How Can You Go Wrong with SEO? Tips and Possible Fixes

"If you fell down yesterday, stand up today," said Herbert George Wells, an English writer identified as 'the Shakespeare of Science Fiction. '

Wells must have quoted this to predict the scenario of businesses today. In online business, you may have lost the race a few days back, but with the right Search Engine Optimization (SEO), you will regain the power to bounce back and race ahead. Spiders and Crawlers are happy with the right SEO.

After all, an optimized website or web page is directly linked to online visibility in the SERPs (search engine results page) and convertible traffic, which eventually contribute to a successful digital business.

Search engines are the consoles, and optimization is the lifeline for business growth.

Whether you're familiar or not familiar with SEO, take it from us, it can go wrong anytime with a slight ignorance.

So, how do you know if your SEO is going wrong? How can you fix this before it gets worse?

Here, we have attempted to help you understand how SEO can go wrong, how to fix it, some of the best practices, the benefits of using SEO software, current trends, and much more.

A Few Common SEO Mistakes in Traffic Generation and Tips to Fix Them

Hundreds of websites are indexed in search engines every single day. There's no doubt that having a robust and accurate SEO strategy is a prerequisite for yielding better rankings in the SERPs. But, with the constant evolution of the algorithms, it is not easy to maintain them consistently. One mistake could sabotage all the efforts you have put into implementing the strategies. Here are a few mistakes to avoid for traffic generation, and with a bit of work, you can fix them as well.

Low-Quality Content

Low-quality content, also known as thin content, is one of the major concerns responsible for the drop in traffic. Many companies curate content just for the sake of posting it and do not provide useful information to users. This hampers the traffic and overall visibility of your website in the eyes of search engines.

Source: Giftblooms

Possible Fix

• There are many ways to improve the quality of content. But before doing so, it is essential to remember that visitors are human beings, not bots. Therefore, your content writing quality and techniques should revolve around providing high value to the reader.
• One way to fix poor-quality content is to identify weak content on the website. To do this, go to Google and enter site:websitename.com to check which pages are indexed.
• If it is not indexed, there is a high risk of duplicate content, plagiarized content, or useless information. Here's where revamping the old content comes into the picture.
• We suggest you use a generic tone and avoid using jargon phrases that go beyond understanding. When you are curating the content, give credit to the original sources of the information. Simply copy-pasting the content is a strict red flag. It can even result in a penalty for your website. Google frequently provides necessary guidelines from time to time through its algorithm updates.
• If you are presenting information to users, create an outline using the 5Ws: WHY, WHO, WHEN, WHERE, and WHAT. This will aid you in curating content appropriately.

Broken Links

There is a chance that your website will have at least one broken link occasionally. Therefore, marketers should consistently monitor the state of inbound and outbound links.

Websites often run in 404 errors. There are multiple reasons for this. Blog URLs were tweaked, the content was removed, redesigning of the website was done, and so forth. Broken links refer to hyperlink that no longer redirects to the intended destination. When a visitor lands on a 404 page and does not receive any information, will they go back to your site again? Will they trust your online authority and keep surfing your website to find the desired information?

Here's an example of a broken link.

Source - Google

Possible Fixes

• You can easily rectify the broken links by using any of the web tools available on the internet. Many of the website platforms also provide broken link checker plugins to run this test.

Images without Alt texts

Images make the webpage attractive and make it easy for users to understand the concept. However, for individuals who are visually impaired or blind, it becomes difficult to navigate the meaning of the image.

Here's where the image alt text or Alternative Text comes into play. The alt text describes the function or meaning of the image. Users who have disabilities can understand the meaning of the image through a screen reader application.

In the SEO context, it is mandatory to add alt text in the image in compliance with website accessibility standards (WCAG). To check whether the image has alt text or not, point to the image right-click, and check to inspect. A new pane will appear with the HTML code. You can view the text and verify if it has ALT text available or not.

Here's an example of an image without Alt Text

Source - Image Alt Tag Checker

Possible Fixes

• First things first, describe the purpose of the image in a few words in a concise manner.
• Avoid adding “image of…” or “photo of…”
• Always start the Alt text with capital letters and end it with a period. This gives a chance to the reader to pause after reading the text.
• Carefully craft the placement of the keyword in the image.
• If there are multiple images, the target is the main core keyword.

