This design makes it easy for mobile users to navigate your website and find the information they're looking for.

Using AMP (accelerated mobile pages)

AMP is a Google project that allows you to create lightweight pages that load quickly on mobile devices. These pages are designed specifically for mobile users and can improve your website's speed and performance.

Ensuring that your content is easily readable

Make sure your text is large enough to read, and your website's navigation is easy to use on a smaller screen. You may also consider using shorter paragraphs and bullet points to make your content easier to digest.

Failing to Optimize Your Content

One of the most important aspects of SEO is creating high-quality, keyword-rich content. If your content isn't optimized, you're missing out on a valuable opportunity to improve your website's ranking and visibility.

There are several things you can do to optimize your content:

• Use keyword-rich titles and descriptions
• Use relevant keywords throughout your content
• Include images and videos. If you have any photos or videos you've made yourself, be sure to include them on your website as well!

Not Tracking Your Progress

You won't know if your SEO efforts are paying off if you're not tracking your progress. Use Rank tracker to track your website's ranking for relevant keywords. The rank tracker will allow you to see how your website is performing and make necessary changes if needed.

In addition, Google Analytics and Search Console are valuable tools that can help track your website's traffic and performance.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics can help track your website's traffic, where it's coming from, and how visitors interact with your site. This information can be precious in understanding what's working and what isn't.

Search Console

Search Console allows you to track your website's performance in Google search results. This includes your website's click-through rate, average position, and impressions.

Not to Monitor Your Backlinks

Backlinks are links from other websites to yours. They help improve your website's ranking and visibility by showing Google that your site is popular and relevant.

You could miss valuable opportunities to improve your website without monitoring your backlinks. Keep an eye on your backlinks and remove any that are low quality or no longer relevant.

Low-quality backlinks

Low-quality backlinks can hurt your website's ranking, reputation, and visibility. To check your backlinks, you can use a Ranktracker backlink checker.

If your website has many low-quality backlinks, you can try removing them by contacting the site owner or using Google's disavow tool.

For more information, check our guide on how to remove bad backlinks.

Invest in only one channel (content, links, or technical).

SEO is a holistic process that involves many different aspects. Investing in only one area, such as content or link building, is not enough. You need to focus on all aspects of SEO to see the best results.

Broken links

Broken links are links that lead to 404 pages. These can hurt your website's ranking and reputation, showing Google that your site is not well-maintained.

To find and fix broken links, you can use a Screaming Frog. This great tool will help you find broken links on your website.

Using URLs that are too long

I see it all the time. Long URLs with full keywords and numbers. Please don’t do this. It makes your website look spammy and will hurt your ranking. Not to mention, it’s just bad for the user experience.

URLs should be friendly, short, and relevant to the page they're on. If you're using numbers in your URL, try to use words instead. For example, "www.example.com/blog/1234" can be changed to "www.example.com/blog/seo-tips."

If you must use numbers in your URL, keep them short and relevant.

Preference search engines over the user's

Some people build websites to give Google's robots what they think those machines want to see while neglecting user experience. The focus should be on the customer first and foremost!

When doing an SEO campaign, it is essential to remember that the goal is not to trick Google into giving you a high ranking. The goal is to give users the best experience possible while also providing Google with the information they need to rank your site.

Shortcuts are not the way

SEO requires a lot of patience. Some people think that they will see results overnight if they get a thousand links, pay someone on Fiverr to spin their content, or use some other type of “black hat” tactic. Shortcuts are not the way. Not only will these methods not work, but they can also penalize your website Google.

Remember, SEO is a long-term strategy, not a quick fix.

Copying content from other websites

One of the worst things you can do is copy content from another website. It is plagiarism, and Google will penalize your website for having duplicate content. If you want your website to rank, you need to create original, high-quality content.

Unsecured sites

Google stated many years ago that they expect all website owners to install an SSL certificate on their site. This security protocol encrypts the connection between your website and the user's browser.

Today, it is almost impossible to find websites without an SSL certificate on the first page of search results. So, if your website doesn't have one, you're missing out on valuable ranking opportunities.

Too many categories

Organizing your website into too many categories can be confusing for users and search engines. I recommend having no more than seven main categories on your website.

If you have more than seven, try to group some of them together. For example, if you have a lot of product categories, you can create a category called "Products" and then create subcategories for each type of product.

This will make it easier for users to find what they're looking for, and it will be simpler for search engines to index your website.

Relying only on SEO

As a blog owner about digital nomads, I know that SEO is not the only traffic source you should rely on. Google can change the algorithm anytime, and your website's ranking can drop overnight. Even if you're doing everything right, there's no guarantee that your website will rank on the first page.

That’s why it would be a good idea to build strong social channels and maintain active profiles on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. These platforms can help you reach a wider audience and drive traffic to your website even when your SEO ranking is not doing well.

Aiming for general/difficult keywords

Trying to rank for general keywords is usually a waste of time and money. The competition for these keywords is too high, and it won't be easy to rank for them.

It’s better to focus on long-tail keywords, which are more specific and have less competition. For example, instead of trying to rank for "shoes," try to rank for "women's brown leather ankle boots."

By targeting long-tail keywords, you can improve your chances of ranking in the search results and driving traffic to your website.

To sum up

The list is long, but these are some of the most common SEO mistakes I see people make. If you can avoid these mistakes, you’ll be well on your way to having a successful SEO strategy.

Want to know more about SEO? Check out the Ranktracker SEO Blog for more tips and advice.