Following SEO best practices boosts site credibility and ultimately leads to better rankings and search traffic. Here are the 5 biggest mistakes to avoid in 2021.

5 SEO Mistakes to Avoid in 2021 | Union

5 Common SEO Mistakes to Avoid in 2021

You’ve studied up on SEO tactics, you’ve got a strategy in place, and you’ve begun implementing pieces of that strategy. Several months later, your organic traffic and lead generation from your brand’s website have remained stagnant, and your rankings have not improved. What went wrong? 
Here are five common SEO mistakes that you want to avoid in 2021.

During keyword research, you are likely to find hundreds of keywords each generating thousands of monthly searches, and you are already calculating the ROI once you’ve ranked on page one for each of them. Problem is, keywords don't always mean what you think they mean. Common mistakes include: 
<ul><li>Using high competition keywords. Once you have narrowed down your list, you’re putting too much focus on the high volume keywords. While high volume is important, it's equally important to take the competition of that keyword into consideration. </li><li>Incorrect intent. Every searcher has a goal when they search for a keyword, and with each algorithm update, search engines improve on their ability to lead their users to that goal. When optimizing a page for keywords, you can't think like a search engine, but instead, think like the user who is searching the keyword you are wanting to optimize for. Take “Chinese food,” for example. This search query can have multiple intents. Users may be looking for a new recipe, Chinese takeout, authentic Chinese food and more. Choosing keywords carefully and nailing down the intent will not only help you rank better, but bring in more qualified visits.</li></ul>

Targeting the wrong keywords

Keyword stuffing has been a bad SEO practice for several years now, yet it still remains problematic. Once upon a time, brands would fill their content with three to four keywords repeated a dozen times each, and at one time, this worked! 
Fast forward to the <a href="https://searchengineland.com/8-major-google-algorithm-updates-explained-282627">Google Panda and Hummingbird algorithm updates</a>. Websites that performed this keyword stuffing tactic were removed from Google’s index or suffered huge losses to their rankings as a penalty. Most search engines, notably Google and Bing, have continued improving their algorithms to recognize keyword stuffing, and are now demoting or removing offending pages from their index altogether. 
It's important to find a healthy and happy medium when inserting your keywords into your copy. As long as your page reads naturally, you will be rewarded by the powers that be.

Keyword stuffing

Like keyword stuffing, websites with thousands of backlinks from hundreds of domains would previously help improve your website’s domain authority and eventually your rankings on search engines. Now, these black hat tactics such as building links to sketchy directories, or simply buying as many backlinks as possible have, <a href="https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-link-building/good-bad-ugly">resulted in penalties and ranking demotions</a>.
Search engine algorithms have caught on to such tactics and landed many of these websites with a massive drop in rankings. Website owners and agencies are now having to deal with the tedious task of backlink removal. Google, in particular, is now rewarding websites that put a little more elbow grease into their link-building tactics. 
Perform in-depth research into domains you’re linking to, to ensure they are both relevant to your services or products and have a good standing with search engines. (Union can show you how.)

Building irrelevant or poor-quality links

You’ve hired a top agency in your area to help kickstart your SEO campaign. They have cleaned up your website to get rid of any technical issues, optimized your most important landing pages and are ready to perform ongoing SEO. Things seem great, but are you getting the most out of your agency?
After the nitty-gritty work is complete, many SEO agencies put a major focus on regimented, rinse-and-repeat strategies like posting weekly blogs and buying backlinks for the remainder of your campaign. Your website is now in the agency’s assembly line among the rest of their many clients. While blogging and relying on an SEO agency to generate your backlinks is beneficial to your website, your SEO gains will begin to plateau. 
Look for an agency that focuses on unique ways of getting your content to your end user. If your agency is focused on rankings and is struggling to generate leads, it might be time to research an agency that puts your best interests first – getting quality traffic to your site that ultimately leads to conversions.

Assembly line SEO

Having quality content is imperative for a successful SEO campaign. So what is mediocre content? 
<ul><li>Content that's written for search engines, not the user</li><li>Doorway pages, or content that's written specifically to manipulate search engines</li><li>Content lacking credibility; are your claims backed by sources?</li><li>Unappealing content that fails to engage with readers</li></ul>
 Quality content does not require quantity, however. If you find yourself building out a new page for every keyword under the sun, you're likely having pages that are competing with one another for a spot on the SERP, and you're also likely creating mediocre content.
Another note on quantity. Google doesn’t necessarily care about word count, but there is a correlation between long-form content and higher rankings. Longer-form content does tend to <a href="https://neilpatel.com/blog/longer-content-ranks-better/">garner</a> more backlinks, earn more social shares and generate more organic traffic.
Ready to overhaul your approach to SEO this year? <a href="https://union.co/contact">Contact us.</a>

Writing hundreds of pages full of mediocre content

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