As you’re reading this blog, I am sure you already know what SEO is and you might even be experiencing a drop in yours…
If you’re not familiar with this term, then it’s about time you are! SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation, and it’s the process of optimising your website to increase visibility and rankings on search engines.
It can be heartbreaking after you’ve spent hours perfecting your SEO, just for it not to take a dive sometime after, but it happens to the best of us. Lucky for you, we’re here to help! Here are our 6 reasons why your SEO may be taking a hit.
1. Keyword Stuffing
Keyword stuffing is the practice of excessively using keywords in the content on a website with the intention of manipulating search engine rankings.
This can result in unnatural and unreadable content that provides a poor user experience. Keyword stuffing can badly affect your SEO as they strive to provide users with relevant and high-quality content. It’s important to use keywords in a natural and meaningful way that provides value to the user.
The goal should be to write quality content that accurately reflects the topic being discussed and provides value to the reader, not just to include keywords for the sake of search engine rankings.
2. Bad Redirects
A redirect happens when the visitor opens a URL and is instead taken to a different URL.
Let’s say that www.example.com/seo is a page on your website and it’s made its way onto the first page of Google, which is bringing in high levels of traffic.
Due to design, changes have been made to the website, and the developer has now redirected that URL to the homepage, www.example.com.
This is a bad redirect because it is not fulfilling the user’s intentions. The user was looking for information on SEO and the new URL mentions little to no information regarding SEO, which is what the user came for. Due to the content change, the rankings for that URL were also lost.
3. Duplicate Content
Duplicate content is a term used to describe when two or more pages on a website have the same or very similar content. This can be problematic for your website’s SEO because it confuses search engines and they are unable to determine which version of the content is the original.
If search engines can’t determine which version is the original, they may choose to ignore the duplicate pages or even penalise your website for having duplicate content. To avoid this, it’s important to make sure that all content on your website is unique and original.
4. Poor User Experience
The user experience (UX) on your website plays a big role in your website’s SEO. If your website is difficult to navigate, has slow loading times, or provides a negative user experience, it can negatively impact your website’s search engine rankings.
To ensure a positive user experience, it’s important to make sure your website is easy to navigate, loads quickly and provides a great experience for the user. This can be achieved through a well designed website with clear navigation, fast loading pages, and high quality content.
5. Mobile Optimisation
A lack of mobile optimisation can have a negative impact on your SEO. With an increasing amount of internet users accessing via mobile devices, it is important your site is optimised for viewing by mobiles.
A website that isn’t optimised for mobile, will cause the majority of users to be frustrated by the speed and difficulty of use, causing them to leave the site quickly. Search engines lower your ranking as a result.
Mobile optimisation involves creating a responsive design that adapts to different screen sizes, ensuring fast loading times, and making the website easy to navigate on mobile devices. By optimising a website for mobile, businesses can improve the user experience and potentially increase their search engine rankings.
6. Technical Errors
Technical errors can also affect your website’s SEO. Some common technical errors include broken links, missing alt tags, and incorrect metadata.
It’s important to regularly check for technical errors on your website and fix them as soon as possible to ensure that your website is in good shape and is performing well in search engine rankings.
In Conclusion
SEO is a critical aspect of digital marketing, but it can be time consuming and complex. While many business owners try to handle their own SEO, it’s important to understand that it’s not a one time task and requires ongoing effort to maintain and improve rankings. If you’re finding that your SEO efforts are taking up valuable time that could be better spent elsewhere in your business, it might be time to consider reaching out for help.
By partnering with Use Brandable, you can free up your time to focus on other aspects of your business while leaving your SEO in the hands of experts. Click here to get in touch with Use Brandable to help get your SEO back to where it needs to be.
