35 common SEO mistakes of webmasters, website owners and even SEOs

Should search engine optimization be done shortly after the site has been rebuilt? Should keyword ranking be a basis of success? There are so many questions fielded by curious website owners. And there are equally so many answers and unsolicited advice scattered across the Web. While many of these SEO advice is insightful, some is outdated or simply a product of misunderstanding and should be avoided.

Planning and Implementation Stage

  1. Failure to identify the main website objectives before performing SEO tasks such as keyword research and making content recommendations.
  2. Failure to incorporate user experience in web design as to complement an SEO campaign.
  3. Failure to add web analytics tracking tools the moment a site goes live.
  4. Failure to look beyond web content — such as RSS feeds, photos and videos — as basis of increased search engine visibility.
  5. Failure to consider both branded and non-branded search terms as well as long tail keywords in keyword research.
  6. Choosing keywords based on gut feeling rather than scientific research.
  7. Choosing keywords because “the CEO checks this keyword every day in office”.
  8. Creating similar titles that Google sometimes have to come up with its own.
  9. Embedding text on images instead of using HTML text.
  10. Allowing both www and non-www versions of the site to exist, allowing canonicalization issues.
  11. Failure to add a custom 404 Error page and in a 404 Error status headers.
  12. Failure to redirect old URLs to the new versions.
  13. Failure to use keyword-rich URLs.
  14. Diluting link equity to external sites by not using a “nofollow” link directive.
  15. Relying on XML sitemap to mitigate poor internal linking structure.

Read all 35 common SEO mistakes of webmasters, website owners and even SEO consultants.