Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is something that all businesses need to be concerned with today. After all, getting to the top of Google and in other search engines can be extremely valuable for any company. Because of this, a lot of people have invested heavily in SEO services. However, simply handing over your money and then forgetting about it does not come advised. You need to make sure your SEO campaign is working. Are you benefitting from more views and more customers?
With that being said, read on to discover some of the warning signs that your approach to SEO is failing…
Your Website Is Slow
There is only one place to begin, and this is with user experience (UX). Gone are the days where search engine optimisation was only about keywords and link building. Yes, these strategies are important, but SEO today also takes into account the user experience your website provides.
If your website is difficult to use or provides a poor experience for viewers, your search engine ranking is going to suffer. One of the biggest mistakes business owners make in this regard is having a website that is too slow. With every second that your website takes to load, your bounce rate gets higher and higher. This can frustrate people and means you will miss out on the opportunity for them to potentially become a reader or customer. But it also has a negative impact on your SEO rating too.
So, how can you improve the speed of your website? There are a number of different approaches you can use. Firstly, getting rid of any large media files is a good place to start. You should also look for a web hosting provider that offers a high level of performance and guaranteed uptime. A lot of business owners do not realise that their choice of web host has a massive impact on the performance of their website. Other tips include using a caching plugin, reducing your redirects, and fixing all of your broken links.
Your Social Media Platforms Are Silent
If you are to get your content in front of the eyes that really matter, you are going to need a killer social media strategy. SEO is not just about your website itself, but the entire online presence you have built for your business.
You need to make sure that the content you create is shareable first and foremost. You then need to promote it and urge others to do the same. The way you go about this matters. You cannot simply tweet an endless array of promotional tweets. Social media platforms are for engaging with your customers and potential customers. Use competitions and other tactics to promote sharing, rather than simply positing direct and obvious promotional messages.
You Don’t Capture And Track Data
If you do not capture and track data, there is no way you are going to have an effective Search Engine Optimisation plan in place. You need to make sure that you capture data from your website. This data should give you a unique insight into the website viewers you attract and their behaviour while they are on your website.
This will help you to understand your SEO campaign and how effective it is. For example, if people are leaving your website just as quickly as they enter it, this tells you that they have not found what they are looking for. Are you ranking for keywords that aren’t related to your service or products?
You Are Still Using Black Hat SEO Techniques
Black hat SEO techniques relate to approaches that try to manipulate the search engine to get to the top. These are techniques that go against Google’s terms and conditions. Basically, you’re cheating!
A few years ago, these approaches were used freely and they weren’t frowned upon as much as they are now. However, Google and the other search engines have got wise to the situation. Therefore, if you use black hat techniques, you may see improvements in the short-term, but your ranking will quickly dwindle. In fact, you will end up at a lower position on the search engine result pages than what you started at.
So, what are some examples of black hat techniques? Keyword stuffing is the most obvious. This means including keyphrases as much as possible throughout one piece of content. All keywords need to be incorporated 100 per cent naturally. Not only this, but you need to make sure that you create content for the viewer, not for SEO bots.
Poor link building practices will also hinder your business. If you use links that are not related to your business and/or come from poor quality websites, this will hurt your SEO ranking rather than improve it.
You Don’t Use Long Tail Keywords
Last but not least, not only do keywords need to be incorporated naturally, but also you need to recognise the value of long-tail keywords. There are many different reasons why long-tail keywords are critical to your SEO campaign.
Essentially, it all comes down to the fact that long-tail keywords are how people actually search the Internet. Let’s say you are looking for someone to renovate your home and make an extension. You wouldn’t simply search “home extension” would you? You would more likely search for something like “renovation builders Melbourne” or “second floor extensions Melbourne”. Our searches are specific, and long-tail keywords cater to this.
Not only this but they provide context to your content, as well as providing better conversion rates, helping you to rank for single keywords, and building a strong conversion tunnel.
So there you have it: an insight into some of the warning signs that indicate your SEO campaign is failing. If you have noticed any of the signs mentioned above, there is no need to panic. However, you do need to act quickly to make the necessary changes so that your website does not fall further and further down the rankings.
BeOnTop offers a free site audit for all site visitors to find out all the current issues with your website. Fill out the form for detailed information about how SEO can specifically help your site today!
