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2017 is right around the corner. Many companies are reflecting on the current year’s successes, failures, and planning for the new year ahead. Here are 5 SEO mistakes that you should avoid in 2017.
1. BAD KEYWORD RESEARCH
Finding the right keywords can make or break a campaign. Don’t base your campaign on keywords that YOU think are valuable. Do the research. Find out which keywords are pulling the most volume in Adwords. Also, vary your keyword strategy. Traditional broad keywords are valuable and should still be a part of your SEO strategy, but longer-tail keywords are also very valuable. Here is one recommendation:
Create a list of problems or issues that your product or service can solve and use that to create a list of problem-based phrases. For example, instead of “plumbing services” you would target “get broken pipe fixed” or even and educational phrase like “how to make sure your pipes stay clear”.
2. EXPECTING EFFECTIVE RESULTS FROM CHEAP SEO PLANS
You only get what you pay for. Ranking on keywords with no search volume is a waste. Buying links in bulk on low ranking sites is a mistake. Stuffing pages with archaic meta tags and keywords is not effective. You need a qualified team of experts with a holistic approach to SEO. This means creating compelling content onsite and offsite each and every month, syndicating this content, as well as building good, high quality backlinks from articles built on co-citations from strong URL’s. It takes time and an investment of resources.
3. NOT BUILDING LINKS
To make it to page 1, an active link building campaign is needed. If you are working with a company that does not offer link building services, it is time to replace them. Google looks for websites and companies with authority. They do this buy seeing what content is out there on your behalf and what high quality (and low quality) websites are linking to yours. Fads in SEO come and go. Algorithms change. Link building is a staple, if done correctly, of any good SEO campaign.
4. SEO CAN’T FIX BAD PRODUCTS AND BAD WEBSITES
SEO is not “magic” or “voodoo”. If your product doesn’t work or your sales team can’t close deals, SEO won’t be able to fix that. If your site is not user friendly or attractive, people won’t trust or buy from it. If your inbound call center or receptionist has bad phone skills, SEO can’t help you.
5. FAILING TO EDUCATE YOURSELF AS A BUSINESS OWNER
As a business owner, understanding that SEO is a highly measurable, adjustable, and effective method of marketing is important but there are limitations. SEO campaigns take a lot of time (6-12 months, typically, for any significant results). You won’t make it to page 1 overnight. AND, any firm you contract with should be completely transparent. Expect good reports, progress and metric tracking, lead tracking, call tracking, etc. ALL RESULTS SHOULD BE A MEASURABLE RETURN ON INVESTMENT.