Getting your website to rank on the first pages of SERPs can be difficult or easy. It can be challenging if you’re implementing the wrong strategies and easy if you adopt the right practices. You can’t ignore SEO if you want to attract organic traffic and make profits from your sites. In this article, you’ll learn about three practices that you should completely discard.
1. Ignoring Mobile Optimization
The age of smartphones and tablets has made it possible for many people to access the internet through their mobile devices. Search engines know this and are likely to rank mobile-friendly sites higher. Failing to optimize your website for mobile devices could shut a significant portion of your audience from accessing your content. You may also face the wrath of search engine algorithms which may drop your site’s rankings.
You can optimize your site for mobile devices through a responsive design. A website that adapts seamlessly to various screen sizes ensures a positive user experience AND earns brownie points from search engines. Neglecting this aspect can result in slow-loading pages, distorted layouts, and frustrated users, all of which contribute to a higher bounce rate. Additionally, search engines like Google use mobile-first indexing to rank sites. Failure to prioritize mobile optimization thus puts your site at a severe disadvantage in the SEO race.
Apart from a responsive design, the performance of your website on mobile devices is equally crucial. Slow-loading pages can significantly harm your SEO rankings, as search engines prioritize speed to improve user experience. Check your website’s mobile performance regularly, optimize images, leverage browser caching, and employ compression techniques to improve loading speed.
2. Neglecting The Power Of Backlinks
Backlinks from external websites to yours can boost your SEO rankings. Unfortunately, many businesses overlook their significance, losing out on potential revenue sources. Search engines consider backlinks as endorsements of your website’s credibility and authority.
However, backlinks aren’t created equal. Quality trumps quantity when it comes to building a backlink profile. A few high-quality, authoritative backlinks carry more weight than many low-quality links. Engaging in unethical practices like buying backlinks or participating in link schemes can result in severe penalties which can adversely affect your SEO rankings. Focusing on organic link-building strategies, such as creating valuable, shareable content that naturally attracts links from reputable sources can improve your backlink profile.
3. Duplicating Content
Content duplication is a silent assassin that can undermine your SEO efforts. Duplicate content refers to identical or substantially similar content appearing on multiple pages, either within the same website or across different domains. Search engines detest duplication, as it makes it challenging to determine which version to index and rank. Consequently, this ambiguity can lead to a decline in your SEO rankings.
Duplicate content arises from various sources, including content syndication, boilerplate text, and URL parameters. Internal duplication within your website can also confuse search engines, diluting the authority and relevance of your content. External duplication can result in search engines choosing one version over the other, leaving your original content in the shadows.
To combat the detrimental effects of content duplication, implement canonical tags to indicate the preferred version of a page. This will help search enginesunderstand which version to prioritize in indexing and ranking. Audit your website for duplicate content and address any instances promptly.
The Bottom Line
SEO is the often-overlooked foundation that supports the entire edifice of an online presence. If you want to keep ranking higher in SERPs, adopt the right SEO practices. You can also talk to an SEO agency. They’ll analyze your site’s performance and recommend the best strategies.
