For multi-million dollar brands that have been in the market a while, SEO is bread and butter. From investing massively in content creation to ensuring that they get the technicalities correct, SEO is not just an afterthought to them. However, the longer you have been in the game, the more likely you will miss something completely, which could lead you to lose your position in the market. And there have been numerous instances where big businesses have failed to keep a hold of their number one spot because of silly errors. Here are some of the most common SEO mistakes that big companies make:
Not keeping up with Google’s algorithm updates: One of the main reasons big brands lose their ranking is that they don’t keep up with Google’s algorithm updates. The search engine giant makes hundreds of changes to its algorithms every year, and your website will suffer if you’re not on top of them. Not only do you need to be aware of the major updates, but also the minor ones as well, as they can significantly impact your rankings.
Failing to invest in mobile-friendly websites: With more and more people using mobile devices to access the internet, your website must be optimized for mobile. If it’s not, you’re going to lose a lot of potential customers, and your ranking will suffer as a result. Ensure your website is responsive and can be easily accessed on all devices.
Not paying enough attention to voice search: With the rise of digital assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Cortana, voice search is becoming increasingly popular. And if you’re not optimizing your website for voice search, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity. Make sure your content is easy to understand and use long-tail keywords to target specific phrases people are likely to use when searching by voice.
Ignoring the power of social media: Social media can have a massive impact on your SEO efforts, so ignoring it is a huge mistake. Make sure you’re active on all major social media platforms and regularly share high-quality content. This will help to drive traffic to your website and improve your ranking.
Disregarding relevant keywords: When it comes to SEO, you are always told to target relevant keywords. It doesn’t matter how big or small your business is. The better you are at targeting keywords, the higher your chances of landing the number on the spot on Google. However, as companies get bigger, they completely disregard searching and targeting relevant keywords. Keywords are what people use to search for something in Google and as the human language keeps evolving, so do the keywords. Disregarding proper keyword research because you have worked at it for so long is a surefire way to lose your organic rankings.
Content Distribution & Partnerships: Relying solely on your content can only get you so far. If you want to improve your SEO, you need to start thinking about content distribution and partnerships. By teaming up with other websites and sharing your content, you can reach a much wider audience and get more people to link to your website. This will help to improve your ranking and visibility in the search results.
Cookie or Session-Variable Requirements: A lot of big websites require cookies or session variables to track user activity. However, this can often lead to problems with search engine crawlers, as they cannot access the content. This can result in your website being penalized or even removed from the search results altogether. If you’re going to use cookies or session variables, make sure you exclude them from any pages that are important to your SEO efforts.
Controlled-Access to Content: Many big websites put restrictions on who can access their content. This is often done in an attempt to control the distribution of their content and prevent unauthorized copying. However, this can also harm your SEO, preventing search engine crawlers from accessing your content. If you want your website to be indexed properly, ensure all your content is freely accessible.
Multiple Site Creation: Creating multiple websites for the same business is a common mistake for big companies. They think they can create a bunch of websites and link them all together to form some sort of mega-site. However, this is not only against the terms of service of most web hosting providers but also bad for your SEO. Search engines will penalize you for duplicate content, which is generally confusing for users. If you want multiple websites, make sure each has unique content and focuses on a different keyword niche.
Keyword Stuffing: Overloading your website with keywords is not only annoying for users, but it’s also a surefire way to get penalized by search engines. If you stuff your content with keywords, it won’t be easy to read and won’t offer any real value to users. Not to mention, it will probably get you banned from the search results. When creating content, focus on quality over quantity. Use keywords sparingly and only when they’re relevant.
SEO is constantly changing and evolving, so it’s important to stay up-to-date on the latest trends. The best way to do this is to follow some of the top SEO blogs and publications. This will help ensure that you’re always on top of the latest changes and can adjust your strategy accordingly.
