Mar 22, 2012 Staff

Basic SEO Mistakes


According to Paul Gillin on the CMO Site, a lot of companies fail at the most basic level of digital marketing, search engine optimization (SEO). Here are five common SEO mistakes companies make, most of which can be rectified with small expenditures.

Poor or Nonexistent Keyword Strategy
SEO starts with having a list of 10-15 keywords you want to own. Focus on words customers might use to find you or problems they are trying to solve.

Bad Page Titles and Meta Descriptions
Page titles and descriptions play a big role in SEO. Use specifics when labeling. Include your keywords in descriptions. However, tagging your page with meta keywords may tip off competitors to your keyword strategy.

Squandered Media
Search engines can't make sense of media files unless you label them with an "alt" tag. Again, use your keywords You can also tag hyperlinks with your keywords.

PDFs from Hell
Search engines can read PDF files, but often, they haven't been properly titled or described. As with other Web pages, fill out the meta description fields.

Failure to Link
The more inbound links you have from quality sources, the better, so at the very least, link to your business website from other sites you control. You can create quality links from employee blogs, speaker bios and LinkedIn profiles. Reach out to your constituents and ask for links, and return the favor.

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Published by Staff March 22, 2012