Search Engine Optimization or SEO involves the implementation of practices that lead to a higher ranking in the SERPs or the search engine result pages. Ultimately, it drives organic traffic to the eCommerce website design, leading to more conversions which adds to the overall revenue. There are multiple on-page and off-page SEO strategies experts apply to improve SEO.
SEO takes time to show beneficial results. If you expect results immediately, opting for SEO is the wrong choice. Moreover, SEO strategists for e-commerce websites often make some common mistakes. Correcting these mistakes will definitely aid in getting better results.
List of common SEO mistakes
There are numerous SEO mistakes that can affect the business adversely. Let’s take a look –
1. Overlooking the importance of analytics
Most people forget that SEO doesn’t only entail getting more organic traffic. It also includes leveraging the organic traffic to increase conversions and, therefore, the organic revenue. Sure, SEO starts with using keyword phrases that bring traffic, but it doesn’t end there. Moreover, in most cases, it becomes incredibly challenging to rank on highly competitive keywords.
That is why choosing relevant phrases that have low competition, but decent traffic is a good idea. It increases the chances of conversions significantly. Here is when analytics come into play. Setting up conversion tracking for the keywords used is an excellent idea. Now, you can make a comparison and see what result each keyword brings. Understanding analytics and making accurate data interpretations is essential to improve SEO campaigns.
2. Slow website speed
Does the website of your client load at a very slow speed? That’s the reason more than half of your traffic is going somewhere else. Nowadays, people are finicky and do not have the patience to wait for a site to load. If it’s more than 2-3 seconds, the customers drop off. Chances are they will never visit you again.
Investing in SEO is futile if the website takes a long time to load. Measuring page speed is vital to understand what aspects can be improved. For that, you can take assistance from PageSpeed Insights. Focus on image resizing and reformatting to reduce the bandwidth. Apart from that, fixing the redirects is critical to improving serving speed. Reduce the size of the JavaScript and CSS code by compressing them.
3. Lack of extensive keyboard research
Creating content without any understanding of SEO is a big mistake. If users don’t search for the content you have uploaded, nothing matters. It will give hardly any traffic. That is why keyword research is so important. Integrating relevant keyword phrases makes your content more viable for search engine bots.
Extensive keyword research gives a list of keywords or keyword phrases that identify the user intent based on the products or services the brand offers. You can take the help of different tools to get relevant keywords. For instance, you can opt for Google Keyword Planner or Keywords Explorer from Ahref.
4. Failing to leverage local search
Is the focus of your customer’s business a particular area or city? Do your clients have a physical store? In that case, understanding and optimizing local search is crucial. Search engines have different guidelines when it comes to keywords that are area related.
That is why it is vital to include keywords that have the name of a specific city or region. Now, you must also incorporate these local keywords into page titles, meta descriptions, and content. Another thing that requires attention is the addition of the full address and phone number at the bottom of the pages. That way, the information becomes visible in the local search results.
Did you list the business on Google Places or Yelp? If not, you need to do it right away!
5. Presence of duplicate content
To detect duplicate content on the website, it is vital to first know more about it. Duplicate content is content that is an exact match or extremely similar to the one already present on the website. It is true that there is no penalty for duplicate content, but it affects the page ranking on the SERP severely.
In the online space, high-quality yet relevant content is in demand. It is vital to tailor the content as per the needs of the page. It needs to be readable, accurate, and informative. Users must get the information they want when they visit the page. That will contribute to the conversion of visitors to customers. To avoid duplicate content on the website, use plagiarism tools to find and take it out.
6. Fewer backlinks
Links are a significant part of SEO. It is, in fact, a critical ranking factor for websites on SERPs for Google. If you have done everything possible to improve SEO but still don’t get to the first page, check out the backlinks. The reason might be a low number of links.
To get more backlinks, you must reach out to interested third parties. After that, you must convince them to link back to your website. Make sure you have a friendly approach while citing what benefits the other party will have.
Make a list of the pages on the internet that you think will add value to your website. Now, contact the website or the content writer and have a discussion on the same.
7. Not focusing on meta descriptions and title tags
Title tags and meta descriptions play a huge role in ranking the website on the search engine result page. Title tags basically tell the search engines about the web page. However, the most significant benefit is that it aids searchers to have a better understanding of the content of the web page. That is why having unique titles for each page is of paramount importance. Keep in mind that page titles are often shared, and as such, having descriptive titles is a must.
Meta descriptions are 160-character spaces that you just cannot waste. It is inevitably the most crucial factor for your website. The meta descriptions appear in the search result and have the capacity to drive traffic to the website or repel them to never visit you again. As a general rule, make each meta description relevant to the title and unique. Also, do not forget to incorporate relevant keywords.
8. Lack of alt texts and image issues
The two most common SEO mistakes include broken images and a lack of alt texts. Basically, alt tags are descriptions of the images used in the website. Make sure to add an alt tag in the HTML code. However, if you have a WordPress-powered website, you can incorporate image descriptions yourself.
9. Not opting for mobile optimization
In today’s world, mobile devices are the go-to option when it comes to searching or shopping. And that is precisely why making the website mobile-friendly is so important. There is a higher chance of losing visitors if you don’t take active steps to optimize the website for mobile devices.
Use a template that supports mobile-friendliness when designing the website. Moreover, test repeatedly to see how the website looks and works on enables before launching it. If visitors have a single bad experience, they are unlikely to come back ever again. Make sure the website reformats as per the size of the screen without any issues with the functionality.
There are several tools available that enable users to see if the web pages are mobile-friendly or not. In case, the site is not mobile-optimized, redesigning pop-ups and working on the website loading time helps.
10. Broken links
Another critical SEO mistake that often happens is the presence of broken links. Would you come back to a website that gives you a 404 error experience? No, right? Nobody does! If the user clicks on the link just to see this error, you have lost a potential customer with negative reviews on his/her mind.
Moreover, it also impacts search engine ranking. When search bots constantly come across broken links, they will skip your website. If that happens, other vital web pages will not be crawled or indexed. Besides, it also affects the domain authority negatively.
To find out the pages that display the 404 error, you can use Google Search Console. There are multiple tools that aid in locating the broken links. After that, immediate fixing is needed. Try to replace the content present on the page. You can also use 301 redirects to divert the traffic to other content on the website.
Final words
SEO is a long-term investment that has rightfully gained massive prominence in the last few years. However, to get good results, experts need to ensure they don’t get trapped in these SEO pitfalls. Even if SEO mistakes are made, one needs to correct them quickly to prevent them from affecting the brand negatively.
Read More – https://www.cybez.com/avoid-this-seo-mistake-for-your-ecommerce-business/