10 Mistakes to Avoid in SEO Writing
All SEO writing experts would agree that SEO methods are changing now more than they did before. The methods of writing are continually evolving. And all SEO blog or article writers have to keep up with these changes. Lest you get left behind. It’s also necessary to note that different writings require different SEO writing formats. For instance, you would not expect a medical SEO to be similar to an engineering one. The contents themselves will differ wildly.
It’s not that easy to keep up with the ever-changing SEO writing trends. However, you still have to work your butts off to keep up and stay current with what’s making moves for your online marketing and promotional gigs.
The search engines’ developments keep upgrading or updating. Not to mention the users’ ever-changing perspectives on online content. All these expectations can sometimes lead you to make simple SEO mistakes that, face it, are just tough to avoid. It’s not that easy to get on top of all the successful optimization techniques. Plus, even if you manage to have all these techniques on lock, there isn’t any promise that they will stick or remain relevant in 5 or 10 years to come.
Avoid these SEO writing mistakes at all costs if you intend for your website to bring the results you desire.
- Publishing non-original content
Many SEO fallen prey to this writing mistake over and over again. Typically, this SEO writing mistake depends wholly on where you get your content and how you write it. Back in the day, duplicating content was a common practice. But gone are the days when this used to happen. Today, such a writing offense will most likely get you penalized by some search engines.
Search engines take copying or plagiarizing other people’s content to be a spammy practice. For that reason, it highly discourages the act. Plus, take medical SEO, for instance. There’s very little to no way you will possibly copy someone else’s content without getting caught in the act.
Thin and duplicated content doesn’t work nowadays. Instead, invest in creating original content with meaningful texts. This is the surest way you can make sure that your website doesn’t get downgraded in the search results.
You can also look at it from this point; how would you feel if you found someone else had copied your entire online work? That’s precisely how the person you copy the work from will feel. Sweat for your work.
- Not optimizing your website for all users and devices
Studies show that today, over 70% of all internet users access the internet using their mobile devices. That makes the mobile phones the one gadget that you, the content writer, cannot afford to ignore. To stand any chance of garnering more traffic on your website, you must optimize your website for mobile devices too.
It gets very difficult for internet users to view or use your website using their mobile phones if it isn’t optimized for use by mobile devices. Not to mention, most search engines also tend to rank websites that are optimized for mobile devices higher.
Then, you also need to invest in making your website load faster on mobile devices. Many SEO experts already know that SEO optimization involves much more than just keywords and content. The quality of your website is also an essential factor to consider. Particularly, how your website performs on mobile devices. You want to make sure that your users have a smooth mobile experience above anything else.
- Keyword stuffing in your content
Many newbie SEO writers tend to think that using the keywords in all the sentences of their content boosts their work’s ratings. But this is very far from true. The truth is that search engines consider overused keywords as spammy. And this will also significantly hurt your SEO performance.
If anything, the search engines will push your work further back the list which is exactly what you want to avoid. Keyword stuffing also annoys readers who view your work which is the absolute opposite of what you’re looking for when writing. Can you imagine reading a medical SEO content and it has this complicated medical term forced in just about every sentence? That doesn’t work.
If you fear that you may have overused your target keyword, then you can try some of the many SEO optimization tools to control your keyword usage.
- Choosing the wrong keywords
If you thought that keyword stuffing was bad, using the wrong keywords is just as bad. It is crucial that you select and use the right ones. This is also another common mistake many new SEO writers tend to make.
To select your preferred keyword, you need to pay special attention to the search engine preferences. For the long-tail keywords, pay more attention to the users.
In as much as you might prefer to define the products and services you are marketing in a certain way, it’s also essential that you pay attention to the special words that your customers may use to refer to them. It’s very common to find a term that you consider to be correct to mean something completely different to other people. Which means the article you spent all that time and energy writing might never be viewed by your target audience. So, make sure you use the right keywords as you write. When writing medical SEO content, this shouldn’t be as difficult since most medical terms are specific.
- Using relevant images
The types of images you use to explain your written content better are also essential. Today, you can easily find millions of stock images online that choose from and use for free. You only need to be able to choose between the right images and the bad ones.
Ensure you only choose the stock images that are relevant to your content and also add value to it. If you aren’t too careful, then you might end up including videos that will only end up dragging your blog or article down.
The types of images you use have to make sense and appeal to your readers. If you are writing about medicine, include images that relate to the type of medicine of study you’re writing about. And the same should apply for engineering, business, politics, etc.
