SEO, it’s often considered a dark art and one that is consistently changing. What worked last year doesn’t work this year which can also mean that what you think might be helping you, could actually be hurting you. Below are three SEO mistakes that you might be making right now, if you’re making any of these the best thing you can do is identify that you’re making a mistake and course correct. Don’t feel bad, SEO is very forgiving and like a credit score, a few good moves could put you back where you want to be.
- Keyword DensityOver 10% – using your target keywords within your site is critical, but using it too much could hurt you. Typically you’d like to stay below 3-4% but if you’re over 10% then you really might be hurting your site more than you are helping it. Google knows the keyword stuffing game and have gotten better and better at identifying those who are trying to game the system. I always try to stay below 3% and would recommend this as a rule of thumb.
- Forum Profile Backlinks – if you’ve been reading an SEO book that recommends you use forum profile backlinks, check the date the book was published. This used to be a good technique and now it can do much more harm than good. Google knows that people used high PR forums to generate backlinks and have dramatically decreased the value these offer. But here’s the catch, too many of these and Google’s latest algorithm release could penalize you taking your prized site from page one to page two, or three, or four…you get the picture.
- Keyword-only Anchor Text – the name of the game in the SEO world used to be having the anchor text in your backlink exactly match the keywords you are targeting. Now, while this is still valuable you need to balance it with backlinks containing the full URL. Why? Well Google figured out that normal sites have a good range of backlinks, some keywords focused, and others URL-focused. If every single backlink you have (or a vast majority) is for “Car Insurance” they know what you’re up to and could penalize you for it.
Are you making any of these mistakes? Like I said above, if you are don’t feel bad, but make sure to do something about it to reclaim the rank you deserve. Have some other SEO mistakes to share, I’d love to hear them, and I’m sure many readers would to, feel free to share them in the comment section below!
