What not to do while Optimizing your site?

Change, as they say, is the only constant. This adage applies to Search Engine Optimization(SEO), more than ever, as new algorithms & techniques emerge every day. Businesses need to remain in touch with the latest SEO trends to ensure immediacy & relevance. There are, however, some practices that always stand the test of time & some pitfalls of SEO that need to be avoided, to ensure the website does not lose credibility & is not devalued. Here are some SEO Mistakes that are to be avoided:

Poorly Developed Website

Even before getting started with SEO, it’s important to determine if the business website is well designed. It should be user friendly, easy to navigate and should have plenty of calls to action. Some points to consider here are:

• Not to use particularly small fonts or jarring colours
• Not to use unreadable captchas
• Stop using registration unless where it is actually required
• Restrain from overusing flash
• Limit the use of auto playing audios & videos
• To have a right balance between images & text
• Restrain from excessive use of Scripts as it can come in the way of the content being indexed

Publishing Poor Content

Any & everything published on the site should be of high quality, relevant, current, and unique. The aim should be to write quality content that readers will enjoy reading & find value in. Plagiarized Content, needs to be avoided at all costs, as the website stands to lose credibility by using content that is copied.

Building Irrelevant Links

While link building is important, the emphasis needs to be on quality & not quantity. A number of links from irrelevant sites are likely to prove counterproductive. While backlinks are important, they should fall in place naturally. The emphasis should be on creating useful content that is likeable & shareable by the target audience. In doing so, one could automatically create a relevant set of backlinks. Relevant links, should be built not just to the home page but to other internal pages as well.

Over Optimization

Keyword Research & its optimal use is imperative for SEO. However Over optimization & keyword stuffing can prove to be extremely detrimental. Rich content should be written keeping the readers & not search engines in mind. In fact, if relevant content is created for readers, keywords should fall in place naturally.
Not leveraging SEO and Social Media

Many a times, site owners deal with Social Media & SEO in two compartmentalized formats, whereas optimization demands leveraging the connection between the two.

The content dissemination plan needs to build in the strong role that can be played by social media through strategies such as:

• Building content for social media such as Facebook, Twitter etc
• Identifying the kind of content & the social media sites that give the highest ROI
• Continuous Performance Measurement

Being Inconsistent

It is important to realize that SEO is not a one time activity. The key lies in putting in consistent efforts to maintain it. It is important to regularly track which areas are yielding results & which strategies need change. It is also fairly important to track competition, though not follow them blindly. While it is important to know the competitor’s strategy, it is even more important to have a focused SEO strategy of one’s own.

Foresight and critical thinking are essential prerequisites to successful SEO. However, it is equally important to have a scalable plan that allows consistency in SEO implementation.