1.Use of Keywords
There are still some factoids about the use of keywords, that lead to common mistakes whilst using keywords for the optimization of your webpage and its content. A few years back, a viable way to use keywords was to just include them wherever possible. Google does not like this approach anymore at all; so please, refrain from overusing your keywords on your website. It is not about how often your keywords appear in your content, but that they appear in the correct position and context. Google's Robots are smart these days, maybe too smart, but they do read your content similar to how a human would and can easily see if the content would actually have some value for a potential visitor. Always make sure that you add your keywords in a proper way, with a fitting sentence structure so it is a nice reading experience for your customers (and Google robots).
2.Metadata/Alt Tags
Some of the information on your website can be used directly to communicate to Google what your webpage is about. The so called “Meta-Data” mainly consists of the meta-title and the meta-description. These are shown directly in the search results and give the user and the search engine crawlers a very quick and easy way to determine if your website offers what they are looking for. Try to write your title and description in a way that catches attention and briefly (but still with good detail) describes what you are offering; also try to include at least two of your main keywords. Google suggest a specific length for the title and description and you should definitely stick to it, otherwise your title or description might be cut off halfway. It is also important that you don’t use the same meta-data for different pages and each has its own unique one, as Google does not like take kindly to duplicates.
Many webpage creators still underestimate the importance of alt-tags for their images. Google crawlers are good, but they are not good enough to comprehend any sort of images yet. By adding alt-tags we can let the robots know what´s actually in the picture. Many software solutions that facilitate a barrier-free access for the disabled, use the alt-tags to describe to the user what’s to be seen in this image. As well, adding alt-tags will help to make your webpage appear not only in the normal search results, but also in the Google Images results, which is helpful for more visibility online. Make sure to add both meta-data and alt-tags to all parts of your webpage.
3.Original photos
The third thing that causes problems for a lot of websites, doesn’t have anything to do with SEO. Everyone can tell the difference between real photos and stock, and all agree that the real ones are more engaging for visitors. A great photo is key when trying to optimize your visual marketing online. Using original photos is a great way to give your visitors a sense of what your company or product is about. Taking the photographs yourself can work especially with camera technology today being so great, but paying a professional might not be a bad idea. Their job is to know about and develop great photography, which takes skills. They know about lighting, shutter speeds, and how to edit the raw photographs. It can get expensive but is usually well worth it for giving your website a competitive advantage. If that still doesn’t sound like something you want to do, ask a friend with a nice camera and a tripod to help. Whatever you both decide on will still be a big improvement over stock photos.
4.Mobile friendly version
We are living in the year 2018, and the times when most people mainly used the internet from home on their computers are over. Nowadays, customers are looking to buy products and services from wherever they are, and we need to be prepared for that. Many website owners are not aware that a mobile optimized version of your website is one of the most important factors for their business today. Statistics show us that 40% of the page visitors, will leave the page if it takes longer than three seconds to load; this is nearly half our visitors. There are two common mistakes that usually happen concerning mobile optimization.
Firstly, creators do not implement a responsive design for their webpage. A responsive design makes sure that your webpages´ design and the size of your content, reacts to whichever device your visitors are using. This makes sure they always have the same great experience when visiting your page.
The second major mistake, like mentioned before, is the long loading times. Most modern CMSs offer free plugins to accelerate the loading speed for mobile devices. These so-called AMP-Plugins can be found in your plugin tab. This helps make sure that your customers can actually reach your page before they are done using it.
5.Hiring an agency too quickly
Many website owners are simply overwhelmed with the terminology and amount of information that one has to deal with when the time comes to optimize your page for search engines. An easy way out and one that is taken too soon, and too often is to hire an agency to do our SEO work for us. Indeed, this comes with some advantages, but the high rates that most SEO Agencies are charging for mostly easy and quick changes, are not really worth it. If you are the creator of your own webpage, especially at the beginning of your journey, it is well worth it to at least try to get a general idea of the topic before making the decision between Do-It-Yourself and hiring and agency. In the case you do want to go for the former, there is quite a few very helpful applications that can help you immensely when understanding how and why you should optimize your website for search engines.
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