As your top, trusted SEO and Digital Marketing company, we thought it made sense to help you know both what to do, and what not to do. And that’s why we brainstormed the 6 most common SEO mistakes that new digital marketers make.

Of course, we’re here to help take care of all your SEO and digital marketing needs, but if you decide to go it alone – we still want to help! So read on, learn up, get started – and if you ever get stuck, you can always ask our knowledgeable team.

Content Issues

Too thin of content? Content that isn’t clear or written well, grammatical errors, dry voice, or even a lack of depth and comprehensive information? All of that can make Google, and other search engines, down-rank your page due to ‘bad content’.

Make sure you’re writing content that will actually help your readers because Google can tell! Its algorithms and ability to ‘read’ are so sophisticated, you can’t get away with spammy or bad content anymore – nor should you! Place the effort and time into your content, just like you do with your design because it really is worth it!

Black Hat Practices

Let’s just get this out in the open right away near the beginning of this list – don’t do black hat tactics. You will be caught, and you will be dropped. Plus, why cheat the system when the system is meant to make things better for your clients and search engine users? This means cheating the system (search engine algorithms) really just cheats your clients and web users.

If you’re using black hat tactics, it means you don’t think you can keep up with the competition with your true services or products. So, instead of using these shady tactics which will eventually get caught and hurt your brand and trustworthiness, improve your services and invest in your company.

Overloaded [& Slow] Website

Slow websites make your users distrust you, your security, and your quality. So, make sure your website is compressed and you fix any speed issues as they come up. This can be done in many ways actually, in fact, check out these tips to make your site lightning fast!

Confusing Layout

User experience and understanding how your user views and uses your website (even with heat map tracking or where you want their eyes to be drawn) is important! After all, if you can’t find what you need on a site, are you going to search for it, or simply leave and find it on another site?

Learn about user experience and how to integrate it into your design with this helpful article.

Bad Backlink/Few Backlinks

Backlinks are like letters of recommendation for your website – and search engines care about those letters hugely! Having few backlinks, or even many backlinks but from untrusted or low authority websites, will hurt your SEO.

Gaining quality backlinks is time consuming but so worth it. Develop a backlink plan and learn more here.

Ignoring Local SEO

For most companies, you have a local presence which you cannot ignore! From being on local lists to targeting localized keywords (like best SEO company in Dallas, instead of just ‘best SEO company’), optimizing for local SEO can be even more helpful (and move a little quicker) than national SEO keywords.

Make sure you add local SEO into your overall digital marketing plan and watch your rankings rise in your own city as well as the ones surrounding you!

Contact JSL

Of course, there are over 200 ranking factors that go into just Google’s algorithm, and it’s constantly changing! So, if the above 6, plus having another 194 more, seem a little overwhelming, then contact JSL Marketing & Web Design to handle all your SEO needs! From local SEO to national, we are here to help!

Contact JSL Marketing & Web Design today to learn more about our SEO Packages, custom packages, pricing, and strategies.