Clever Content Optimisation Tactics Necessary to Avoid Common SEO Mistakes

Nick Brown

6 years ago

Content Optimisation Tactics to Avoid SEO Mistakes

The importance of SEO in today’s global market is clear to everyone. For the marketing department, it is arguably the most important aspect of their job. Not only does SEO help search engine logic to more favourably index our web pages, but it also enhances user experience.

A long-term marketing strategy can drive traffic towards and boost our site’s ranking. Implementation of SEO, on the other hand, can be a challenge. The reason for it is that SEO consists of a wide range of on-page and off-page factors that need to be taken into account. To create content, it takes skill, experience, and knowledge on the particular subject in question.

Certain attributes of SEO are integral parts of every piece of content that we are creating. The first one we have to mention is the authority of the host domain. Predefined keywords are also a given, without those we cannot create relevant content. Links, both internal and external, with various forms of media, like images, video, and audio are something that should be used regularly. Metadata is not something most people are aware exists.

Basically, it is data that describes our relevant data. We need to write these descriptions that will convey the story of what our website is and what it represents. The title is not enough for us to get that message across. Let’s talk about some of the most common mistakes one can make when talking about SEO. As we can see, there is a lot that goes into it and these can cause various problems for our rankings.

1. Keywords Management

First things first, what are even keywords? These are the words that need to have their place in our site that we are creating. Then, when someone types our keyword in a search engine, our article will be recognised by those keywords. If our SEO is sub-optimal, our site might not be at the top of those search results. If we use the wrong keywords, our site will not be effective and the whole content will not make sense. This is where a bit of common sense and intuition comes into play. We need to select keywords that people are most likely going to use when searching for our website. Basically, we are trying to be proactive and predict what words potential clients will use.

Another aspect to consider is the variety and number of our keywords. Using keywords as much as possible in our content is not the way to go. It is never a good strategy to overuse them.

How much is overusing them?

Well, it depends on a multitude of factors, so we will leave that to the individual to calculate. Search engines are quite aware of the concept of spam. Google will immediately drop the ranking for a site that is hosting spammy content. This, in turn, will result in poor SEO results. It renders the content useless and inorganic for our targeted audience. So, use your keywords wisely and rationally.

2. Keeping the Content Relevant

Once we determine the relevant keywords for our site and its content, we need to focus on it. If our content is not relevant to the keywords, SEO will notice that. Again, our SEO ranking will tank. People tend to forget or are simply trying to make their jobs easier by underestimating the complex algorithms that go into an SEO engine. These programs have been in development for years and years and it is impossible to fool or go around them. Their main goal is to provide the best content for their portals, like Google, as a prime example.

One of the biggest mistakes one can make is in regard to the relevance of the content we are trying to get eyes on. Trying to fit a multitude of topics into a single piece is not a good idea. Take this article for example. We have a clearly defined title and subject.

And so far, so good, we are going along those lines, trying to demystify and elaborate upon the subject. If this article were to go on a tangent and start discussing all the intricacies of microwave ovens, that would not bode very well in our SEO rankings. Forcing our keywords into content that has little or no connection with one another, does not make any sense and SEO engines know that.

Our objective for any SEO optimisation campaign is to provide content that meets the needs of our target audience. If we make our keywords and the content they reside in mutually related, our rankings will be favourable and search results will grow over time.

3. Links, Internal and External

Another key element of any SEO project is linking and they have a great impact on our ranking results. To establish a good relationship with other businesses with links will probably mean we will get a link to our own content in the future. If we link to an external site, again, we need to always make sure that it is still relevant to the anchor text. Next, we need to link it to a well-ranked site. What we said about keywords also applies to link. They need to be relevant but also not overused.

SEO performance prefers quality over quantity.

Overusing links, no matter the quality will negatively impact our rankings. Back to the relevance of our links. They need to be completely related to the text they are anchored to. SEO algorithms are constantly scanning content. If they find any discrepancies, that is the text does not match the link, it is considered spam. Our links need to be descriptive, so anchor texts like “click here” or “read here” are definitely something we should avoid.

4. Speed of Our Content

The loading speed of our content is the make it or break it factor for successfully conveying our message. The increasingly digitalised audience has an ever-decreasing attention span. When it comes to online content, humans have the shorter memory span than a goldfish. The reason being is that if we cannot make our message clear, concise and up to the point, there are plenty of others that can do just that.

That means we need to make the entirety of our content delivered in no more than a couple of seconds or else we risk of losing the interest of a potential customer or client. They will simply go elsewhere. We will never be the only player in the field.

In today’s globalised market, it has in a sense become a much smaller field and everyone is trying to get a hold of the ball. There are three main reasons for slow online content response:

Inadequate hosting
Too many HTTP requests
Poor or no optimisation for mobile devices.

When you reach a certain viewership per unit of time, your current hosting plan might not be sufficient. The world is getting increasingly mobile. People are preferring to interact with online content via their mobile devices as opposed to stationary, bulky personal computers or laptops. Which is no wonder as mobile technology has reached a point where it can rival the performance of smaller computers.

This is why it has become paramount to optimise our content and sites to adequately accommodate these devices. Which can be a problem, especially from a developer’s standpoint as standards are seemingly endless and are constantly changing. We can always get professional assistance on these complicated subjects if we deem it necessary. For example, GWM SEO Brisbane will handle any and all SEO related inquiries we may have.

If we aim to achieve better search engine results for increased traffic through our website, good SEO is paramount. It is not easy to achieve as everyone is competing in this new, for many an abstract marketplace. These are some of the most common cases we need to pay attention to in order to make the most of our SEO performance.

If you’re looking for some more useful SEO tips and strategies, check out these other Marketing.com.au articles: