Arguably, the most confusing thing about getting your website to punch above or at its weight in the online search engines is keeping up with all the changes. Rules and algorithms that stay in place for too long lead to a monopoly on keywords and the chances for the “little guy” to rise up and cash out big become even more difficult.

These constant algorithm changes are actually to the benefit of the little business, then. But how damaging can it be not to keep up with the changes? The answer is very. Google has a habit of treating the rules of old algorithms (we are currently in an era which concentrates on long-tail keywords and more lifelike answers and keywords) as if they are the plague. Therefore, using old techniques can actually damage you in the future. Here at CheshireSEO.org, we keep up to date with the latest Google practices.

Anyway, let’s look at some of the most common SEO mistakes out there that are causing business owners to lose sleep, confidence and profits all at once.

Duped Pages

Duplicate pages, specifically home pages, are a common problem with SEO. With more than one version of your homepage, you are giving the search engines the ammo they need to pin you back down. Copied content and identical content is a big no-no today online, and this is a carbon copy of this exact error. By copying content, you are seen to be trying to dupe the search engines into thinking you are super compliant.

As well as this, you could have links going to different versions of the home page, which is spreading the equity of your links far too drastically. You want all your site link backs going to the same place each time, otherwise you will not get the benefits that you would from a strong linking strategy.

Poor Tags

Tags are an extremely important part of SEO. They are key players in helping you get a better rank, and it also is the text that users will see when browsing through the search engines. Having your home page listed as your business name alone is not enough. Make sure that one of your keywords is used in there, for example things like;

Excellent Wholesale Electronics | Business Name

This tiny change instantly gives people an idea of what you provide, and who you are. It also lets you rank for the keyword Wholesale Electronics. Of course, you want to be targeting keywords you can realistically compete for, so ensure you work with an SEO expert to get these tags right.

Duplicate Content

If you ever think that stealing content from somewhere else is a good idea, think again. Not only will you get caught at one stage and face anything from a slap on the wrists to a court order, you will ruin your search engine rankings.

Make sure you at least get all of your content re-written. Getting a freelancer to use reference content is fine, but it has to be unique and to fit your own brand and theme. Duplicate content will decimate your search engine rankings, so be extremely vigilant on this!

These are just three common SEO errors, but there are many more that can be made. We recommend that if you are looking to get an SEO partner and expert to help you run your campaigns, you look for somebody who has a CV of success that they can direct you to. If somebody is pricey but has a catalogue of successes in the past, it’s better to pay more and get the perfect solution rather than hope a less expensive and more inexperienced SEO expert can deliver the good for you. Again, the negatives of a poor SEO campaign can be hard to reverse so don’t let that mistake ever become a possibility.

Want a Cheshire SEO expert to help out? Get in touch with us today for a free consultation over a coffee, with no obligation.