Most sites put some baseline of effort into SEO strategy. Most sites also have huge SEO issues and are completely unaware of or just don’t have the motivation to correct their shortcomings. Nailing effective SEO is akin to hitting a moving target. The rules of SEO are constantly changing, and keeping your site up to speed can seem like an impossible feat. This leads many online marketers to ignore their SEO problems.
Luckily, for many of these SEO issues, the solution is fairly simple. Below are many of the most common problems and how to correct them for quick SEO fix.
Are You Missing the Mark on Keyword Selection?
Keywords are the building blocks for any solid SEO strategy. Keywords are also the root of many site's problems with search engines. Without these little nuggets of targeted text, your site would have major SEO issues and all of your content would be lost in the abyss with no readers in sight. You need to focus on speaking the language of your potential customers. Just because you call your items by certain names and terms doesn’t mean your customers do.
You may sell a brand of bag marketed as a rucksack, but if your ideal customers are searching for duffle bags, they won’t find your site. You’re leaving your site in the dark if you’re not attempting to target keywords that are not common in usage for your potential clients.
Use the available tools to understand the way your ideal customers search. The Google Keyword Planner is a perfect place to start your search for relevant keywords.
Are You Keyword Stuffing?
When it comes to keywords, quality always trumps quantity. Remember, content is for human visitors not for search bots. Forcing keywords onto your pages makes your content boring and unreadable.
Keyword stuffing is an attempt to fool search bots and affect rankings by overloading a page with words and phrases. Gorging your copy with keywords over and over reeks of spam and will chase traffic away at lightning speed.
Not only will an overabundance of keywords scare off visitors in droves, you’ll also create a mound of SEO problems for your site. In the olden days of SEO, many sites could actually get by with keyword stuffing. Today, if you go overboard with keywords, search engines will soon begin to recognize your site as spam and your chances of reaching the top of SERPs will dwindle drastically. Avoiding keyword stuffing is an easy SEO fix.
Are Broken Links Creating SEO Issues?
How often have you clicked on an attractively worded page link only to be disappointed when the link leads to a 404 not found error? Broken links are extremely frustrating. If these dead end links are littering your site, then you're most likely having some problems ranking with the search engines.
Broken links turn off potential visitors and diminish your authority in your given field. Google knows these links to nowhere are horrible for the user experience and bumps your rankings if your site has an issue with them.
Any site with a decent amount of content is bound to accumulate some broken links. Luckily, hunting these evildoers down and eliminating them is an easy SEO fix. Simply utilize one of the many available broken link finders online and get rid of the offending links pronto.
Are You Mismatching Keywords and Content?
Content is not about the keywords. Solid content must focus on the reader. This is a cardinal rule of SEO. In an attempt to tick keywords off a list, many content marketers end up with content that doesn’t really match their target words.
Search engines do everything in their power to show the most valuable links to their users. If your content doesn’t deliver valuable information and instead acts as a vehicle for random words and phrases, it will not rank well. Deliver value first.
Always focus on matching your content to the questions your ideal client has. Scale down the amount of varying keywords included in your copy and focus on targeting very specific questions you think visitors will be asking and the words that align most closely with them.
Are You Omitting Valuable Meta Information?
You’re creating massive SEO issues for your website if you neglect title tags and meta descriptions on your pages. Not including meta information leaves valuable SEO points on the table.
Meta descriptions are what searchers see when your link appears in the SERPs. Take advantage of this opportunity and include descriptive text with a call to action that makes it impossible not to click. Title tags also show up on results pages and appear as the main line of your link. These tags give major clues to search bots and visitors alike as to what your site is all about.
If you neglect this information, you may find your site on the front results page with little to no traffic coming through to your site.
Are You Ignoring Single-Page Design?
You may think a complex multipage website is necessary for your SEO strategy, but don't underestimate the power of simplicity. Single-page sites offer multiple SEO advantages.
The simplicity of one-page optimization allows easier audience targeting. Single-page designs allow page owners to really control the user experience since you can present all the appropriate information all in one place. There's no need to worry about users accessing information out of order.
Single-page sites also give mobile users a better experience. Single pages load much quicker than multipage sites. They are also much easier to navigate than multipage sites since they only require users to scroll. This is extremely valuable, as the vast majority of searches take place on a mobile device.
There are a few one-page SEO tips you should keep in mind if you utilize this design. Only include information that is absolutely necessary. Users will be required to scroll through all the information on your site in order reach the information they're hunting. You don't want to bore them with content they don't consider valuable.
Are You Wasting Time on Keyword Tags?
While title tags and meta descriptions are crucial to SEO success, keyword tags are a thing of the past. These tags have very little effect on your page’s SEO, so don’t waste your time.
Not only are keyword tags a waste of time, they can actually hurt you. If you include keyword tags on your content, you’re basically making your keyword strategy visible to anyone viewing your page, including your competition.
Are You Neglecting SEO Tools?
Numerous tools allow you to check your on-page SEO online and make life a little easier. Some of these tools perform an on-page SEO analysis, some help with keywords and content, and all of them are weapons you should have in your arsenal. Here are just a few of the best on-page SEO tools available:
- Google AdWords Planner
This well-known tool is valuable for keyword planning. This tool provides information you can use to determine how successful certain keywords may be. You can also use AdWords Planner to develop ideas for future keyword targeting.
- Screaming Frog
This free on-page SEO checker tool is ideal for analyzing your entire site. This is the perfect tool for on-page SEO audits on larger sites and can save you hours of time.
- On page SEO tool by ScanBacklinks
This easy-to-use tool finds all common mistakes that decrease your SEO performance. It also gives you a full report with a list of practical tips to fix all the problems. Use it to analyze your website as well as competitors’ sites.
- Feedthebot
This on-page SEO analyzer has a suite of tools that you can utilize to do everything from page speed tests to social media optimization.