Copied Content

Companies are well-versed in the fact that they have to publish content frequently.

Since they are unable to churn the content, they publish it by copying it from another website. This is a serious technical issue that can greatly affect web page rankings.

Here's an example of copied content.

Source - QueText

Possible Fixes

• The first step in fixing the copied content is to find the pages where the visitors take a U-turn. Check the pages that have high bounce rates. There is a possibility that the content is not relevant to the user information. Re-write them and make them as creative, reliable, and user-centric original content.
• One way to reduce the bounce rate is to add a Call To Action at the end of the blog. Alongside this, provide precise and accurate information regarding your services/products to build trust-worthy relationships with customers.
• Additionally, you can fix the copied content mistake by running your content through different tools to ensure that it's not repeated anywhere.

Outdated Information

We live in a world where the latest information is constantly changing and available at the tap of a finger. Providing wrong information or outdated information per se could mislead the users and negatively impact your brand and overall rankings in the SERPs.

Here's an example of outdated information.

Source - Pew Research Org

Possible Fixes

• Go to Google Search Console and track the posts that have low traffic. The next step is to update the content with the latest update and relaunch your content with the latest information and statistics. Add missing insights from the latest news or add the missing pain points that will solve the user's query. You can also add a FAQs section in the post, which can boost your chances of getting a higher ranking in the snippets.
• We highly recommend you not stuff keywords forcefully. Amalgamate them in a natural flow of the content. Add eye-catching visuals, GIFs, or videos that will keep the reader hooked to your post. By following these few steps, you can breathe new life into the blog posts and aim to rank higher in the SERPs.

Over-stuffing of Keyword

Anyone who believes that adding keywords to the content or over-optimizing will bring the content to the top of search results is living in a different era. Yes, keywords are a vital part of an SEO strategy. But over-stuffing the keywords in every third or fourth line of the content will land you in big trouble, even a penalty. Google considers it spammy, as it makes your content look very unappealing to the audience.

Here's an example of content with an over-stuffing keyword.

Source - Giftblooms

Possible Fixes

• As per our content marketing experts, we suggest you write the content from an audience's perspective. Don't cram keywords into the content, as it makes it invaluable. The best strategy to avoid keyword stuffing is to use them where they make sense, where they relate to the audience, and where they fit naturally.
• The thumb rule is to write content and compare its value to customers. Besides, use long-tail variation keywords that match the user's query.

Site Speed

Site speed is a crucial factor that will affect the rankings in a major way. Google will rank the pages higher that load faster and provide efficient results. Think from a user perspective, if a website is slow in displaying the results, the user will hop on to the other relevant website.

Slow page speed tends to frustrate users and thereby increase the bounce rate. In addition, Google also considers your website's Core Web Vitals, which assist in analyzing the real loading time for visitors. Therefore, using this data, Google decides your rankings in SERPs.

Here's an example of a slow site speed website.

Source - Page Speed Insights

Possible Fixes

There are easy ways to fix the site speed.

• Upgrade your hosting plans and opt for 8GB RAM or more.
• Limit the number of installed plugins.
• Test the speed of the website using Google Speed Insight. The analysis report will present to you the causes behind the slow response. Fix them, and your website will run smoothly.

Missing Location-Specific Elements

If you are into a business that targets local customers within a specific city or region, then it is important to understand the value local SEO offers. As per the statistics by Hubspot, 50% of smartphone users visit the local business every 24 hours. So if your business has not claimed or added any location-specific business, then consumers will never be able to reach out for your products or services.

Here's an example of missing location-specific elements.

Source - Google My Business

Possible Fixes

• To solve this SEO error, register in famous business directories that will list your business online with all the necessary information. You can also create a My Google Business account and set up a profile. This is a noteworthy local SEO tactic that will increase your business's visibility in the targeted region.
• Start collecting testimonials and feedback from the customers and aim to receive high-quality backlinks. If the business has multiple locations, then create unique content for each My Google Business Page.
• By conducting the above few methods, you can hold a strong base for your local searches and even generate more conversions.

Missing Mobile Optimization

In December 2018, Google announced mobile-first indexing that comprised half of the websites from the search results.

