What are 5 areas where webmasters make the most mistakes in S.E.O? Lets ask the experts! Recently Google Webmaster Help made a short video and talked about the 5 most common mistakes they encounter on websites.
1- Not Making Your Site Crawlable
It’s not enough to have a website with quality content, you also want to make sure it can be found! Very often people have their material locked up in areas that can’t be easily accessed. Make sure your valuable content is not hidden in some obscure place and ensure that the hot links on your website are all working and directing the user to the appropriate page.
2- Include the Right Words on the Page
What does your company do, what are the hours of operation, what questions can you answer? Keep those thoughts in mind when you are creating content. Include the “phrases” and questions that users would actually write to find your type of site . For example, it would be better to write “how high is Mt. Everest?” vs. “Mt Everest elevation.” As much as possible, describe what you do.
3- Focus on Creating Compelling Content and Marketing
Don’t focus on link building exclusively because doing so can close you off to other opportunities. Instead, spend your energy creating compelling content and think about ways to market and engage people in various ways. What are those things and subjects that are going to draw an audience? Create content centered around those topics.
4- Title and Description of Important Pages
Do you have a title of your home page or any of your other high traffic pages? If someone bookmarked one of your pages, would it show “untitled” or would their be a recognizable description where a user could easily return? Your description can also determine what will show up in your metadescription (snippet) on the SERP (search engine results page) which could greatly determine whether or not people will visit your website.
5- Not Using Webmaster Resources
Investigate the free resources that are out there and take advantage of them. For example, Google offers help through google.com/webmaster. You can check out their blog to receive valuable updates, subscribe to their Youtube channel, participate in the community to receive insight, etc. There are plenty of free tools that can greatly help you improve your website and make sure it is found.
To see the entire video about this subject click here. To determine whether or not your site is S.E.O optimized, or if you would like to have a website created, contact:
HomeFolio Media
925-202-2426
- Proof a Fish is Smarter Than Your Audience - January 29, 2015
- How to Write Successful Real Estate Headlines for Increased Sales - September 30, 2014
- 16 Blogging Mistakes Realtors Can Avoid to Improve SEO - August 21, 2014
I like the fourth suggestion. So, are you saying in the “Snippet” area we should title every page or post above and beyond the title of the blog post or page? Can you expand on this?
What we are basically saying is that it’s important to make sure each page on your site has an appropriate, recognizable title. It will make it easier for the user if they want to bookmark it, and for Google too.
The “snippet (metadescription)” that shows up under each link on the SERP( search engine results page) should also be very descriptive and detailed as possible. The metadescription is basically your “pitch” to try and get the user to press your link. If you don’t manually specify what you are going to say in the snippet, Google will simply search your homepage for the first text it can find and insert it there. If your homepage does not have a full description of keywords or a good explanation of what you have offer, your snippet could end up looking weak/unappealing– causing someone to pass by your website.