Avoid These 11 SEO Blunders as a Beginner!

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a crucial aspect of getting your articles, products, job listings, or any other content to rank higher on search engines and attract more visitors. However, many beginners make several mistakes in their SEO efforts. In this article, we will discuss the eleven most common SEO mistakes that beginners make and how to avoid them.

Mistake 1: Targeting Highly Competitive Keywords

When starting as a writer or blogger, it’s tempting to compete with bigger sites by targeting highly competitive keywords or topics. However, this is often a bad idea for several reasons. Firstly, you may not have the experience or expertise to create content that truly competes with high-quality writing found on more established blogs or websites. Secondly, targeting highly competitive keywords means facing fierce competition not only from other bloggers or websites but also from big brands with more financial resources, capability, and manpower to quickly rank in search results.

Instead, focus on finding less competitive keywords and topics that allow you to build your audience naturally through quality content creation. Tools like Ahrefs can give you insights into the topics you are targeting, with a scoring system to judge the keyword difficulty based on the number of referring domains needed to rank at the top. The lower the score, the easier it is to rank.

Mistake 2: Writing Long-Form Content

While long-form content can be beneficial for SEO, it’s not always the best strategy for beginners. Writing a high-quality, well-researched piece of long-form content can take weeks or even months, and there’s no guarantee that it will rank. As a beginner, it’s better to focus on doing proper keyword research and utilizing tools like Content AI to analyze the content currently ranked on search engines based on the targeted keyword and location.

Content AI can suggest a range for the length of your content, giving you an idea of how much effort you need to put in to rank. Focus on topics that give you the most chance of ranking with the least amount of effort, especially when you are a beginner. As your website gains more authority, you can target more competitive keywords that require long-form content.

Mistake 3: Not Writing Quality Content

Quality content is essential for SEO, but many beginners make the mistake of not understanding the intent of the focused keyword they’re targeting. It’s crucial to determine who you are writing for and what they’re expecting to find when searching for a particular keyword. Once you understand the intent, you can craft content that answers the search terms specifically.

Mistake 4: Shady Link Building

Link building is an essential part of SEO, but not all link-building strategies are created equal. Low-quality or shady link-building practices can destroy your website entirely. Avoid using shady link-building services that promise thousands of links for a low price, as they can result in low-quality links that won’t do anything to improve search engine ranking and can even get you penalized by Google.

Instead, focus on building high-quality links naturally by writing quality content that other blogs and websites in your niche want to read and link to. You can also use HARO outreach through the “Help a Reporter Out” website to pitch your content to news and media outlets looking for credible sources to link to.

Mistake 5: Keyword Stuffing

Keyword stuffing was once an effective SEO strategy, but it’s now a mistake to avoid at all costs. Stuffing your content with too many keywords can result in a negative user experience and can even get you penalized by Google. To avoid keyword stuffing, use tools like Content AI to suggest the length of your content and the keywords that should be added to your content, as well as how many of each keyword to use.

Mistake 6: Improper Use of Header Tags

Header tags are essential for SEO, but many beginners make the mistake of using them improperly. It’s important to view heading tags in a hierarchy, with only one H1 tag on any page of your website, followed by H2 tags that further elaborate the purpose of the book or chapter, and H3 tags that go into detail for each of the H2 tags. Never have an H4 heading tag within an H2 if there is no presence of H3, and always follow the hierarchy of heading tags.

Mistake 7: Missing Alt Text on Images

Adding alt text to your images is an SEO practice that still stands today. However, if you’re using the WordPress editor, there’s a high tendency to miss adding alt text. To solve this, use Rank Math as your core SEO plugin, as it has an Image SEO module that allows you to set the file name of your image as the alt text by default, even if you forget to add it manually.

Mistake 8: Not Focusing on Site Structure

Having a proper site structure is essential for SEO, as it gives your site more topical relevance and ensures that your content is logically organized around the topics, making it more targeted and relevant for both users and search engines. Neglecting site structure can undermine all your other SEO efforts and limit the reach and impact of your website. Use Rank Math’s internal link suggestion feature to let you know what other pages under the same category you should link to, and select one of your articles as the pillar content to interlink with other related articles.

Mistake 9: Improper Use of External Links

Adding external links to your content can be a great way to optimize your website for search engines, but it’s crucial to be careful with the content you’re linking to. Linking to low-quality or irrelevant content can negatively impact your website’s SEO. Only link to high-quality and relevant content, and make sure that the links you include are placed in a way that makes sense to your readers. Use tools like Content AI to suggest which pages on the web you should link to, and add an about or mentions schema on the external links to tell search engines that they are directly related to the main topic or a subtopic of your article.

Mistake 10: Neglecting Mobile Optimization

With more and more people searching for things and consuming content on their mobile devices, it’s essential to ensure that your website is mobile-friendly. Neglecting mobile optimization can lead to poor engagement and lower overall ranking. Make sure that all aspects of your website are finely tuned and ready to meet the needs of modern web users on a variety of devices. Use mobile-friendly WordPress themes and make sure that all elements are visible and there aren’t any awkward misalignments or overlapping of elements.

Mistake 11: Neglecting Site Speed

Site speed is an essential factor in SEO, as it’s officially part of the ranking factor called page experience, which uses metrics from Core Web Vitals to justify the page experience of a site. Slow sites frustrate users and can lead to a high bounce rate, which can negatively impact your website’s SEO. Use tools like Rank Math to easily analyze the site speed of your pages and make necessary optimizations to improve your website’s speed performance.

In conclusion, avoiding these eleven common SEO mistakes can help your website reach its fullest potential without any hiccups. Remember that experience is the best teacher, so keep experimenting and learning from your mistakes to improve your SEO results. If you need help with solving any SEO issues, leave a comment down below or reach out to our support team. Don’t forget to subscribe to our channel for more SEO and business knowledge. Happy optimizing!