Look around yourself, from kids to the elderly, almost everyone has mobile phones through which they can access information anytime and anywhere. Aren't they the targeted audience? A well-mobile-optimized website decides your ranking. 52.2% of all website traffic worldwide comes from mobile phones.

Here's an example of missing mobile optimization.

Source - Mobile-Friendly Test

Possible Fixes

• If your website has not undergone the mobile-first indexing transition, you can use the Google URL Inspection tool.
• Next, test your website in different browsers, mobile phones, and tablets. Ensure that the design is user-friendly, with smooth navigation features and visible information.
• Add the structure data to the mobile pages and update the mobile URLs.

Pages Without Secured Connection

Having an HTTPS and SSL certificate is not merely for security purposes. In fact, Google prioritizes websites that offer secure connections and helps them improve their ranking.

When a user enters a domain in the search bar, it will display NOT SECURE with a red background and a warning message. This could easily scare away the user from your website.

Here's an example of a website without a secure connection.

Source - Google

Possible Fix

• To quickly fix this error, buy an SSL certificate from a certified authority and install it on the website to make it secure.

It will look something like this.

Source - Search Engine Journal

Meta Description Exceeding the Prescribed Length

Businesses work tirelessly to improve the content, yet they ignore the most basic yet super important factors that will affect the rankings. We are talking about meta descriptions.

Here's what Google has to say about Meta Descriptions

A meta description tag generally informs and interests users with a short, relevant summary of what a particular page is about. They are like a pitch that convinces the user that the page is exactly what they're looking for.

Meta descriptions are short 150-160 character content descriptions that convey what your web page is all about. Through these little snippets, search engines are able to crawl and index your page. A well-written meta description can provoke the user to click on content on the website.

Similar to your page content, marketers should also optimize the meta descriptions with relevant keywords and no exceeding length.

Here's an example of a meta description exceeding the prescribed length.

Source - Google

Possible Fixes

Here are some possible ways to fix this issue;

• Run an SEO audit to find out all the pages that are missing meta descriptions and the ones that exceed 160.
• Always use a sentence case. For each page, write a unique meta description.
• Do not use click-bait descriptions
• Make sure that the meta description summarizes your content appropriately.

Meta Title Tag

The meta title tag is a core element for on-page SEO. It helps engine crawlers understand the context of your page. Marketers should focus on accurately describing the title tags and accurately presenting what the page is all about. Additionally, the meta description should represent the content in brief. Failing to do so can produce low search results, fewer website visitors, and few ROI conversions.

Source - Google

Possible Fix

• To avoid this mishap, ensure that each page of the website has a unique title tag and appropriate meta description. Incorporate relevant keywords in the tag so that the crawlers can identify your website.

Improper URLs

Google wants to send users to websites that provide a phenomenal experience. One criterion for this is the URL structure.

Let's take an example. Which website do you think Google will rank in terms of URL?

• https://www.toystore.com/productnumber1=somecode/
• https//www.toystore.com/category/productname/brand

Google will not consider the former URL and shove it for poor rankings. While the latter will have more opportunities to outrank in the SERPs.

Possible Fixes

• Use full words in the URL
• Avoid numbers and stop words in the URL
• Add the necessary keyword in the URL
• Integrate the categories

Value Less Redirects

When you shift or delete anything from your website, you want your visitors to arrive at a new location that provides value. Integrating a redirect function automatically sends users to the new location.

However, placing ambiguous redirects could actually result in low traffic, increased bounce rate, and page speed. If the redirect URL provides little or no value, then cleaning it up is the ultimate solution.

Here's an example of value-less redirects.

Source - Connection We Solve IT

Possible Fixes

• Using the Google Console crawl stats feature to identify which pages are popping up with 404 errors.
• Do not link a page that has a redirect on it. The cycle of redirects will continue leaving the user frustrated.
• Always clear the cache.
• Plugins can often also result in redirects, so ensure that you remove unnecessary plugins.
• Conduct regular scans or SEO audits, especially after moving to a new hosting provider.

A Few Common SEO Mistakes in Conversion and Tips to Fix Them

With so many SEO resources available on the internet, the most pressing question that businesses often wonder about is how to avoid a few SEO mistakes in conversion. Well, the tactics will not do overnight magic. However, regularly practicing them can help you secure a rank in the SERPs. Let's get started!