It is vital that you include images that your readers can draw information from. Not images that will not make sense to them. If possible, it is even better to take or create the images yourself. This also helps to make your work more original. Many online graphic design tools are also readily available online that you can use to create images for your work. Remember, you are looking for the images that make your content stand out more than the others.
- Buying links
This is, yet, another wrong call that many SEO content writers have made for years. Try not to make the same mistake even as you create your new content. Buying links have, for a long time, put the ranking of websites on the line. A couple of years back, you might have done this and got away with it, but that isn’t the case today.
Buying paid links to boost your website’s rankings and score in the search engines can end up backfiring in your face. Many search engines also see this more as a way of trying to cheat their ranking systems. Search engines take this as a move to dupe them to work to your advantage which has always backfired.
Today, you can purchase hundreds of links for just a few bucks. Naturally, the side-effects of using these bought links aren’t usually advertised. Search engines won’t hesitate to de-index your website immediately they realize you are using this shady tactic to boost your rankings and make a name for yourself. If anything, you will lose a lot more than you thought you would gain buying the links. It’s just not worth the risk.
- Overlooking the importance of content
Ever heard SEO writers mention the phrase, “content is king?” if you have, then you should have a rough idea of what we’re talking about. If you haven’t, then pay extra attention.
Many SEO beginners tend to focus a lot more on SEO and neglect content. If anything, you may even think that SEO will handle everything and get you excellent rankings even if you don’t necessarily have good content. You couldn’t be any more wrong.
Content writing and SEO are equally important, and you must treat each with the respect they deserve when writing. What’s the essence of writing medical SEO content when nothing in the content you publish talks about medicine?
No search engine will rank your website if it doesn’t have good content to back it up even if your SEO is top-notch. Your SEO won’t be noticeable without good content to back it up. And the vice versa is also true. So, the two need each other for you to stand any chance of your blog or article to rise up the ladder.
- Not using influencers to boost your social media interactions
You are probably new in the SEO writing business. So, very few people, if any, know about the new business you’ve just written about. You now need to work out how you’re going to garner clients and potential users of your business products or services. And the social media channels are your best bet.
However, to do this, you must also work out the best optimization tricks for the social media dimension too. Simply posting and sharing your content all over the social media won’t cut it. Remember, you are looking to get users and potential clients to notice your products. And the best, easiest way to do this is by using social media influencers to market your products or services.
You must, first, learn to create good relationships with the social media ‘power users.’ It is a lot easier and quicker to make enough noise about your product or service when you have a powerful influencer sharing it. You need to do structured outreach through these social media influencers, especially the ones that have credibility on those networks. This is an indispensable move in your optimization you cannot ignore.
- Hitting the publish button doesn’t mean you’re done
Unfortunately, creating your content is only part of the job. You still have a long way to go. Remember, SEO is constantly changing. And as mentioned earlier, you have to adjust accordingly. You have to continually check your SEO posts and make sure that they are up-to-date and good enough to earn you the top rankings in the search engines.
After completing your content and publishing it, you now have to work out ways of continually optimizing it to be better for your readers. Remember, you’re also bringing in more readers to your website. So, you need to be more creative with your content to stand any chance of improving your search engine rankings.
Yes! Reviewing and updating your SEO, especially the very old ones, will attract more users to your websites and, thus, more traffic and feedback as well. Try it out and compare your latest traffic results with your previous ones.
Get into the habit of always rereading and checking your work. You will most likely find something wrong with it. If you do, change it and see how your users receive it. If anything, your new content will most likely produce much better results than your older ones.
- Not doing internal linking
Internal linking also helps in rating. You, however, find that many SEO writers, especially the new writers, tend to neglect using them. Each time you create and complete new content, remember to link your previous work to your new posts. Doing this also helps the search engines to discover more of your work that relates to your website.
Also, linking your previous work also helps readers who view your work to quickly find some of your previous work that relates to their searched content. You never know, they may be just as equally interested in your previous work as well. Adding internal links to your current posts helps to build the reputation of your website which is exactly what you need to improve your SEO rankings.
Final thoughts
Many SEO experts will tell you that they never sleep on the job. So, if you’re planning to be one, prepare yourself for a never-ending ride. You will always be up and about working on how to optimize your website to be better. Not to mention working round the clock to correct any misguided mistakes you might have made unknowingly in the past. As long as you can get all the fundamentals of SEO on point, then you have nothing much to worry about. The problem is that many people tend to be forgetful and even neglect their websites unattended after publishing. Then you wonder why your SEO content isn’t performing. At least now you know why that happens.
