SEO is an essential element of any digital marketing strategy. After all, organic traffic is not only cost-effective, but it sends relevant users to your site. Added to this, these users are more likely to engage with your product or service, and ultimately lead to a conversion.
With the first five organic search results attracting nearly 70% of all clicks, getting your website to the top of the search results is vital. However, some information available online is outdated and it’s easy to make mistakes that can harm your performance in search engines. With that in mind, here are five common SEO mistakes that you can easily avoid if you want to increase your chances of ranking highly in search engine results pages (SERPs).
1. Slow Loading Pages
Google consistently emphasises the importance of good user experience and in 2010, they announced that site speed would be a new signal in their search ranking algorithm. Since then, site speed has become considerably more important, with 40% of people now abandoning a website that takes more than three seconds to load.
A slow loading page may struggle to perform well in the SERPs. This is because Google will generally prioritise sites with a faster loading time to ensure visitors receive a better user experience. The good news is there are plenty of easy ways to reduce your loading times.
How to Fix Slow Loading Pages
- Optimise images - images take longer than text to load. You can reduce loading times by choosing the right image format, scaling your images appropriately, and compressing the file size.
- Enable browser caching - caching temporarily stores content, meaning pages with cache enabled will load quicker for returning visitors.
- Reduce JavaScript and CSS files - you can reduce load times by removing unnecessary elements in JavaScript and CSS files. Review third party scripts with your internal teams and remove any that are no longer required to improve performance.
- Limit plugins - plugins offer better functionality but too many can slow your site down. Take inventory of the plugins you are using and eliminate any that are unnecessary or you no longer use.
- Embed videos - videos can take up a significant amount of space, so consider keeping the video elsewhere and embedding it onto your site instead.
It’s important to note that page loading time in a traditional sense is now assessed under Google’s Core Web Vitals (CWV) ranking signal, which looks beyond top level load time and focuses on specific elements of page load that impacts user experience.
This includes:
- LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) - how quickly the main content of a web page loads.
- FID (First Input Delay) - the time taken for a browser to process a visitor’s first interaction.
- CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) - how much content shifts after loading.
CWV falls under the wider Page Experience ranking consideration. As this is the case, all factors influencing user experience should be considered when working with developers to optimise page load as fixing an issue in one area can often cause problems in another.
2. Crawling Issues
In order for a search engine to rank your website, it first needs to crawl (discover) and index (store and organise) your pages. If the search engine can’t access your pages, it won’t be able to rank them.
There are a few things that could be blocking a search bot from crawling your pages and there are several ways you can increase the crawlability of your website.
Common Crawling Issues
- Blocked URLs - a robot.txt file tells crawlers which pages to crawl or ignore and is a useful tool for saving your crawling budget (the number of pages crawled in a certain timeframe). However the robot.txt file could be blocking important pages that you do want to be crawled. You can check for blocked URLs in the URL inspection tool or the Pages report in Google Search Console.
- Noindex tags - Like with a robot.txt file, you can tell a search engine not to index a page by adding a noindex tag to it. You may have some pages tagged incorrectly, which will prevent them from ranking. You can check for pages with a noindex tag using most SEO tools, a browser extension, or by using Google Search Console.
- 404s - 404 pages are not only frustrating for users. After all, bots can’t find or index the pages either. You can identify pages with a 404 error using Google Search Console, then redirect the page or fix the broken link.
- Slow page loading - if a page takes too long to load a crawler may abandon it. Optimise your site speed to reduce loading times.
- Duplicate content - if two pages have the same content, bots won’t know which version to index and it can slow the speed of the crawl. Delete or add a noindex tag to pages with duplicate content to prevent search bots from finding them. Alternatively, edit the page so the content is unique.
Ways to Increase Crawlability
- Submit a sitemap - an XML Sitemap gives search bots a map of URLs, making it easier for them to crawl and index your site. It’s important to ensure your sitemap only contains pages you want indexing (avoid 404 pages, canonicalised URLS, and redirects) and is updated with new content.
- Use internal links - internal links make it easier for crawlers to identify new pages. Adding contextual links to important pages or creating topic clusters is a good place to start.
- Optimise robots.txt files - robots.txt files instruct crawlers which pages don’t need to be crawled. By adding URLs and directories that you don’t want crawling to the robots.txt file, you can optimise your crawl budget and ensure your website is being crawled as efficiently as possible.
3. Neglecting Mobile
64% of searches are conducted via a mobile device and, in March 2020, Google began mobile first indexing across the web. This means Google now ranks based on what is seen on the mobile version of your site, not desktop. As Google favours sites with a good user experience, if you’re not optimising for mobile then it could hurt your rankings.
Top Tips for Mobile Optimisation
- Use a responsive design - tablets and mobiles come in a variety of sizes, so your website needs to automatically adapt to the size of the user’s screen to ensure a good user experience.
- Use simple navigation and large buttons - as you’re working with a smaller screen, links and menus need to be simple and buttons need to be large enough to easily use them.
- Only use pop-ups where necessary - pop-ups can be an effective tool on desktop. However, they can be frustrating for the user if they take up most of a mobile screen. Consider limiting the use of pop-ups where possible.
- Reduce text - large sections of text can feel overwhelming and take up too much space on a smaller screen. Keep content concise and use shorter paragraphs.
4. Ignoring Search Intent
A search engine’s goal is to provide users with the most relevant information for their search query. Google has said that in order to return a relevant result, they need to establish the intent behind a query. If your content doesn't align with a user's desired outcome, it may not be considered relevant and you could struggle to rank in the search results.
Search intent typically falls into one of four categories:
- Informational - a user is purely looking for more information on a topic.
- Commercial - a user is interested or ready to buy but wants more detailed information on a product or service, or to learn more about the brand.
- Transactional - a user knows what they want and is ready to buy. Their goal is to make a purchase.
- Navigational - a user wants to find a specific page or website without typing the full URL. For example, they will search for ‘Facebook’ instead of typing in ‘facebook.com’.
How to Identify Search Intent
- Analyse the SERPs - evaluate the top-performing content in the SERPs. Getting an idea of the content type, format, and topics from high-ranking pages can give you a good indication of user intent.
- Examine your analytics - high bounce rates can be a signal that your content doesn’t align with the user’s objective. Compare your pages with higher bounce rates to the top-performing pages in the SERPs and identify any significant differences in your content.
5. Not Prioritising Backlinks
Backlinks act as a trust signal for search engines. If another website finds your content useful and is willing to send their visitors there, it’s a good indication to the search engine that you are offering something of value. By securing good quality, relevant backlinks for your website, you can increase your authority in the SERPs and improve your chances of ranking.
Ways to Get a Backlink
- Guest post - writing content for another website not only benefits them but also allows you to link back to your own website.
- Create linkable assets - high-quality infographics or in-depth guides may be something other sites want to link to in order to enhance their own content.
- Find broken links - look at websites that have some relevance to you and where you could naturally slot a backlink in. If you spot any broken links, get in touch with them and offer a replacement link.
- Be a source - use a site like Qwoted or Pressflow that connect you with journalists and bloggers who are seeking quotes, products or information. You can submit a pitch to fulfil their request and if you’re of use to them they may include you in their article, earning you a backlink.
Need a Hand with Your SEO?
SEO is a long-term process with high reward but it can be tricky to get right. Fixing technical issues like slow pages or poor crawlability, or improving the authority of your site and ensuring a good user experience are just a few of the many aspects of SEO.
If you’re looking to improve your SEO further and want some guidance from the experts, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today.
