{"id":9241,"date":"2009-08-18T19:00:03","date_gmt":"2009-08-18T13:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/?p=9241"},"modified":"2022-12-28T20:00:55","modified_gmt":"2022-12-28T14:30:55","slug":"worst-seo-mistakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2009\/08\/worst-seo-mistakes\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Worst SEO Mistakes You Can Make"},"content":{"rendered":"

Don\u2019t fall for these common SEO mistakes<\/strong> that can tank your search engine rankings.\u00a0 In the online world, there is so much bad SEO information out there, that it is hard to sift through it all.\u00a0 Below are the top 7 worst mistakes you can make for SEO (search engine optimization).<\/p>\n

1. Similar Anchor Text<\/h3>\n

Anchor text<\/strong> is a huge factor in why websites rank and why websites don\u2019t rank well in search engine results.\u00a0 If you use the same anchor text over and over again, you may get an over-optimization penalty<\/strong> from the search engines.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a good rule of thumb to try and use as much anchor text as you can.\u00a0 Search engines look for websites that appear to be natural.\u00a0 If you keep getting the same anchor text over and over, this puts up red flags in the search engine algorithms.\u00a0\u00a0 Think of it this way, if you asked 100 different people to link to your website and only gave them the URL, how many different anchors would there be?\u00a0 I\u2019m sure at least half of the anchors would be unique.<\/p>\n

2. Keyword Stuffing<\/h3>\n

Write for your visitors<\/strong> and not for the search engines. So many times I have seen people trying to fit hundreds of keywords into their content.\u00a0 Not only does it read funny but also it looks unprofessional and search engines can easily catch on to this.<\/p>\n

When we optimize the content<\/strong> we usually use two keywords and fit them into the content on a single page.\u00a0 Anything more than that and you run the risk of keyword stuffing and causing a penalty in the search engines.<\/p>\n

3. Low-Quality Links<\/h3>\n

Every website is going to get low-quality links<\/strong>, whether they are bought, traded, or just happen naturally via scrapper websites.\u00a0 Don\u2019t worry about the ones out of your control.\u00a0 All of the big websites have scrapper links but the important thing is they have high-quality links<\/strong> to offset them.<\/p>\n

There are several factors you should look for in a quality link<\/strong>.\u00a0 Most of which is really the quality of the website itself.\u00a0 What is the Compete ranking?\u00a0 How many backlinks does the website have? Does the website get cached in Google on a regular basis?\u00a0 If I Google some of the keywords, where does the website rank?\u00a0 These questions can help you make an informed decision on the quality of the website.<\/p>\n

4. Link Networks<\/h3>\n

Stay far away from networks that promise you hundreds of links.\u00a0 In fact, just stay away from networks altogether.\u00a0 Networks can be fairly easy to detect and can be a waste of money and even get your website penalized.<\/p>\n

Google knows Link Networks<\/a> and so do the other search engines.\u00a0 Keep in mind anytime you are seeking a link and ask yourself \u201ccould I have got this link naturally?\u201d\u00a0 If the answer is no, then you should stay away from those types of links.<\/p>\n

5. Directory Submissions<\/h3>\n

Directory submissions can help and are usually a great way to start off a new link-building campaign.\u00a0 The problem most<\/em> webmasters make is going after too many directories at once and\/or not diversifying their anchor text.\u00a0 We generally submit to know more than 10-15 directories within a month.\u00a0 We focus on high quality web directories <\/strong>and a great starting list is:<\/p>\n

1. DMOZ
\n2. Business.com
\n3. Yahoo
\n4. BOTW
\n5. GoGuides
\n6. JoeAnt.com
\n7. Site Sift
\n8. Directory World
\n9. Aviva
\n10. Skaffe<\/p>\n

6. Title Tags<\/h3>\n

The title of the page you are optimizing for is one of the single largest factors for on-page optimization<\/strong>. If you have not done so yet, see SEO Title Tag Formulas to get a better understanding of what works.<\/p>\n

It seems simple but on some websites analyzing the title tags to find the right combination can take hours.\u00a0 It can also be smart to test the titles yourself.\u00a0 Narrow your choice down to a few and then try them out to see which one ranks higher for your keywords.<\/p>\n

7. Link Acquisition Speed<\/h3>\n

Natural link-building <\/strong>happens over time and in many cases over years and years.\u00a0 Some spikes in obtaining links can happen naturally like hitting the front page of Digg or a similar website.\u00a0 These are the exceptions and search engines can often detect the exceptions.<\/p>\n

What can get you in trouble is the unnatural link growth<\/strong>.\u00a0 This often happens when a webmaster decides they have a few hours to spend on link building and then goes out and purchases 50 links in one day.\u00a0 The links generally show up in the search engine fairly quickly and will put up red flags.<\/p>\n

Keep your link acquisition speed<\/strong> the same as long as you can.\u00a0 Divide your budget for the year evenly and acquire nearly the same amount of links each month, throughout month.<\/p>\n

Guest author Stuart McHenry is the President of McKremie a US-based web hosting company.\u00a0 You can read their blog that discusses Social Media, SEO and Web hosting issues.\u00a0 He has been involved in search engine optimization for more than 6 years and was formally the CEO at SEO Fusion. You can also share your expert tips and write a guest article<\/a> here.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Don\u2019t fall for these common SEO mistakes that can tank your search engine rankings.\u00a0 In the online world, there is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,41],"tags":[44,49],"class_list":["post-9241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogging","category-search-engine-optimization","tag-guest-posts","tag-tutorials"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9241\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}