Search Engine Optimization or SEO is the most affordable method of getting free, well targeted visitors to your website. However its probably fair to say, most websites today are making five common SEO mistakes that are holding their websites back from top ranking.
1) Not having text on your website’s homepage that’s keyword targeted to the exact searches people are running in the right keyword position, quantity and density
Doing your keyword research can be the most powerful business asset you’ll ever have to find out how many people are looking for what you have to offer – and even more importantly, the exact keywords and phrases they are using to search for you.
To find your keywords, enter into the Google Search Box: Google Adwords Keyword Tool
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
Without exception, this keyword research produces surprises – no matter how long someone has worked in a field!
2) Important keywords visible to humans are embedded in images making them invisible to search engine spiders
This often happens with banner logos or company names at the top of page in special font. Spiders can only read text. They’re just robot bean counters and can only read and count your keywords in text.
Spiders can’t see and don’t care at all about how pretty your site looks. They can’t see pictures or see letters or words which are being displayed to humans as a picture rather than text. For the most part, spiders also cannot read flash which should be kept to a minimum.
The simple test to see if graphic information is text or an image is to try to highlight and copy it. It you can highlight and copy it, it is text.
The other way is to go to your Google cache by clicking the “Cached” link that now appears to the right of the listing when you place your cursor to the right of the Google or Bing listing to make it visible. After Google’s cache loads click the “Text-only Version” link upper right corner to see what Google is actually seeing in terms of text and image alternative text on your site.
If you have text embedded in images it’s always important they are coded with image alternative text so spiders can see what the image is about. You definitely want spiders to see your entire site for top rankings!
3) Underestimating the importance of getting links from other websites that read your keywords in the link text.
The appearance of your keywords in the usually blue underlined link text is one of the most important elements given ranking weight in Google’s algorithm. This is known as offsite optimization. A disadvantage websites have that don’t have their keywords in their domain name is that they’re competing with websites that do.
Broad consensus among SEOs is that it’s not that Google gives so much ranking weight to the keywords in the domain. It’s that most of the links people get simply read their domain name. If you don’t have your keywords in your domain, you’re competing for rankings with websites that do – so you have to work harder getting links reading your keywords.
Never assume anyone is going to do your keyword research for you and give you the link text you need for rankings. Provide people with an easy copy and paste coding of the link you would like. The ideal link text is three words with the most important keyword first – and shouldn’t be more than five words.
4) Putting words like “Homepage” or “Welcome” in your page title that are not keywords people are searching for
Your homepage title that appears in search results is the single most important element of your onsite ranking factors on all search engines. The page title should not to be confused with any title or headline on the website page humans see. The page title is in the head section of the website coding visible to spiders and appearing in blue in your search engine results.
The sixty five characters Google displays of your title is the most valuable onsite ranking element you have complete control over. Don’t squander it on words no one is running searches for like “Homepage” or “Welcome”!
Put what people are looking for up front – the most important keywords your customers are looking for first – your company name second or at the beginning of your meta-description humans see in search results. “Homepage” in your dilutes the keyword density of what people are looking for – hurting your rankings.
5) It is generally misunderstood that your web designer is also a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) expert
Actually, these are two different knowledge / software sets. SEO is a field that keeps evolving very quickly and involves mathematical calculations far too difficult for humans without specialized software to compute and execute on a consistently high level.
Expecting people focused primarily on the look and feel of your website to also keep up with the latest Google algorithm change is not realistic. If you want people to find you on Google, you have to follow Google’s Webmaster Guidelines at:
http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35769
It’s very important anyone working on your site has actually read and is following Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. Although they only take about fifteen minutes to read and click the links on the subjects, not following these guidelines can be very expensive for companies and be sure to ask that they have been read and are being followed.
It too often comes as an unexpected surprise that elements of their website have to be redone a second time with added costs if SEO is done as an afterthought rather than from the beginning. This is why Google says regarding hiring an SEO at:
http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35291
“If you’re thinking about hiring an SEO, the earlier the better. A great time to hire is when you’re considering a site redesign, or planning to launch a new site. That way, you and your SEO can ensure that your site is designed to be search engine-friendly from the bottom up.”
There are over two hundred known elements of Google’s ranking algorithm. If you can figure out a hundred of them you’re a genius. There’s much more to SEO than most people realize – and many mistakenly believe achieving top rankings on Google is much more automatic than it actually is.
The biggest obstacle most people face achieving Search Engine Optimization on a consistently high level is not only mastering all the details and getting everything in place you need for top ranking – but often, as important is getting things off your website that’s causing problems holding your rankings back.
Steve Penny Santa Cruz Green SEO specializes in sustainable searches and is the top ranked site on Google for Green Search Engine Optimization. To find out more about the Top Ten SEO Reasons Website Redesings Lose Search Engine Rankings and Traffic please visit http://StevePenny.com
