To increase your online visibility, it is essential to optimize your website from an SEO perspective. Only by taking care of all the aspects that make the site “pleasing to search engines”, it is possible to obtain a good ranking in the results of users’ searches. If, on the other hand, you do not have an effective SEO Plan and you adopt behaviors that “Google does not like,” the consequences in terms of positioning can be very damaging.
To avoid penalties and improve your positioning, it is, therefore, necessary to know which are the most common mistakes to avoid or correct.
Here are the 5 main mistakes to avoid to build a truly “SEO friendly” site:
Repeating keywords too often
Overloading a page with one or more keywords to force the site to rank on that specific word is a harmful practice known as ” keyword stuffing.”
Exceeding the use of keywords, in addition to worsening the ranking of the site, also makes reading the text boring and unnatural, worsening the user experience.
Neglecting page links
One of the most common SEO mistakes is uploading content without performing redirects. Link building is a determining factor for SEO. Digital business owners must make sure that the pages of their site are well connected to each other and that the Links present are functioning correctly, and that they do not lead to wrong, non-existent or broken pages.
Inserting duplicate or copied content
The most serious mistake is certainly to copy texts from other websites without adding new, original, and interesting content. By copying Content, your website not only does not obtain advantages because, in fact, it does not offer anything new to the reader, but it exposes itself to a penalty.
Having duplicate Content is a mistake to avoid even within your website: each page must have different texts and contents and must be optimized for different keywords.
No schema markup is used
Schema markup code is a way to structure and define information about your website. Search engines use schema markup to better understand the content of your site and provide users with the most accurate and relevant search results.
Schema markup is not visible to the user and can be added to the regular HTML code used on the website. You need to learn the vocabulary of the schema.
Submitting a sitemap to search engines
The sitemap is a strategic element of the site. It is a file that provides information on the pages, on the contents of the website, and on the correlation between the various elements. The sitemap communicates directly with search engine bots, showing them the way to follow to crawl the site effectively.
The absence of the sitemap is not in itself an element of penalty, but its presence allows to improve the crawling of the site, constituting an undoubted advantage from an SEO perspective.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is keyword stuffing and why is it harmful to SEO?
Keyword stuffing refers to the practice of overloading a webpage with keywords in an attempt to manipulate a site’s ranking in search engine results. This outdated and harmful SEO technique involves repeating the same keywords or phrases excessively throughout the content, meta tags, or backlinks. While it might seem like a good strategy to improve search engine visibility, keyword stuffing can actually have the opposite effect. Search engines like Google have sophisticated algorithms that can detect unnatural keyword usage and may penalize websites that engage in this practice. This can result in a significant drop in search rankings, making it harder for users to find the site. Additionally, keyword stuffing can degrade the quality of the content, making it less readable and enjoyable for visitors, which can negatively impact user experience and reduce engagement on the site. Therefore, it is crucial to use keywords strategically and naturally within the content to maintain a good balance between SEO optimization and readability.
How do I check for and fix broken links on my website?
Checking for and fixing broken links on your website is crucial for maintaining a good user experience and improving your site’s SEO. Broken links, also known as dead links, lead to non-existent or error pages, which can frustrate visitors and diminish your site’s credibility. To identify these problematic links, you can use tools like Google Search Console, Screaming Frog SEO Spider, or online broken link checkers. These tools scan your website and provide a list of broken links. Once identified, you can fix these links by updating them to the correct URLs, redirecting them to relevant pages, or removing them if they are no longer necessary. Regularly monitoring your website for broken links ensures that all internal and external links are functional, helping to create a seamless navigation experience for users and signaling to search engines that your site is well-maintained and reliable. This proactive approach not only enhances user satisfaction but also positively impacts your search engine rankings.
What is schema markup and how do I implement it on my website?
Schema markup is a form of microdata that helps search engines understand the content of your website more effectively, providing users with richer and more informative search results. Implementing schema markup involves adding a specific set of tags to your website’s HTML code to define elements such as articles, events, products, and reviews. This structured data helps search engines like Google to parse and interpret the information more accurately, potentially leading to enhanced search visibility with rich snippets that display additional information directly in search results. To implement schema markup, you can use resources like Schema.org to understand the vocabulary and types of schema available. Tools like Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper can assist in generating the necessary code, which you then integrate into your website’s HTML. By doing so, you provide search engines with clear, concise information about your content, which can improve your site’s SEO performance and increase the likelihood of attracting more targeted traffic through improved search result presentations.
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