9 SEO Writing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

SEO writing is a marketing discipline that changes rapidly and drastically. What’s considered a good practice on Monday can become an undesirable technique on Friday. Well, it doesn’t really work that quickly, but we actually have seen some of the biggest SEO writing practices become obsolete in a matter of just a few months.

For example, SEO, in its beginnings, implied stuffing your content with keywords to boost your post’s chances of getting linked to that keyword. This meant that if your target keyword was, for example, “Miami hairdresser”, you should mention Miami hairdresser every time you possibly can. 

Now, we know that it’s exactly the opposite. Keyword stuffing is frowned upon by search engines and especially readers. Still, there are some common SEO writing mistakes that content creators still cling to. In this guide, we’ll be explaining some of the most common ones. 

1. Ignoring conversion rate stats 

Generally speaking, one of the most common mistakes is to neglect conversion. This is something that often happens to marketers when analyzing the amount of free traffic. So, it is necessary to analyze the keywords and phrases that lead users to your website but also have high conversion rates.

So, a low traffic sentence could be an advantage in some circumstances. Of course, the more specific phrases are, the more they are likely to generate a low level of traffic.

On the other hand, it is necessary to consider that this phrase can have a better performance. This translates into a higher amount of sales. In other words, keywords that attract a lower number of users might actually have a higher conversion rate when you look into the details of your analytics. 

2. Thinking all search queries are the same

Not all Google searches are the same. This is also the case with other search engines that are highly used. So, it can be very useful to learn how to differentiate local search with the rest of the searches.

In particular, this gives great results when dealing with a local business. So, learning these specifications will allow you to optimize your contact with people close to you.

To do this, it is important to include in your content meta description and certain keywords. Each of these aspects must match the searches that are carried out locally in your region. 

3. Targeting the wrong keywords

It is important to know exactly the right words to work with. This means looking for keywords that are targeted to your target audience. It could be that your keywords are attracting the wrong audience.

It would not be very useful to attract people who want something for free when you want to sell something. On the other hand, it is not advisable to pretend to cover the ground of your biggest competitors.

You should consider that they probably have several SEO professionals at their disposal. So it is advisable to have specific keywords that will attract your audience. If you hire writers from good writing websites, they will know which target keywords to use to attract the right audience. 

4. Not paying enough attention to headlines, titles, headings, and meta descriptions

As we have mentioned, titles are one of the most important aspects of any content. In conjunction with the goal descriptions, they allow you to get an excellent ranking in search engines. Therefore, each one of your titles and meta descriptions must be able to be separated from the name of the company.

In this way, you will be able to capture the attention of a specific audience. Otherwise, it would be more difficult for your audience to reach your content. Therefore, each meta description and title should be highly descriptive. At the same time, they should be able to express an appealing feature to capture the audience. 

5. Choosing wrong anchor texts for your internal links

It is important not to take into account generic and irrelevant texts as anchor texts. In this case, it is a technique that fails to provide a large number of clicks.

So, it is recommended that the anchor text is unique and persuasive. That’s why the famous “click here” is an overused phrase. It simply catches the reader’s attention, but it’s not really enough anymore.

On the contrary, the right anchor text should include the right keyword. In this way, the audience will be better guided to obtain a certain type of information or service.

6. Using too little anchor texts

As with the generic phrase, such as “click here”, this can happen with other overly used phrases. This is why it is not advisable to have one or two unique anchor texts throughout your website.

Instead, each anchor text should be unique and related to the content. In this way, the link becomes a more attractive path for the specialized audience. Therefore, each anchor text and keyword should not be used too many times in a row. 

7. Too much or too few links

One of the most common mistakes is not valuing what is important in a link. In this case, there is a false belief about the number of links. This is a fairly common error that does not provide good results.

On the other hand, it is preferable to get high-quality links. You get better results with the various search engines. So, you will have to meet some requirements if you want to get these links.

So, the site should not contain links to gambling sites, pharmacies, or adult sites. In the same way, you should not include too many external links. Of course, each link should be really relevant to your blog or website.

8. Including poor-quality content on your website just to increase the volume

In this case, it is another way in which quantity is valued over quality. Many people decide to hire poor quality writers who, of course, will provide poor content.

Each reader can detect the bad quality of a website. So, the audience will probably decrease if you continue to opt for this tactic. It is advisable to hire good quality writers instead. Of course, you will need a bigger budget, but this means a higher level of return on your profits in the long run. 

9. Using templates and ready-made designs

On the one hand, a design template can be a time-saving aspect. On the other hand, a normal, generic design could be detrimental to your website. That is why it is advisable to have a design that is exclusive to your website. This can sometimes burn a hole in your budget, but it’s a smart investment if you’re looking to attract a lot of organic traffic. 

When you use custom designs, visitors will be able to better recognize and memorize your website. Of course, you will have to invest in hiring an expert web designer. However, in this case, it also means getting a higher profit return.

Conclusion

Next to these, there are still many other SEO mistakes writers can make. As a content creator, the best thing you can do is to track your analytics and see what works well and what isn’t. If some of your posts are underperforming compared to your expectations, you need to get to the bottom of the issue. 

These insights will not only be valuable in provide you info on what went wrong with that particular post but will serve as a lesson for future publishing. 

Author’s bio. Daniela McVicker is a passionate digital marketer. Daniela is interested in everything related to SEO and blogging. She contributes to Essayguard and other websites where she shares her experience and helps marketers make their names in the online world.