No analytics

It's easy to get caught up in implementing all the strategies without any direction. Here's where an effective solution of using analytics will put you on the right track. Using web analytics software will give you data and insights about what's working in your favor.

Source - GoodFirms

Some of the most famous tools are Google Analytics and Google Search Console, which help you in bringing your best foot forward. Disregarding data and analytics reports can be detrimental to your website's rankings. Consider blending analytics tools within your website to fetch the data and thereby tweak your strategies.

No Attention Towards Local Search

In the sophomore days of local SEO, it was super quick to fabricate the information, incorporate the keywords, fake listing, fallacious locations, and so forth.

The digital era has brought an evolution, especially for local businesses. Through local SEO, businesses are able to address their targeted audiences locally. Additionally, My Business permits local businesses to showcase their profile in their current environment.

Users are constantly browsing information on their phones about their surroundings. Hence, it's an opportunity worth not missing. Businesses of all sizes and types should benefit from local SEO by optimizing the content with location-specific keywords and utilizing My Business.

Keyword Optimization

One of the top priorities of any business is to have organic traffic. To nail this parameter, having a strong content strategy will give a signal to the algorithms to rank your site in the SERPs. A strong keyword optimization strategy will help you build a content strategy through consistent research, finding, and usage of relevant keywords.

But if it isn't, then it will not drive the potential traffic to your website.

Source - WordStream

Possible Fixes

• The first step is to find relevant keywords related to your content. You can perform this process through different keyword planner tools, such as Google Keyword Planner or SEMrush.
• Once the research is completed, start applying keywords at the right placements. Avoid keyword stuffing, instead, use them even in the Anchor Text to catch the attention of search engine algorithms.
• Aside from that, if your keyword optimization efforts are going in vain, then consider rebuilding your content strategy that could give better results.

Lack of Elements in Setting Targeted Audience

As content marketers, it is our responsibility to ensure that the content appeals to our targeted audience. Unfortunately, even the most skilled marketers can fall prey to not finding the targeted audience and poor engagement and reach.

Source - Ubersuggest

Possible Fixes

Here's a possible solution for fixing the lacking elements that target a set of audiences.

• To get started, understand who you are creating the content for.
• What type of topics is currently relevant?
• Understand the demographics for the content customization
• Where do you plan to scale your content? Which platforms do you plan to distribute?
• To stir up engagement with the users, schedule email campaigns, polls, and surveys.

Poor graphics

Poor graphics can take away the essence of any website. Additionally, it can also make your website look amateur, and cause hindrance in traffic generation.

Here's an example of poor graphics.

Source - Berkshire Hathaway Inc

Possible Fixes

• To improve the quality of graphics with strong SEO appeal, here are a few possible fixes that you can implement.
• Design the visuals that are correlated to your content.
• Compress the image files. High-resolution images tend to take time in page loading speed. Hence, ensure that the images are optimized and compressed so that they can load quickly on all the applications.
• If you are adding videos, consider adding transcriptions or subtitles, as this will maintain user engagement and viewership.

Poor UX/UI

The last thing you would want is to neglect user experience (UX), which is an incredible part of a successful SEO strategy. As search engines continue to evolve and bring in the best bits, focus on how users interact with the website to determine its ranking in SERPs.

Here's an example of Poor UX/UI.

Source - Pacific Northwest X-Ray Clinic

Possible Fixes

• To have a smooth UX, make sure that the page loads quickly with easy-to-use navigation. In addition, pay close attention to the color palette, fonts, and overall design. Nowadays, businesses tend to follow minimalist designs in web applications.
• PRO-TIP - create structured content that's easy to read and gives an apt solution to the customer's query. If a user is having a hard time navigating and finding the right piece of information, they will move on to another website.

Fake reviews

Businesses involving reviewing products and services can expect positive and negative feedback. The more the number of reviews, the more your business will collect social proof and boost the local search engine factors.

Positive reviews can largely impact your business and overall branding. However, having fake yet positive reviews can make your business look suspicious to Google. At the same time, customers expressing negative experiences can drive away traffic.

Here's an example of fake reviews.

