Because search engine optimization seems expensive to many business owners, some people choose to do their own optimization without hiring a professional SEO consultant. There are many things that you can do on your own to improve your search engine rankings. However, there are also many things that you can do that seem like a good idea but can really hurt your optimization efforts. If you decide to optimize your site without the benefit of having an SEO professional by your side, there are some basic SEO mistakes that you should avoid. Learn about these mistakes and you can save yourself a great deal of time, frustration, and money.
SEO Mistake #1 Using Link Farms
Link farms (also known as link directories) are basically long pages stuffed with links to Web sites. Many amateurs think that using link farms will help improve search engine rankings since link building plays an important role in optimization. However, using link farms is not a good way to build links to your business site. There are several reasons why link farms can have a negative impact on your results. One is that the search engines consider link farms to be low in quality. While you need to have good content on your site to get linked to by a blog or another business owner, anyone can place a link on a link farm. Another is that you have no way of knowing what kind of links your link will be grouped with. Link farms can have a link to an accounting firm next to a link to a lingerie shop. Since relevant links are important for optimization success, using link farms does not have a positive impact on your results.
SEO Mistake #2 Keyword Spamming
Many business owners also think that more is better when it comes to using keywords. This is why you’ll often come across Web pages that make absolutely no sense; they have so many keywords stuffed in their text that no one can make sense of them. When it comes to keywords, less is actually more. Achieving a balanced keyword density gives you two opportunities to improve your business. One improvement is that you have a better chance of attracting the kind of traffic you want for your business. The other is that you’ll reduce your chances of being penalized for using keyword spamming as an SEO tactic.
SEO Mistake#3 Using PLR Content
While many people think that content is number one when it comes to successful site optimization, unique content is actually the best thing for a site. Many business owners make the mistake of buying PLR content that is also bought and used by other site owners. Now that the search engines are frowning on duplicate content and adjusting the search engine rankings accordingly, using PLR articles is no longer a good way to successfully optimize your site. Instead of using PLR articles, write your own or hire a freelance writer to develop unique content that will draw your visitors in and keep them on your site long enough to make some purchases.