Are You Making These 4 SEO Mistakes?
A lot of web designers, developers and social media managers claim to understand SEO; but the truth is a lot of them are making mistakes that impact the businesses they’re working with. We see these four key mistakes over and over again, but they’re completely avoidable - especially when meeting new clients.
Typically, an SEO expert will initially start with an SEO audit which looks at:
- User experience
- Site Architecture
- Keyword Research
- On-page SEO
- Indexing
- Competitor comparison
- Checking for broken links
- Inbound links
It’s how they work out the condition of your website, so they can strategize for growth. But as we said, we see some common mistakes that can be easily fixed time and time again. We’ve listed the common mistakes below, and why they’ll impact your website.
Mistake No. 1: Ignore Header Tags
Header tags (H1, H2 and so on) separate headings and subheadings on a page and show the order of importance. Use one H1 as the main title of the page, then H2s and H3s for the sections beneath it, as shown in the image above. Some designers treat headings as a style choice, but they are also a structural part of the page. A page with poor heading structure is harder for people and search engines to follow. Used well, header tags make the page easier to read and help search engines understand what the page is about.
Mistake No. 2: All Services in One Page
This mistake can be costly, because it impacts a key piece of the puzzle when a new client is looking to buy your products or take on your service; convenience. A well-optimised and organised website will funnel traffic through multiple entry points, and Google wants a page to be as specific as possible to increase its rankings in searches.
Having a different page clearly outlining and explaining each service will do this. For example, someone searching on Google for “wedding florist in York” is more likely to find a page written about that service than a single page that lists five unrelated services.
Mistake No. 3: Uploading Uncompressed Images
This one is pretty simple; a compressed image will download from your website and render on a visitor’s screen faster. A faster loading time makes for a better user experience, and improves SEO.
It’s a common misunderstanding that compressing an image will lower the quality of the image; but if it’s taking too long to load, then who’s going to see it? There’s no point slowing down your user’s experience, when you can have a great looking image and a more engaged audience.
If you need a simple way to make images smaller before you upload them, read our guide: https://pagio.co.uk/blog/size-does-matter-part-2-how-to-resize-an-image
Mistake No. 4: Using Text Written On Graphics
Graphics can look great, but you should not rely on Google reading words that are painted into an image. Put your main message, services and calls to action as real text on the page. You can still place text over a background image, as long as it is actual text and not flattened into the picture. That makes the page easier for people to read and easier for search engines to understand.
Final thoughts
These four mistakes are straightforward to fix if you can edit your own website. If you’d like to know more about fixing them, or about building your website with Pagio, contact us here. If you cannot change these things on your current website, get in touch. We offer a free website transfer, and we can help you fix them once your site is on Pagio: https://pagio.co.uk/free-website-transfer