Source - Google

Possible Fixes

• While you can avoid fabricating fake reviews from multiple sources, you can use negative reviews to build a strong customer relationship and better understand the audience.
• Be open to acknowledging the queries of the users and collect genuine reviews from the customers.

Unwanted Articles

Unwanted articles can have a negative effect and clog up the rankings. Unwanted articles are also known as thin content that keeps appearing for numerous reasons like copy-paste, using too many quotations, duplication of content, article directories, and so on.

The end result is that it becomes harder for the users to find the original source of the content that has genuine information.

Possible Fixes

• Identify the poor-quality content that has no relevant information and consider removing it from your website.
• Pay attention to the traffic data, as it will show which articles are successful and which are not working well.
• Do not add unrelated links to the content, as it can come off as a manipulation in the rankings.
• If there are any unwanted articles, set them up for 301 redirects. A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect that informs search engines to move visitors from the old page to the new page. Use tools that detect unwanted or scrapped content from websites.

What are the Underlying Secrets of SEO?

There is a myriad of factors that influence your rankings in search engine page results. Google confirmed some of these factors by mentioning them frequently in the algorithm updates. But there's a lot of guesswork involved out there, especially for marketers.

In such circumstances, what should one do?

Well, you shift focus on what you can control and start prioritizing on-page SEO.

Let's start off by understanding the basics of on-page SEO and learn more about its importance and tactics as we move forward in the blog.

On-Page SEO

On-page SEO, also known as on-site SEO, is the technique of optimizing the elements of your website. It enables search engine bots to analyze your page's content.

Optimizing or altering elements like meta titles and meta descriptions or tweaking the internal link structure of your website can greatly increase the chances of your website gaining traffic and rankings in SERPs.

Why Should Businesses Focus on Optimizing On-Page SEO?

On-page SEO assists search engines in analyzing your website and its content to verify that the user's search query is relevant to your site. Over the decades, Google has upgraded its search engine algorithm more than 5,000 times and run over 800,000 experiments. Due to this reason, it's evident that every marketer must follow the guidelines and emphasize optimizing the website for top rankings in SERPs.

One of the primary goals of Google is to deliver search results as per the user's intent and provide a satisfactory experience. Therefore, it is essential that your website denotes optimization to its content, images, and other media that are visible to search engines, like HTML, metadata, and so forth. This way, search engines are able to decipher your website and provide the ranking for the same. The search engine selects the website based on the keywords used for indexing and ranking. Additionally, with on-page SEO, you have full authority to set the goal for each page. You can decide on a set of keywords for the page you want to rank, along with the targeted audience.

Off-Page SEO

Off-page SEO, also known as off-site SEO, refers to the set of actions that helps improve the rankings of your website. These methods or techniques, however, work beyond your website. For instance, getting links from other high-authority websites, increased number of shares or mentions on social media, and so on. Through off-page SEO, Google will predict what your website visitors think about your website.

One of the most important factors in building a strong off-page strategy is building quality backlinks. These links should be highly relevant and indexable with brilliant content so that linking them to your website will enable a higher ranking in the search engines.

Why Should Businesses Focus on Optimizing Off-Page SEO?

As we mentioned earlier, the algorithms, ranking factors, and strategies are constantly evolving. However, prioritizing relevancy, reliability, and authority in an off-page strategy will immensely affect the page's ability to rank.

Building strong visibility is a prerequisite for positioning your website higher in SERPs. Failing to do so can hamper the website's performance, and users might not find your website worth it.

One way of letting your users find your website is by building quality backlinks and then placing them on social media pages, forums, and other platforms of high authority. In addition to partnering with other social media platforms, you can also answer on the forums that bring in traffic and get recognized by other users about your website.

Technical SEO

Technical SEO is all about crawling and indexing the website and includes other elements like canonical tags, page speed, crawl optimization, JavaScripts, and other elements that are covered under technical SEO.

Why Should Businesses Focus on Optimizing Technical SEO?

Applying Technical SEO techniques in your strategy will primarily aid your business in driving traffic and more conversions. A well-crafted technical SEO strategy will help the crawlers find your website

Applying technical SEO tactics to your strategy will primarily help your business drive more conversions and traffic. A well-crafted technical SEO strategy will ensure that your website is crawled and indexed by Google and other search engines.

