The Top 5 SEO Mistakes According To Google

The Top five SEO mistakes web owners make when trying to climb to the top of the SERPs.

Mistake Number 1 — Value Proposition (lack of) 

One of the things that most web publishers are guilty of at some point or another is failing to identify exactly why a user should click on their website in the search results. In the midst of tearing your hair out at sliding rankings and just how difficult it is to get decent links, the target of the exercise gets forgotten – not Google itself but the end user. The human being with a credit card and the power to add to the success of a business by bestowing it with custom.

For Google, the lack of a value proposition is the number one error committed in SEO strategy.

Mistake Number 2 — Segmentation

The second biggest failing of many SEO campaigns is adopting too segmented a approach. Google use the analogy of a bento box or dinner plate, with each ingredient in the box or on the plate positioned separately to the other components of the meal. In online marketing teams, this means departments not communicating effectively to streamline web presence and marketing messages.

Mistake Number 3 — Time-Consuming Workarounds

Google advises webmasters to avoid implementing ‘hacks’ rather than spending time focusing on new techniques and updated best practises. It gives the example of using rel=”canonical” on paginated content (which can lead to a loss of content in the indexing) rather than researching, understanding and implementing the new rel=”next” and rel=”prev” markups.

Mistake Number 4 — Getting caught in SEO trends

There is always something new in SEO with new ‘hotspots’ to focus attention on. Google gives the example of keyword density as a buzz word in 2005, with webmaster spending hours rewriting and editing content to get the perfect keyword density in order to rank better. The search engine advises a better approach would have simply been to keep focused on writing great content that compels, informs and engages.

Mistake Number 5 — Slow Iteration

SEO is constantly evolving, making agility a highly valued attribute. Google’s fifth SEO mistake is slow iteration. This can mean instilling processes and procedures that are too rigid, making testing difficult or having too long a work flow that makes approval of web site changes a long, drawn out task.