10 Common SEO Mistakes Made By Beginners

When I discovered that there is this incredibly magnificent thing called SEO that can actually dramatically increase my traffic, I was so overwhelmed that I jumped right into. But as I read through it, it was not as easy as it had first seemed.

SEO is like performing in an orchestra—every instrument has to hit the same note, be it keyword density, meta description or proper anchor text. Each element has to work together to create the perfect content that the "Google god" will bestow his blessing upon.

I learned the basics of SEO (and am still learning) mostly by trial and error of different methods, but the only thing I can say for a fact is that the more you practice things, the more things start working.

Of course, there are many mistakes you'll need to learn to correct, but if you avoid the 10 mistakes below, it will certainly make your life a lot easier and soothe your mind with the images of your SERP horse hiking on the green hills of internet.

1. Overstuffing keywords

The most rudimentary thing that search engine works on is keywords, and so the temptation to place your keywords as much as you can is really big. However, you must realize that a search engine isn't a single beam, it's a spectrum and keywords are just a single color in it.

Experts usually recommend keeping keyword density at 4 to 7 percent, but there is no hard and fast rule. Try to make them look as natural as possible, as Google easily identifies spammy keyword stuffing. Researching long tail keywords may help a great deal in driving the straight traffic who are often direct buyers (if you are selling things).

2. Trying to compete with high DA sites

You learn about SEO and watch if high DA (domain authority) sites have used it or not. On seeing little to no SEO use, you quickly develop an insane idea that you can beat them if you somehow magically optimize your content. But this does not work. They are miles ahead of you. There are tons of sites back-linking (trusting) them, and your angry Google father loves your sassy sister more than you.

However, targeting keywords not used by high DA sites like Huffington Post, Forbes, TechCruch, Mashable helps to boost your search ranking and drive traffic to your blog.

3. Choosing the wrong keywords

You research for keywords and see huge search traffic and get started working straight away. Even if you did research on high DA sites, you often overlook the level of competition out there and forget that some of your competitors have way longer head starts in the race.

Don't buy a horse that will grow bigger than your house. Use keywords you are certain you can beat the competition on. Under the radar long tail keywords and keywords with medium competition are best beginner SEO practices.

4. Ignoring alt text

Though image optimization does not play as much part as content optimization, don't overlook the virtues of either. They often play parts in tie-breakers in rankings, and you know how much of a difference in traffic a single rank makes!

Google bots creep right into images after they are done searching for them in content blocks, so they are an integral part of content creation. Proper image optimization also means increasing your site's chances of being found on Google images, and although that won't count as organic common search traffic, you should take visitors as they come and leave no stone unturned.

5. Ignoring internal linking

Often the desire to press the publish button is so strong that you overlook goldmine content that you could link from your own site. Linking to your own sites makes it easier for Google to reach many of your pages, and these links present the real verdict on you.

This is not only good for visibility with search engines; internal linking is helpful to your readers too. They get easy access to other content, and traffic increases naturally.

6. Not publishing consistently

Publishing consistently helps to build trust among your fan base. Schedule your posts and follow your plan or you risk losing your fan base. If you are on a hot streak, take a breath. If you are struggling, try harder to make your publishing consistent.

7. Ignoring post publish optimization

Clicking the publish button can be the most satisfactory thing in the world for many bloggers, but publishing is not enough. You can also optimize your post to give yourself the maximum chance to rank in Google.

The practice of post publish optimization includes adjusting keywords, updating your posts, updating images etc. This helps for both search engine rankings and building trust among your followers

8. Ignoring URL optimization

URL optimization ranks as the most important factor that is ignored by beginner SEO users. The probability of your post being highly ranked increase drastically if words in your title tag match with the searched key phrase.

Google uses your URL to find what the content is about, and it tries matching searched keywords with your URL. So, if there is an exact match with little competition, who knows, you might get the highly coveted #1 SERP.

9. Ignoring meta description

Though meta description tags do not play that big a part in direct SEO, they are extremely important in gaining user click-through from SERPs. These short paragraphs are a webmaster's opportunity to advertise content to searchers and to let them know if the searchers are finding the exact information they are looking for.

A typical HTML code for meta description tag looks like
<head>
<meta name="description" content="Here is a description of the applicable page">
</head>


10. Not paying attention to local search

If you're running a blog that focuses on an audience from a specific region then you should learn more about local search rather than diving straight into mainstream SEO. Most search engines, including Google, treat local keywords differently than global keywords.

Include region-specific keywords in your page titles and meta descriptions. Local reviews-based sites like Yelp, Merchant Circle, Google Places, and Foursquare can help a lot.