You can possibly have the best content in the world, but if the technical foundation is not strong and there are no reputable links, then your business will not be successful. Hence, it becomes essential for businesses to perform technical audits for the best optimization.

Still, you can go wrong with SEO - How and The possible fixes:

When it comes to SEO, one has to learn how to set the right SEO goals for the business. It's crucial to remember that SEO gives ROI in the long run. Even the most zealous marketers will heighten their expectations, and this can result in disappointment.

To avoid such pitfalls, a sound goal-setting strategy should align with your business objectives. Marketers should conduct a SWOT Analysis and consider the Ahrefs THE SEO GOAL PYRAMID.

Source - Ahrefs

Here's how you can incorporate it into your marketing strategy.

• Outcome goal - The outcome goal is the ultimate vision of your project. What goals do you want to achieve for your business in the dedicated time frame? Be clear and precise while setting the outcome of the goal.
• Performance Goal - Performance goals refer to the breakage of outcome goals that can be achieved in a short time span.
• Process Goals - Process goals will assist you in achieving the performance goals. These are the smaller goals that will contribute towards achieving the ultimate SEO goal.

Not Knowing Your Competitors

Not knowing your competitors can make a huge difference in the success ratio of the business. It can reduce traffic and ranking and even result in lower conversions.

Source - Moz

The first step is to determine your competitors and the type of products or services being promoted in Google. This will give you an overview of ranking keywords, competitors, and targeted customers.

Next, research every competitor and examine their blogs and social media engagement closely. You will gain additional information and opportunities that your competitors might have overlooked.

No Regular Site Audits

Tracking SEO metrics is important to analyze the effectiveness of the efforts. Start by measuring the performance of keywords, content, campaigns, and other factors responsible for SERP rankings. Failing to do so will lead you nowhere, and the cycle of why-is-my-website-not-ranking will continue.

To avoid falling into this loophole, use web analytics tools that allow you to measure performance and identify areas for improvement.

Ignoring the Trends and Innovations

In 2023, the world is changing at the speed of light. From AI to machine learning, new trends and innovations will shape tomorrow's future. Businesses that fail to acknowledge and ignore these trends and innovations will face severe consequences in terms of SERPs and even building connections with the audience.

How Should Businesses Accept Trends and Innovations?

In the last couple of years, SEO has entered a new battleground. The digital ecosystem is introducing new tech changes, like machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), that efficiently strengthen the gap between consumers and brands.

Additionally, businesses can also stay updated with Google Trends, where they can know about the latest trends ongoing in the world.

Source - Google Trends

By going hand in hand with the trends and innovations, it's possible to generate description snippets that are visible on the top of search results. Another arena where AI and machine learning could be useful is in website rankings. Instead of considering keyword density and backlinks, the algorithms will use intelligent capabilities to understand the input from the users and their behavioral patterns and then present the content they wish to read and share.

Not Using the Right SEO Software

Utilizing search engine optimization practices is essential for the growth of the business. However, certain marketers are hesitant to use SEO software. It could be possible that it's not worth the money, or they simply do not understand its value. But the truth is that not investing in fully-featured SEO software can bring frustration in the long run.

Source - Goodfirms

Search engine optimization software assists businesses in improving their visibility in the SERPs. SEO constantly evolves with the latest algorithm updates and different ranking factors. These changes help users solve their queries with the utmost accuracy.

Through SEO software, businesses are able to track down their results and understand potential errors without any manual help. It also suggests solutions that will assist you in beating the competition and gaining top rankings in the search results. Still confused about this? Check the latest list of the most-reviewed search engine optimization (SEO) tools as listed by GoodFirms.

Conclusion

It's simple: if a page cannot be indexed, it will not be visible in the search results. When your website is optimized from the front end to the back end, it is bound to receive a higher position in the SERPs. But we tend to make mistakes in the process.

From broken links and copied content to poor keyword optimization, marketers must consistently monitor each page and fix possible errors. Implementing the right set of SEO techniques is the ultimate benchmark for your sustainable digital presence. With some careful considerations and crafting an effective SEO strategy, effective results can be seen for the business. To learn more about the best SEO software, check out our software directory.